Hay-Field

Producing Better Hay Quality

/in /by

Background

I grew up on a dairy farm in Fleming County, so I understand that when you live on a farm, you often have to do what you have to do to get the job done. We sometimes have to work around weather, equipment, maybe a job or somewhere that sends us a weekly paycheck, so I do understand all of that. As we talk through producing better hay quality, some of the issues that we run into, and some of the things that can get overlooked, I will do my best to keep these things on a practical level.

A little bit about my background, I have a degree in livestock nutrition, so for 25 years I was in the feed industry. I made the change seven years ago to go to a family-owned equipment business. Most of my training comes from the nutrition side, rather than the equipment side of things, so that’s what I am going to try to bring it back to. I’m not here to talk about or push a brand of equipment, but rather some practicality of some different types of equipment that you’re going to encounter on your path to producing better hay quality.  

Hay Cutting Methods

Sickle Mowers and Conditioners

Now some of you might have seen someone out using a scythe. Now I will admit that I never have. I have been granted the great pleasure of using a weed hook, but not a scythe. As technology upgraded, we see the sickle mower introduced. Most of you have seen a sickle mower and they are still used today. Most farmers, however, are not putting up hay with them. There’s a lot more trimming done with them. The cutting action that we see with a sickle is a blade on a bar that moves back and forth in a scissoring motion. The trend that we see much more of today is hay being cut with a disc mower; either in a trail-type, pull-type or a mower-conditioner. When we look at the pros and cons of this equipment, a sickle mower or a haybine (the same thing but with a roller conditioner in the back) run at lower speeds, they tend to clog if you do run at higher speeds and they don’t like to cut wet hay.

So that being said, there are some obstacles that you have to work around with how these pieces of equipment operate. My dad is a firm believer in a haybine and he still uses one to this day and that’s great. A positive to this type of equipment is that when you run at lower speeds and hit something, you don’t tear up nearly as much as what you would with a disc mower. When you run slower, you see things a little bit better and that can decrease the amount of damage you would incur. Sickle mowers and haybines also tend to be at a cheaper price point, a little cheaper to operate and have lower repair costs. You just need to understand the equipment, how they operate, what they can handle and match that to your work style.

Disc Mowers & Conditioners

As we move into disc mowers and disc mower conditioners, we go to a different type of cutter bar. Several blades are contained in each of several pods on a disc mower and they run in a rotary fashion. These blades run at very high speeds which allows for them to mow at higher speeds when you go to this type of a cutter bar compared to a sickle mower. They are also much more accommodating in mowing wet hay. However, they are also more susceptible to significant damage. I hear stories multiple times a month once we get into hay season, someone is in a creek bottom mowing and there’s never been anything there before, but a tree stump got washed up or a concrete post suddenly appeared and that disc mower found it and unfortunately are rather unforgiving. Some of the newer models have some things built to the way they’re designed to limit some of the damage and to make it a little more economical to repair, but with the way these types of mowers are designed, more damage will occur when you come into contact with something.

Mower conditioners have largely come to be popular in our part of the world due to dairies and commercial hay operations. What we are attempting to do is to get the hay to dry or cure faster, so that we can get it put up because our weather doesn’t typically leave us large windows to get hay off of the ground. So, let’s discuss a couple of different conditioning systems that we see in mower conditioners.

Benefits of Conditioning Systems

“If you mow with a disc mower, it may take you three days to get it off the ground and with a mower-conditioner, you’ll likely be down to two days and that’s the main difference between the two.”

The first is a roller conditioner. You will mainly see these with a rubber roller; however, some will use a steel roller. Essentially what we are doing here is cutting the hay and pulling it back between these rollers. The way that they are designed is that they will crimp the stem about every four inches. As it crimps the stem, it allows points for the moisture to evaporate from the stem, which dries our hay. These conditioning systems are designed for putting up lagoon hays (alfalfa, clovers, etc.) where the primary part that we’re after are the leaves. That’s where all the nutrition is stored. So, we want to condition these plants while doing the least amount of damage to the leaves as possible. Normally, we can get one less day drying time by conditioning hay over unconditioned hay. If you mow with a disc mower, it may take you three days to get it off the ground and with a mower-conditioner, you’ll likely be down to two days and that’s the main difference between the two.

Flail Mowers

At the same time, we also see people who are going to flail conditioners. Some brands are pushing this conditioning type more than others, but flails are used to condition grass type hays. Now think back, with lagoon hays (clover, alfalfa, etc.) where is the nutrition coming from? It’s all in the leaves. In grass however, all of the nutrition is in the stem and the blades. With grass, there is a thin waxy film that covers the plant and flails are designed to scuff the waxy surface to allow points for moisture to leave.

