The Best Farming Idea I Ever Had

The best farming idea I ever had HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Mowers (38) 12-5-9 "The best idea I've ever had while farming is using my Woods 72-in. cut rotary mower to cut hay," says Paul Leaven-good, Fresno, Ohio, who removed one side of the big mower so the cut hay gets thrown to the side. "We mowed our hay this way for the past 10 years and I wouldn't do it any other way. It mows and conditions so well hay dries faster than with any other machine on the market. If the cut hay does get rained on, it dries out faster because the stems are not crimped as with most mower conditioners. We also like the fact that we can mow anytime - at night, after a heavy dew, or even in the rain. It makes no difference. "We use an ordinary hay rake to rake the cut hay into windrows for baling. Most of the time we rake two of the mower cuts together. "You can mow as fast with this ma-chine as with a sickle bar mower except when hay is thick and laying down, when you have to go a bit slower. You finish much sooner than with a conventional machine even when you have to gos lower because you don't have to stop to unplug the mower or cut hay off rollers. "One of the best things about this mower is that it requires no maintenance whatsoever so no time is wasted replacing sections and guards. It doesn't matter if the blades are sharp or not because Woods uses a curved lawnmower-type blade. It creates an updraft that does a super mowing job, especially in down or tangled hay. In 10 years we've never had to get off the tractor while mowing. You get all the hay and the field looks like a mowed lawn when you're finished. "We feed hay to our own livestock and sell some now and then. The first question we always get from a buyer is, 'What kind of hay conditioner do you use?' They're always impressed with the quality." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, PaulLeavengood, 53156TR 508, Fresno, Ohio 43824 (ph 614 545-6170).

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