Double Wide Mower Speeds Up Hay Making

Double Wide Mower Speeds Up Hay Making HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Mowers (38) 21-1-38 Bryon Fervida needed a way to cut hay faster but he couldn't justify spending the money for a new swather. The Milford, Ind., farmer solved the problem by buying a used New Idea self-propelled power unit and mounting a pair of used Hesston 12-ft. mower-conditioners on it. One mounts on front and the other pulls behind. "It works as good as a self-propelled swather but cost a lot less," says Fervida. He paid $2,000 for the power unit and $4,000 for the two Hesston 1014 mowers. He removed the tongue and wheels from one of the mowers and mounted it on front, using 2 by 4-in. steel tubing to build a frame that attaches to the back of the mower. The sicklebars on both mowers were originally designed to be powered by a pto-driven hydraulic pump. He mounted a 22-in., 3-groove pulley next to the engine to belt-drive a pto shaft that powers the front mower. The rear mower is powered by a shaft that's chain-driven off the rear pto shaft. "It lets us cut hay twice as fast as we could before but with only half the fuel and labor that would be required with two pull-type swathers," says Fervida. "I spent a total of about $10,000. I used it last year for the first time and cut about 700 acres with no problems. I didn't modify the original drive components or lift mechanisms at all. A pair of hydraulic cylinders on the power unit raises or lowers the front mower. I can hook up both mowers in only about 20 minutes. "It takes about 50 to 60 hp to operate each unit. The turbocharged Perkins diesel engine has no trouble handling it. One ad-vantage of using a front-mount mower is that we don't drive over any hay opening the field. I replaced the power unit's original tires with bigger ones for increased flotation, mounting 18.4 by 38's on front and 14.9 by 26's on back. I also widened the rear axle to make room for the windrow under the tractor. "I use a forage harvester to make high moisture haylage and store it in a top-unloading silo. I chose the Hesston units be-cause they have conditioners that are easy to remove when we don't need them such as in our mint crop." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bryon Fervida, 13349 N 500 W, Milford, Ind. 46542 (ph 219 773-3208).

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