From my personal point of view, I believe that you will see more leaf damage in lagoon type hay from flail conditioners than what you would see with a roller conditioning system. If you’re only putting up grass hay, then a flail conditioner would fit your needs just fine. The problem is how many people are putting up only grass hay? We see a lot of clover in pasture fields that just naturally grows there that will end up in your hay cuttings. So, don’t overlook some of the things that you have growing in your fields even though you might not think it’s significant. They still are adding nutritional value to your hay.

When we’re talking about hay quality, I think this is a good place to start. I have individuals who will come into the dealership all the time and want to know the differences in the different types of equipment, so this gives a good understanding and jumping off place as we talk about some of the methods that we can use to put up better quality hay whether we are selling it or feeding it our own livestock.

Agronomy Basics

Let’s talk about reducing some losses when we’re putting up hay. The first place I want to start with is talking about metabolic losses. Now I understand that’s a big confusing word, but all that means is that because we just simply go out and cut hay, does that mean all cellular activity stops in that hay? It doesn’t. The cells continue to live for a period of time, but as it does, it’s burning energy the entire time. Energy that you would like to have going into your dairy cow, your beef cow, horse, or whatever else you’re feeding that forage to. The longer that we allow hay to stay above 40% moisture once it has been cut, that cellular activity is going to continue respiration, which is burning up calories. The same calories that will not be available for your livestock. Our main goal is to get hay below 40% moisture as soon as we can or to go ahead and package it as high moisture hay. Now what I’m mainly talking about refers to putting up dry hay because that’s the most common in eastern Kentucky and what we typically see.

“There are two main things that drive cure time in hay, Sunlight and Air.”

So, the question is how do we get hay below 40% moisture? There are two main things that drive cure time in hay, Sunlight and Air. The more sunlight and air that we can get on the hay, the faster that we can get it to dry and get the moisture out of it which will allow for the cellular respiration in the hay to stop. One good practice for producing better hay quality, is to cut your hay earlier in the day rather than at let’s say, six o’clock at night. If we cut hay at one in the afternoon versus six at night, are we going to get more sunlight and more air on the hay? Yes. The quicker we can get the hay below 40% moisture, the quicker we stop respiration in the plant and the more nutrition that will be left in the hay. Now again I will say I understand the practicality of farming. If you work until five or six at night, then I know you’re probably not going to get to cut hay at one. So again, I understand this, I’m just looking at some of the best practices we can use for butting up higher quality hay.

The other thing that we need to be aware of is weathering losses. Rainfall on cut hay prolongs respiration in the plant. I’ve heard people say, “It’s going to get wet whether it’s standing or if I cut it. It’s been raining for the last two weeks and I’ve got to get some hay on the ground”, and I’m sure you’ve heard very similar things to that if not just like that. I completely understand that, but whenever we mow hay and it turns around and starts to rain on it, we are putting less sunlight on it and keeping the moisture in it which is lowering the quality of hay the whole time. But on the other side, if you leave it standing, the quality of hay is going to go backwards on you as well. We also see that some of the soluble nutrients will leach out when you have hay down and it keeps raining on it. So, we really don’t like to keep hay down and wet. We want to get it up as quickly as we can.

Patience Will Produce Better Quality Hay

“We get caught thinking that we are supposed to always be doing something to it. That is where we end up with some mechanical losses to our hay.”

We look at some of the mechanical losses of when we have hay down, moisture is the greatest factor that leads to leaf loss. But you can also get hay that’s too dry, which usually tends to be on the first cutting of hay. Everyone starts getting anxious around Memorial Day. The mentality of, “It doesn’t matter if anything else is ready to start, but I’m ready to go” starts to develop for farmers around this time. So, we get the hay cut one day and then the next day, or sometimes the same day, we go ted it. And then the next day we’re going to go ted it again. And the next, I’m going to rake it. We get caught thinking that we are supposed to always be doing something to it. That is where we end up with some mechanical losses to our hay. Whenever we rake hay, we only want to rake it once.

