New guy seeks help from hay folks

[mark ludwig]

Hi folks,
I am working on a project in Michigan which will be providing flushing bars to farmers to reduce dammage to wildlife during hay harvest. These bars drag chains or similar things through the forage before mowing. I have a proven design for tractor drawn mowers, but find little information on bars for self propelled mowers. Anybody out there got plans or expirience? I have attached the plans from Ducks Unlimited Canada for those who are interested. Feel free to e mail off list or post here.
Mark P. Ludwig
Allegan Conservation District
Conservation Innovation Grant Technician
Balancing Agricultural Production and Grassland Bird Reproduction
269-673-8965 ex 4
616-240-7135 cell
mark.ludwig@macd.org

Also I have a small farm in Fennville MI where we graze beef. I have a MF 35 and a small herd of classic AC garden tractors.

 

[Muhammad]

Welcome to TBN.

 

[slowzuki]

1. Many use disc mower conditioners that run at 2-3x the speed of old sickle type machines. I mow at 7 -9 mph with mine. If they don't flush during the previous pass adjacent to them, I can't see them escaping the mower.
2. Not many farmers will want to dangle metal objects infront of a disc mower conditioner. A 10 ft length of say 3/8 chain could do upwards of 10,000$ damage to my mower and could kill me if a link is thrown at the right angle. The blade tips are running at something like 60 mph.
3. Experience? I have hit fawns with my mower. Upsetting but we have no shortage of deer. In my experience you can basically drive over them if mama deer has told them to stay still. Once in a while they will flush. I cut late partly to avoid hitting them and nesting birds, partly due to weather. Cutting late is hard as the forage is long and hard to spot animals.

 

[blueriver]

Its a good idea ... I don't think it would be for me, I too am not for anything hanging in front of my disc mowers. It easy enough to hit a foreign object in the field ... I don't recall ever hitting any game or fowl.