The Iowa Forage and Grassland Council held its annual conference Wednesday morning and one of the main discussion items was advancements in hay equipment.
Speaking at the Iowa State University McNay Research and Demonstration Farm near Chariton, John Deere design engineer Jeremy Erdmann says there?s been a lot of developments with mowers.
?New in the past year or two we?ve got some new pull-type Moco?s,? said Erdmann. ?We converted over to this C-Series. The one I want to highlight is a C400. This is the replacement for our 946. We took this same Moco with the same performance and durability, and we took some weight out of it.?
Erdmann says John Deere also offers a new line of mower conditioners.
?We came out with a 16-foot-wide mower conditioner. It?s got the same head on it as what we have on our self-propelled windrowers. You can get this in the urethane rolls, the V10 or the trilobes.?
Another hay equipment advancement deals with tractors. Erdman talked about the benefits of using John Deere?s 5125 M-Series Tractor. He personally has put some test hours on the machine on his hay operation.
?We did a bunch of baling with a 567 loaded with an 835 Moco, which would be three and a half meters. I was mowing and baling at 8 ? miles per hour on some hills. This is one of the first 5-Series tractors that I?m willing to recommend that has enough horsepower and lugging power to go be a good hay tractor.?
Erdmann also highlighted bale handling equipment. He specifically discussed John Deere?s A520R Accumulator, which is designed to increase baling productivity. It offers faster bale retrieval from the field, as well as reduced compaction and stubble damage.