Taking a moment to look at the evolution of conditioning hay, many of the older styles of conditioners put the hay into a sort of windrow. The move today, however, is to get that hay as spread out as possible coming out of the roller conditioners. What does that do for us? When it’s spread out, more sunlight is hitting that hay and more air is on it, so by this time you know that means for a faster drying period. So, because of this, most of the newer models of mower-conditioners will allow us to go 90% of the cutting width so that hay gets spread out to cover the most area. So, do we need to ted hay that’s been through a mower-conditioner? Probably not. When we cut with disc mowers or sickle mowers, that is where tenders have a place in our operation. We cut with these pieces of equipment, we haven’t done anything to increase or enhance the dry time mechanically. We haven’t crimped it or scuffed it, so tedding it is then the step to get some air under it.

When we talk about bailing, square bailing is usually going to cost you 2-5% leaf loss whereas round balers are 1% or less. If you look at the action on a square bale, there is more mechanical contact with the hay which will cause for a little more loss than with a round baler. But at the same time, you will make up for it in storage loss because where square bales are kept inside, you’re not going to have the loss that round bales will incur.

These concepts are some of the bigger things to keep in mind. I know it’s not easy. growing up we were cutting hay at nine o’clock at night and that’s when you had to get it done. If we can get the sunlight on the hay as soon as we can when we’re mowing it, you will certainly increase the quality of the hay that you’re putting up.

How You Cut Hay Matters

Another way that we can produce better quality hay is to leave a little stubble. One of the things that I see a lot on the equipment side, when I’m out delivering a rake for instance, is when I’m in the field where they have the hay cut and I can kick up dirt about anywhere I want to. That hay has been cut so short and they haven’t left any stubble there. I bring this up because there are a few advantages to leaving some stubble when you’re cutting. Your natural inclination might be to put up as much hay as you can, and I get that. However, the least nutritious part of the plant is in the stem at the bottom. The weedy or leafy part of the plant grows out of that tough stem bottom as it matures and that’s what we’re after. Cows don’t like the tough stem bottom, nutritionally it’s not very good and when you leave that part of the plant, what you will find is that it will grow back much faster.

When you leave stubble, there are also several advantages. First, it allows for better air flow. When you cut your hay, it won’t be lying flat on the ground on dirt. The stubble holds it up and allows air to circulate underneath it which will help it to cure faster. Second, it reduces the wear on machinery. If you are using a disc mower, drum mower, or any other cutting machine, when you put those blades down on the ground, it’s very good for our parts business. We will sell you as many blades as you want to buy, but that’s the damage that can occur by running your blades into the ground.

“If you put up 500 bales, the amount of hay you would lose by not cutting at the ground and leaving 3”-4” wouldn’t add up to 2 bales.”

You might say, “Well that’s where I need to cut if I want to get the most hay possible”, but I suggest leaving 3”-4” of stubble. If I see someone mowing hay and there is a dust cloud behind them, they’re probably a little too close to the ground. Everyone is not guilty of this, but I so see it quite often. If you leave a little stubble, it’s easier on your machinery, not just what you mow with, but on a rake, tedder and your baler because you reduce wear and tear on your cutting blades, rake and tedder teeth, and baler tines. When you mow at ground level, you’re getting the least nutritious part of the plant. If you put up 500 bales, the amount of hay you would lose by not cutting at the ground and leaving 3”-4” wouldn’t add up to 2 bales. So, when you put it in that perspective, is 2 bales with little nutrition worth the equipment and maintenance costs associated with cutting that hay?

The stubble that you leave is what you want your hay to grown back in. After you get your hay put up, no one wants to look at the ground and not be able to see anything grow for two weeks. You want to give the plant the best scenario to grow back to where it’s pushing you to get the previous hay off the field because it’s already starting to grow back. This should also lead to producing better quality hay because the plant is regrowing from a more mature state.

Some of the push back that I might get from this would be that it’s not as easy to mow when you’re not mowing against the ground. Because if I am mowing against the ground, does the plant stand there better for you? Yes, it does. If I am trying to mow it three inched higher, the hay will want to blow over a little more, but there are some things you can do to alleviate that. We see this more in mower-conditioners, but you can decrease your PTO speed and increase your ground speed and it will stand up better of you. When those blades spin, there is turbulence created and it wants to blow the hay. When you slow down your PTO speed down, you’re lessening the turbulence, and by speeding up the ground speed, you’re attacking the hay more quickly which lessens the opportunity for the hay to blow over. Late season hay is when this issue might arise; not the first cutting.

Animal Nutrition

I shared with you earlier, that my background had been in livestock nutrition and I think that the connection between putting up quality hay and fulfilling the nutrition requirements for our livestock is absolutely essential for us all to understand. Why are you raising hay? Are you going to try to sell it? Are you going to feed it? In our part of Kentucky, we are going to see hay being fed to mostly beef cattle, so these are some important and easy numbers for you to remember.

