Grass Board / Stick

[Does’ Leap]

We did our second round of haying in the small window of good weather we had during the past week (hay still got rained on!) I had a lot of trouble with the grass bunching / getting caught up in the grass stick. When I lowered the stick the grass would flow, but I would not have a good path for my shoe while cutting the next swath. My grass stick is a piece of rebar attached to the grass board (certainly not standard) and I am thinking this is part of my problem (see attachment). As I mentioned the grass was thick (first cutting in August!) and there was a fair amount of vetch.

Norm at McNair suggested I cut an old shovel handle, taper it and attach it firm on the inside of my grass board. He said I should make it adjustable as well and extend it about 18″ beyond the grass board. Does anyone have any pictures and rough measurement they could post of their grass board/stick set up? Does anyone use steel for the grass stick? What is the best way of making it adjustable?

Thanks.

George

[Ronnie Tucker]

your rod looks too steep it needs to be bent down quite a bit .it should be a smooth rod rebar with its ridges will allow the hay to hang up .if you are cutting hay with vetch there can always be some problems at the best you can do ronnie tucker tn logger

[mink]

my mower guards bolt on from the bottom. vetch seems to always like to hang up . mink

[Does’ Leap]

Thanks for the replies. Joel, gaurds are bolted properly. It is an “easy cut” system – knives are alternately flipped and cut on both the top and bottom of guards. This is supposed to reduce friction as the knives float between the guards. Works well.

Anyone else have a picture or other tips?

George

[J-L]

I’ve never heard of what you’re doing with your guards/knifes. Could you get a closer picture for us to look at?
Where did you hear of this? You learn something new everyday.

[Does’ Leap]

Check out this website and click on “easy cut” : http://www.schumacherlc.com/

George

[ngcmcn]

George,

Vetch is tough to mow. Stub guards on the inside of the cutter bar help;a stepped knife on the outside of the knife helps,; maybe tilting your guards down helps; my horses seem to figure out where the vetch is and know to step it up a bit when they get to it; that helps. Sometimes you just got to stop and (take the mower out of gear always!!!!!!) andd unclog the bar. Setting the inner and outer height shoes tall can help. as far as the grass stick goes its about center of the grass boardd 4-5″ back from the the horn so to speak of the outer shoe. Two bolts’one anchors, the other is a pivot. Put the stick on( something smooth) and pivot it and drill some holes in an arch so as to facilitate different heights from the ground at the end of the stick.The metal grass boards you can get through Macknairs or any tractor store i’ve used as well an work well. Is the timing on your knives good?. Lead good?

Good Luck More sun coming…….!

Neal and Gwyneth
Unity, Me.

[Carl Russell]

My experience is that the grass board/stick does what it is supposed to do in the best average conditions. It is virtually impossible to solve EVERY condition. Sometimes you just get frustrated. It is part of the art. Give yourself more time next mowing. Mow a little less. Whatever it takes to get the job done.

Your set-up looks different than some I’ve seen, and different from mine, but it looks like it would work fine. Sometimes it isn’t just a matter of raising or lowering the stick, but of decreasing the working angle against the cutter bar, so that it pushes the grass back more aggressively. However with tall heavy grass you want the board/stick to be high enough to catch the grass above its center of gravity so that it can fold it back onto the swath. I would think outside the box. Jury-rig something on there. Make the board wider. Put on two sticks.

I put a outer shoe on my mower from an old Farmall sickle bar that had a spring loaded adjustable set of pronged grass sticks. Not only can I adjust the angle, but I can also spread the prongs apart.

Like so many aspects to farming, I have seen so many different variations of this grass board/stick combo that it leads me to believe that as clever as you are, you should be able to fix something up. You may have to stop in the middle of a field and run back to the barn because the solution will hit you as you watch the grass fall over the board.

Good luck, Carl

[Does’ Leap]

I came up with something yesterday in expectation of cutting today or tomorrow. I welded some threaded rod in 2 different places on 1/2″ round stock. Similar to what Neal suggested, I bolted solid at the end with 3 different holes for adjustment on the middle of the grass stick.

Neal, timing is perfect and I have a lead of 1.5″. It seems like the vetch combined with the grass board is what was really killing me. I did do some additional tweaking to the mower in expectation of this good weather as well. Lots of hay to cut! I have put up 200 bales so far, 800 more to go! (goal for this first year) – we’ll see. Like anything that is worth doing, we are paying our dues in this early learning process. Horses have been great, standing patiently for long periods of time while I fix / mess with tedder, rake, and mower (yep, all three had varying degrees of issues this last round). Hopefully, we are working the kinks out.

Happy haying.

George

[ngcmcn]

George,

A few years back an elderly women wanted to buy a working mower from me, she wanted a guarantee. I laughed. I’m not sure she knew what a wrench was. Constant tinkering is the name of the game with the old HD gear.

Neal

[ngcmcn]

Hey Joel,

Tell me what the words are that make a mower not clog in wire grass and vetch.

Had a chainsaw like that once………….wouldn’t run well until you spit and cussed at it a bit, or threatened to smash it against a tree.

Suns a coming

Neal

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