Self propelled swather VS Moco

[ikold]

Curious of folks's opinions of self propelled swather vs a tow behind MOCO.
Am noticing that a newer MOCO costs the same or in some cases more than say a Hesston 8250 in good condition. Would I be better served, faster, and better able to get those hard to reach corners with a self propelled unit or is there a reason why folks have increasingly gone to pulled units....

My tractor is a 7130.

 

[flusher]

Curious of folks's opinions of self propelled swather vs a tow behind MOCO.
Am noticing that a newer MOCO costs the same or in some cases more than say a Hesston 8250 in good condition. Would I be better served, faster, and better able to get those hard to reach corners with a self propelled unit or is there a reason why folks have increasingly gone to pulled units....

My tractor is a 7130.

There are quite a few self-propelled swathers in use around here. Three of my neighbors use them for haying 10 acres of pasture grass (a small swather with no cab, and ~10ft wide head), 30 acres of alfalfa, and about 200 acres of oats (both of these being larger swathers with cabs and 13 ft wide heads). All of these swathers have sicklebar heads. (BTW: I just bookmarked a self-propelled swather with 13-ft wide disc head--asking $98K.

These units were all bought used and reconditioned by the new owners. The previous owners probably switched to tow behind MOCOs.

From what I see, these old self-propelled units are still excellent mowers. They are very agile machines--literally turning on a dime. If I had more acreage (my place is only 10 acres), I'd get one of these self-propelled units in a flash.

BTW: there's a JD 800 self propelled swather on eBay now $1200 (BIN).

JOHN DEERE 800 SELF PROPELLED WINDROWER - eBay (item 180685362254 end time Jul-01-11 06:04:22 PDT)

I book marked another swather, a new, unused 2009 Massey Ferguson 9635 with 16 ft wide disc mower head--$98K (BIN).

Massey Ferguson 9635 Windrower - eBay (item 200624887722 end time Jul-05-11 08:44:08 PDT)

I guess you need to figure out if you really need the conditioner for haying in your area. Here in the North Sacramento Valley, hay generally dries in the field with little risk of being rained on, so conditioning/tedding generally isn't needed.

Good luck.

 

[leonz]

Its more of a mobility issue as you are right over the cutter bar and rolls versus watching from up front.

Most of the newer units have a swing hitch I think where it has the ability to swing wider during the mowing so its a Potato Potatoe question as you can still get parts for the self propelled units.

I think the older Hesstons used the four cylinder Wisconsin engines I think.

 

[Egon]

In the days of the first swathers there was model ?? model with the wisconsin engine and belt drive system. Steered it with two handles.

Today the pull type may be gaining popularity as there is one less propulsion unit to maintain??

 

[ikold]

Is that all it is one less motor to repair ? Cause a new 835 MOCO from Deere is about 30k and a used one worth its salt is about 20k. There is an old timer here selling an older hesston self propelled that he's taken good care of for 14! I was wondering which machine can do more / faster. We don't hay allot but we've got 40 acres in alfalfa and hay in one pasture and we are looking at leasing a half section for hay too.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Smaller windrows dry faster? Those late first crop windrows the size of a minivan seem to frequently end up chopped back into the field.

 

[Barry Bowen]

Sickle bar machines can cut maybe 2-3 MPH. A fair operator on a discbine can run 6-8 MPH. You decide what you want. You can find older discbines for way less than 20. There was a 5209 New Idea on Craig's list last week, $4500. It did not even last a day on the list. If you are only doing a little bit, heck, even an old haybine will do you just fine for just a few acres.

 

[flusher]

Is that all it is one less motor to repair ? Cause a new 835 MOCO from Deere is about 30k and a used one worth its salt is about 20k. There is an old timer here selling an older hesston self propelled that he's taken good care of for 14! I was wondering which machine can do more / faster. We don't hay allot but we've got 40 acres in alfalfa and hay in one pasture and we are looking at leasing a half section for hay too.

Here's my neighbor's self-propelled swather, an old Hesston 6650 that he bought for about $6K. The sicklebar head is 13-15 ft wide IIRC.



He mows 30 acres of irrigated alfalfa (three 10-acre fields). Takes about 7 hours to do all 3 fields. Mowing interval is about 5 weeks (May thru Oct).

 

[bigbull338]

for the acres youll be cutting id just get a 9ft disc cutter.a sp dwather discbine is good if your cutting a few hundred acres but not cost effective for less than that.