Cow eating hay

For a dry, pregnant brood cow, which we all probably have, they need 10 pounds of Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) per day. That’s the term we use when we talk about energy values in forages. She needs 2 pounds of crude protein. So, let’s say she’s pregnant and it’s November and she’s in her second trimester of pregnancy, I would tell you that she does not have great nutritional needs. Most of the calf is developed in the last trimester, so what we’re looking at is what she needs on a daily basis just to take care of her as a dry cow.

So, she needs 10 pounds of TDN and 2 pounds of crude protein. Now let’s jump to March and she’s calving. She’s going to start milk production and she will peak in milk production six weeks from the time she has the baby calf. Whenever she peaks in milk production, her nutrition requirements go from 10 pounds to roughly 12 pounds. So, she needs two more pounds of energy and an additional pound of protein on a daily basis. Her requirements are that much higher now, so the question you have to ask yourself is where is that going to come from? You were feeding her hay in November and now in March you’re feeding her hay and there’s a little green stuff in the pasture fields that doesn’t have much nutrition, so where is it going to come from? If she doesn’t get it, she will start dropping body weight; that’s where the energy will come from. Protein is a little tougher because she can’t produce protein.

The first sign that you will find that her nutrition is deficient is when you want her to calve again. When would you like her to rebreed after she calves? May if you want her to have another calf this time of year, next year. Ten months is about how long it’s going to take for you to get another calf (about 280 days). So, if you short-change her on energy, she will start milking body weight off. A cows one priority is to take care of herself; she is going to breathe, maintain body temperature, etc. She is going to take care of herself first before her body produces anything for anyone else.

“A cow will cheat herself for a little while, but if you don’t get her enough energy, she will not rebreed.”

Second, if she has enough energy requirements to take care of herself, then she will move on to milk production and taking care of her calf. Finally, if she meets both of those other requirements, she will breed back. That’s the last thing on her list of priorities. A cow will cheat herself for a little while, but if you don’t get her enough energy, she will not rebreed. Rebreeding is a luxury for her. If you feed her, she will rebreed; if you do not, she will not. How do you make money in the beef industry? It’s all through calves. So, you have to manage how you fulfill the nutrition requirements from 10 pounds to 12 pounds of TDN and 2 pounds to 3 pounds of protein.

The difficult part that we often find is that we don’t know we are with our forages. Will our forage fulfill these requirements for us? It certainly can. Good quality forage can provide the level of nutrition that the cow needs during pregnancy. Or it can also be the case that you hear about cows starving off of full feed. So, where are you?

Summary

There are a lot of smaller things you can do that all add up, to produce better quality hay. But the first thing you need to establish for yourself is what are your goals? Are you trying to sustain your livestock off of your forage year-round? Understanding your goal will help you to move forward in making adjustments in your methods or equipment to produce better quality hay. In the end, it’s all a cost-benefit analysis you have to make for yourself. Spending a little more time investing in hay quality, can save you money with external feed and supplements. You’ll also have peace of mind knowing that your livestock are properly nourished and will continue to produce for you at peak performance for years to come.

Commonly Asked Questions

Do you lose any protein when you’re crimping the stem every 4 inches?

As long as you are just crimping and not cutting the stem, you’re not really doing any damage to the plant. You’re just creating points for the moisture to evaporate. However, if you’re running alfalfa through a flail conditioner and it’s beating the leaves harshly and knocking some of the leaves off, then you will absolutely be losing protein because you’re losing your nutrition source.

Are rotary rakes the best option when it comes to lagoon types of hay?

There are 3 types of rakes: bar rakes, wheel rakes and rotary rakes. Bar rakes have been extremely popular over the last 50 years. Wheel rakes were popular before the bar rake but are now making a comeback again on the market. And then you have a rotary rake. It acts like a pitchfork as it turns, it picks, up the hay and throws in into a curtain. This is the gentlest type of rake. If you are heavy with alfalfa or clover, this is the best rake option for you without a doubt. These rakes were designed for high quality forage and that is why they work so well with all types of hay, but particularly with lagoon types of hay.

5 Things That Matter When Choosing A Zero Turn Mower

/in /by
Zero Turn Mower Brand Manufacturers

Are you new to zero turn mowers or looking for an upgrade? How do you know what mower to buy or what you should be looking for? There are more manufacturers producing zero turn radius mowers than ever before and each one has their own unique selling features: heavy duty, cool paint job, padded seat, 35-horsepower engine, digital gauges, goes 100 mph, etc. All of these features might be selling point for some people, but the question I get most is what actually matters when choosing a zero turn mower?

