Disc-Type Mowers Coming On Strong

Disc-Type Mowers Coming On Strong HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Mowers (38) 3-3-17 Those disc type mowers introduced from Europe appear to be running circles around conventional sickle type mowers. "You can travel up to 6 mph. with any of our mowers and conditioners without clogging," explains Harold McCauslin, sales coordinator for Vicon Farm Machinery, Chesapeake, Va. "You can cut as much with our 8 ft. disc mower as you can with a 16 ft. sickle bar because of its speed and minimum downtime, and its ability to travel at high speed in wet or damp hay. It delivers 60,000 cutting strokes a minute on an 8 ft. cutter bar." McCauslin explains that the key design feature on the Vicon disc mower is its gear-driven disc mowing cutterbar. "There are 6 discs on an 8 ft. cutter bar, each with 3 reversible blades. They rotate at extremely high speeds - about 3,000 rpm. - cutting through even the heaviest standing grass, as well as tangled crops," says McCauslin. He notes that the knives are easily replaced on the disc with a single bolt. Stone guards can be fitted to each disc. A shear bolt will break if the cutter bar hits a post or other major obstacle, allowing the entire cutterbar to swing backwards. Vicon's popular mower and mower/ conditioner models are imported from Holland and feature the same gear-driven cutterbar. The gears run the entire length of the bar, are sealed in oil and run quieter and with less vibration than conventional sickle bars, McCauslin points out. The conditioner mows, crimps and swaths in one operation. The crop passes through a pair of intermeshing rubber rollers just above the cutter bar. The amount of conditioning can be varied by increasing and decreasing the pressure between the rollers. The 8 ft. Vicon mower sells for $3,900 and the 8 ft. mower/conditioner for $8,300. In comparing these prices with conventional sickle mowers, it's important to remember that the Vicon 8 ft. mower does the work of a 16 ft. sickle mower," explains McCauslin. For more details, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Vicon Farm Machinery, Inc. 3741 Cook Boulevard, P.O. Box 6313, Chesapeake, Va. 23323 (ph 804 485-1600).

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