EasyCut Front-Mounted Disc Mowers
By: Derek Bontrager, Equipment Sales
Many people have seen pictures or videos of front-mounted disc mowers and thought, “Why would I do that?” Most of these are of European tractors in European conditions and often show grasses being cut for hay. There is also the “out-of-the-box” concept that you would need to have a tractor with a front 3pt hitch, front PTO and a set of hydraulic couplers. These tractors are not the ones seen in every machine shed in the Midwest.
Front-mounted mowers have been commonplace on many European farms for years but are still a relatively new thing to us Midwesterners. I have been fortunate to have sold and been around a couple of units in the last 10 years. The customers would say that having a mower in front of the tractor is different, but they feel more efficient when mowing. If a tractor is available with a front 3pt hitch, PTO and hydraulics, the front mower idea makes much more sense, in four areas:
» A tractor with the previously mentioned options can be utilized to its maximum ability.
» If the mower is in front of the operator, they will spend minimal time looking back.
» If the tractor is equipped with guidance, the operator can focus more on field conditions and obstacles.
» Front mowers generally have a lower initial acquisition cost than a similar-sized, pull-type mower.
Front mowers can also be used in combination with rear mowers, whether mounted or trailed. They can also be equipped with conditioning systems to help speed up the hay drying process.
Krone offers eight different front mower models in cutting widths from 8’11” to 13’3”. Several of which have a choice of roller or V-tine conditioning. Certain models can be “pushed” or “pulled”. The “pushed” models utilize the 3pt hitch to push the mower through the field. The “pulled” models include a suspension in the front of the headstock, and while still attached to the front 3pt, they are being pulled through the field by the front suspension. Krone refers to “pulled” as Glide models. Glide models can flex laterally and up to 18 degrees vertically. With their heavy-duty spring suspension, these mowers can literally “glide” through the field—even through waterways and rough spots. Mowers are lifted out of the crop using hydraulics, meaning once the front 3pt hitch is set, it doesn’t have to move until the operator is ready to head down the road or detach the mower.
Front mowers can be utilized by tractors with as little as 70HP. Many times, since tractors that size are nonexistent with a front hitch, customers choose to use tractors with more than 100HP. Like all disc mowers, the limiting factor is either how fast the operator is comfortable driving or the tractor running out of horsepower. I have watched a customer drive across a hay field at 14+ mph, but I have also seen conditions that limit that same tractor to 5mph. One of my customers, who happens to have a front mower and two rear mowers, (known as a combination or butterfly setup) can cut 40 acres an hour with his 30’ wide setup. This is even in rolling, somewhat rough terrain.
Like their pull-type counterparts, front mowers can lay swaths out wide for drying or narrow for the tractor to be able to straddle windrows. These adjustments can be made easily on the back side of the mowers. On models with V-tine conditioners, conditioning hoods offer easy changes to the aggressiveness of the conditioning if switching between leafier alfalfa and grassier crops.
All of Krone’s EasyCut front-mounted mowers come with the same features available in the 3pt and pull-type mowers including:
» Fully welded and sealed SmartCut cutterbar
» SafeCut hubs for driveline protection
» QuickChange blades
Like many other items these days, these mowers are generally not an “impulse” buy. While we occasionally get lucky, front mowers need to be ordered by mid-October for use in the next season. For more questions about Krone mowers or any other Krone products, please call or stop by and ask.