Coming Soon: 5 Things That Don’t Matter When Choosing A Zero Turn Mower

1. Engine

Tip: Don’t be in awe at high horsepower engines. This is only one piece to the puzzle.

The engine is what powers your entire machine and is arguably the most important. You want to make sure your engine is big enough to support your deck width, machine weight and mower speed. Engines come built in a wide variety of ways that effect (or limit) performance, but the thing that remains constant is that reputable engine manufacturers with a history are always a win. Kawasaki, Kohler and Briggs & Stratton are all engine manufacturing giants, but their reputations are quite different and usually for good reason. There are also companies, such as Toro, who are manufacturing engines specifically designed for their mowers and have seen great results. This allows them to free up some dollars that they can spend on other areas of the mower.

2. Transmission

Tip: Make sure you’ve got a little power to get yourself out of a tough spot.

Zero turn mowers use hydrostatic transmissions (HST) in order to drive the mower. The transmission is made up of wheel pumps that circulate hydraulic oil to create energy that is converted to energy in your wheel motors that ultimately drive the mower. The larger the pumps and wheel motors, the more power and torque each wheel has to get you out of a tough spot. Hydro-Gear is the leading manufacturer of hydro-drive components on zero-turns, especially on residential models. Typically, this size of system is not serviceable and acts as a “throw away” component. As the mowers get larger, they tend to go to a unitized system so they can continue to increase power and torque for larger machines. These systems also gain the advantage of being serviceable so that one component failure does not require the entire system to be replaced.

When choosing a zero turn mower, make sure you pay attention to the quality and size of your hydrostatic drive system.

Hydro-Gear ZT-2200

3. Mowing Deck

Tip: Select a sturdy deck because you will hit things.

The mowing deck is where all the action happens. It makes tall grass short and that’s what you’re trying to do (and make it look good). They come in all different sizes, but the most important thing is that the frame of the deck is substantial. Like everything else, manufacturers have reduced their costs on some models by making their mower decks with thinner metal. The problem with that is if the mower deck hits anything, there’s a chance it will warp the deck and it will be impossible to get an even cut after.

4. Operators Platform

Tip: This is the area where you should splurge because it directly affects your health and how enjoyable mowing is.

This is often overlooked by many when deciding on a new zero turn mower. Until recently it was an afterthought for many manufacturers. The problem many people were and still are facing is that the mower beats them around so much they get off the mower with a sore back or just feeling drained. Solving this problem starts with a cushioned, high-back seat and then rests on suspension solutions. Some manufacturers have put shocks (springs) on each tire, much like how vehicle suspension works, others have focused on the operator’s seat and platform to make their improvements. Isolation mounts (mini springs) that are adjusted on a dial based on the user’s weight are widely used and do offer some improvements to the traditional model.

There are manufacturers who have really focused on user experience and have developed an entire suspended rider platform that is adjustable based on the user’s weight. There is tremendous value in the operator platform because it directly affects how enjoyable of a mowing experience you have and how you feel when you step off the mower.

Toro MyRide Suspension System
Toro’s Patented MyRide Suspension Platform System


5. Tires

Tip: Most people will be fine with the factory tires that come on the mower, however if your land has difficult to reach areas or has a lot of slope, look at some other tire solutions.

Tires fill two different capacities on mowers. First, they support the suspension on the mower. The “thicker” the sidewall of the tire, the more room there is for the tire to absorb shock. The second, and most important thing the tire does is provide traction to the mower. You want to be stable and in control of your mower no matter if you’re on flat or on sloped ground. The larger the tire, the more tire that’s in contact with the ground and that means more stability. The tread pattern on the tires also play a role in the traction ability. There are a wide variety of tires available, both OEM and aftermarket, that are specially designed for different terrains.

(Bonus) The Dealer

All of the features and components I’ve mentioned are useless if you don’t have a dealer to stand behind it. Odds are, you will encounter at least one problem with your machine that you will want fixed or a question you’d like answered. Product knowledge, warranty, parts and service all revolve through the dealer. What happens when you have a question about why the mower isn’t driving straight? How are you supposed to mow your yard if your mower breaks down and it takes three weeks to fix? The manufacturer’s role is to engineer and manufacturer products. As a consumer, you won’t find any answers there. The dealer’s role is to use those products and their experience to help customer’s find solutions to their problems. A dealer can be the greatest asset when choosing a zero turn mower to purchase, if you make it a priority.

Summary

Generally, a better mower can be built with more money, but that’s not practical for 99% of people. The goal is to find balance between expensive components, great engineering and a budget so you get the best bang for your buck. You can do that by setting a budget that you feel comfortable with (after all, you should feel good about your purchase!) and finding a machine best suited for what you’re trying to mow. The best way to do that is to find a dealer that understands what you’re trying to accomplish and helps you find the best solution, so you can spend more of your free time doing what you want to do and less time frustrated.

We want to help you on your next zero turn mower purchase. We’ve put together a FREE Mower Purchase Checklist for you to follow, so you’re prepared and get all your questions answered. You can download it at the link below. Please let us know in the comments how it works for you!

New Tech in New Holland 300 Series Skid Steer and CTL

/in /by
Interior cab photo of a New Holland C337

Breaking Down The All-New 8″ HAWK® Display

New Holland is building technology into its newest 300 Series skid steer loaders (SSL) and compact track loaders (CTL). This 2020 newly released series is headlined by the all-new, customizable eight-inch (8″!!!) HAWK® display. This sleek and modern information panel gives you a quick look at engine settings and performance in real time. The HAWK display also expands operator sight lines around the machine with a factory installed back-up camera for superior visibility. 


So what all can this display do?

Real-Time Information At The Ready

This display brings all of the modern convenience features you have in today’s new vehicles to your work machine. The new HAWK display provides key operation data, including engine performance information, RPM, fuel level, battery voltage, hydraulic oil temperature, engine temperature and a trip breakout information. Trip information might be one of the more underrated features of this new information display. Just like in your vehicle, track how many hours you’ve been on a job, how much fuel you’ve used, what your fuel economy is and what the average engine load on your machine has been. This tool is excellent for keeping a better track on job times and fuel related expenses. Reset from job to job and you’ll have the best tracking of machine time you’ve ever had.

Customize For Your Work Pace

Not only does it tell you the machine’s current information, but it allows you to make changes to the machine’s configuration. Electric-Hydraulic controls such as bucket tilt speed, lift speed and machine drive speed can be changed to one of four settings; Low, Medium 1, Medium 2, or High. Control sensitivity of both the boom and the drive control can also be customized in Low, Medium or High.
Customization doesn’t end with the electric-hydraulics, but also extends to the engine. Operators can now choose to run their machine in Economy Mode, which will preserve fuel use during operation. Other configurable options include an Engine Protection feature and an Ignition Timeout with a Timer.

Best-In-Class Visibility

In the previous 200 Series, New Holland had always relied on engineered design of the machine to create operator visibility. This included a large rear window, low engine hood and no rear frame towers. Competitors have not had this visibility designed into the engineering of their machines so they relied on a rear-view camera to create their visibility. With the new HAWK display, New Holland is integrating a factory-installed, standard rear-view camera that will give an operator unprecedented, best-in-class visibility. The rear-view camera can be set to stay on the screen at all times or only appear when you are backing up, so you can choose what fits you best.

Maintenance & On-Board Diagnostics

No one likes it when your machine has a problem. The key to overcoming these obstacles when they happen is to know what is going on. That is why on the HAWK display, when error codes are present on the machine, there is a locally installed Diagnostic Trouble Codes system to help identify and spell out the problem. This will lead to a quicker understanding of what is going on and quicker diagnostic and repair times.

Security

As technology has continued to progress, the need for keys keeps declining. In late 200 Series machines, New Holland converted to a keyless ignition on its cab models. Unfortunately the only protection from theft was by locking the door and you still had to have a key to do that. With the addition of the display, New Holland 300 Series models can have a custom security code set for operation. Not only are you able to leave your key behind, but you don’t have to sacrifice machine security at the same time.

Summary

The all-new HAWK® 8″ Information Display is the best new feature of the 300 Series New Holland Skid Steer & CTL. It gives operators the ability to see live information and customize the machines performance to their liking, while keeping the machine safer than before with on-board security and diagnostics. This new 300 Series will be rolling out on dealer’s lots in early 2020 so keep an eye out for the all-new New Holland skid steer and CTL that brings unprecedented upgrades to these machines in the industry.

You can visit the New Holland product page to get the full scoop on these redesigned machines.

HAWK® Display interface images

2020 Rose Farm Supply Calendar (Digital Version)

/in /by

Starting in 2017, Rose Farm Supply has published our annual calendar using customer submitted photographs. Take a look at the 2020 calendar as we celebrate our 35 years in business. You can submit your photos at anytime for future calendars here .

For the best viewing, click on the full screen icon in the bottom right corner of the frame.
If you’re having trouble viewing the calendar click here

2018 New Holland President’s Club Award Recipient

/in /by

Rose Farm Supply Attains New Holland’s Highest Service Excellence Achievement

Owners, Regina Rose and Kenney Gulley, are awarded the New Holland President's Club Award by New Holland Aftersales Business Manger, Andrew Wood
Owners, Regina Rose and Kenney Gulley, are awarded the New Holland President’s Club Award by New Holland Aftersales Business Manger, Andrew Wood

We are happy to announce that our dealership has been awarded the New Holland Service Excellence President’s Club Award for the 2018 calendar year, making it the 6th consecutive year that our dealership has achieved this recognition. The Service Excellence Program is setup to promote and recognize dealers who achieve the highest level of service excellence. This program requires dealers to make significant investments towards maintaining good aftersales business practices. Some of these include service technician training, diagnostic equipment, special service tools & software, equipment inspections and managerial practices.

“It is always our mission to maintain these standards and exceed them in our service department”, says Kenney Gulley, Service Manager at Rose Farm Supply. “We all know that equipment can be frustrating at times and repairs can take a little longer than expected when you hit some bumps, but we want to thank all of our customers for their patience and loyalty as we continue to make strides to better assist them. One of the ways we do that is by investing in our service department by sending our technicians to receive the most up-to-date training, providing them with the correct tools for today’s advanced equipment and by continuing to develop our work space to accommodate todays equipment.”

At Rose Farm Supply our saying is Your Partner For Every Operation. We want to be more than a place that you bought a piece of equipment – we want to be a place that you feel comfortable coming back to for equipment, parts, service and knowledge. We believe that by maintaining service excellence we are helping our customers be more successful and being a better partner.

Who is The Toro Company? – A Brief History

/in /by
The original Toro Bull tractor with a front mount rotary mower.

The History of a 100 Year Old Professional Landscape Company

The Bull Tractor Company of Minneapolis, MN, sold more farm tractors than any other brand but had trouble finding a reliable source of engines. The Toro Motor Company was founded on July 10, 1914 to answer the call and build tractor engines for The Bull Tractor Company. After several years of this joint-venture, Toro was approached by the Minikahda Club in Minnesota to create a motorized fairway mower. They created a tractor that had five reel mowers attached to the front. This innovation started the motorized golf course equipment line that is a centerpiece of the company today.

For the next 25 years, Toro continues to develop its commercial turf maintenance and irrigation product offerings. In a move former Toro President David Lilly would later describe as “one of the best business decisions we ever made”, Toro acquired Whirlwind of Milwaukee, WI in 1948 who was a manufacturer of rotary lawn mowers. This purchase set up Toro to revolutionize the mower industry for both commercial and consumer products.

Toro Revolutionized Research and Development

Toro’s next goal was to set themselves further apart from the competition and master the craft of the machines they were making. Toro opened an expansive R&D facility in Bloomington, MN in 1952 to test new product concepts and conduct agronomic research. This facility was led by widely-known agronomist James R. Watson, PhD. Watson, along with a team of 25 scientists, conducted cutting-edge studies that significantly advanced turf care knowledge. This also revolutionized the industry. This investment in research and development in the turf care industry was the first of its kind in the world. This same work continues today in Toro’s new Dr. Jim Watson Center for Advanced Turf Management (CAAT) in Minnesota that fuels the latest innovations in Toro’s products.

Toro Research and Development Facility – Bloomington, MN (1952)

Growing An Industry Leader

In 1974, Toro president David Lilly was determined to make the company a full-line lawn and garden manufacturer. From this came the “Guaranteed to Start” program on consumer walk-power mowers that covers any mower malfunction under warranty if the mower doesn’t start in two pulls. This highly successful program still carries on today.

But the company didn’t make it to where it is today with only walk-power mowers. Over the years they’ve acquired other brands to have the most complete line on the market. In 1989, Toro made its first acquisition of Lawn Boy and Wheel Horse. Several years later, Toro formed a new Landscape Contractor Business which would provide a comprehensive line of landscape contractor products. Shortly following in 1997, Toro acquired Exmark® Manufacturing, the popular commercial zero-turn mower producer.

The company has most recently made acquisitions of Boss® Snow Removal Products (2014) and The Charles Machine Works Company (2019) who is the owner of the Ditch Witch® brand. As the future looks towards battery powered outdoor products, Toro continues to invest in the R&D to make that vision a reality. Toro continues its mission to have the best technology and widest product offering in the industry, making it the most reliable choice for professionals and consumers alike. 

The Toro Company Today

Today, The Toro Company is the largest American manufacturer of turf maintenance equipment for commercial and residential gardens, public parks, golf courses and sports fields. The company also specializes in snow removal equipment and irrigation systems. Toro takes great pride in helping consumers enrich the beauty, productivity and sustainability of the land. Through a strong network of dealers and retailers in more than 125 countries, Toro offers a wide range of products to help homeowners, professional contractors, golf courses, groundskeepers, rental companies, governments and educational institutions – in addition to many leading sports venues and historic sites around the world. The rich history of Toro translates into industry leading products that set themselves apart from the competition.

Toro Commercial Zero-Turn Mower – Titan HD

The Official Turf Maintenance Supplier

Not only is Toro the trusted turf management and equipment provider of thousands of golf courses around the world, but also of all of these prestigious events that are on television for millions of people to see. From the Super Bowl, to Walt Disney World Resorts, to the Olympics, Toro is a name that is trusted on the biggest stages to be the best in the industry.

You can view the full video on the history of Toro below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orwfJHaAhrE

The ‘Secret’ to Top-Quality Horse Hay

/in /by

Not many farmers can satisfy the finicky hay standards of Lexington, Kentucky, horse farms. Rick Hord not only can, but has done it for 10 years from his family’s Tollesboro, Kentucky farm.

horse eating hay and tractor moving hay bale

The family, which includes Rick, his wife Teresa, and son Brett, make hay – lots of it – for the Lexington horse market and their own cow herd. “We’ll square bale anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 bales a year, and roll anywhere from 800 to 900 large round bales,” says Rick Hord. Hard also runs a registered Charolais herd, selling around 70 registered bulls and heifers annually.

Top Quality Demanded

What’s the secret to making hay for some of the most expensive horses in the world? “Horse farms are finicky about their hay,” Hord says. “They look for qualities way beyond what most cattle or dairy farms would see as good quality. For example, when they break open a bale, if the color isn’t almost as green as growing grass, they won’t buy it. They also look closely at the amount of leaves on stems. There has to be a lot of leaves.”

“I don’t know the secret to making top quality hay,” Hord adds, “but I’ll tell you how I do it. It’s a three-day process for me. The first day I cut with my Discbine® disc mower-conditioner. That afternoon, or the next morning, I ted it. Then on the third day, around 10 in the morning when there is still a little dew on the hay, I rake it. Then as soon as I get it raked – if it’s a good sunny day – I bale it. The hay still holds a little moisture, and will be green in color.”

His square baler is close to 40 years old, but still does a good job, Hord says. He uses a New Holland BR770 round baler to bale his cattle hay and has a new 24-speed New Holland T4.120 tractor to power his equipment.

Some farmers rake hay one day, then turn it again the next day before baling, Hord notes. “When you do that, it can dafe the hay to a bleach, tan-looking color – not the green color horse hay buyers demand,” he cautions. Hord tests hay for protein. “Than tan, brownish color doesn’t hurt hay’s protein content,” he says, “but horse farms want green color hay.” Some of his hay tests as high as 24 percent protein.

“Horse farms are also particular about hay maturity,” he adds. “A key to making good alfalfa hay for the horse market is to cut it every 30 days.” Hord seeds most of his hay ground to a mix of alfalfa, timothy and orchard grass, but also has some straight-grass fields. “Some horse farms prefer alfalfa-grass hay and some just grass hay. About 75% of my hay acres are seeded in alfalfa, timothy and orchard grass,” he says. “Over time the mix changes as timothy grows better in some fields, and orchard grass in others. Some fields maintain a quality stand up to nine years. When a field needs re-seeding, Hord plants it to corn or soybeans for two years. “The purpose of planting corn or soybeans is to get rid of the weeks and fescue. Then after two years, I sow alfalfa, timothy and orchard grass mix and always end up with a good field of hay.” In 2017, he did this with 33 acres of hay – planting it to corn. It was the only corn on his farm.

Ag Student Connection

Hord got into the Lexington horse hay market through several former students. Hord taught vocational agriculture for 28 years, retiring from teaching in 2007. He started teaching while farming with his father, Kenneth, and after his father retired, he ran the family farm on his own.

“A number of the students I taught in high school went on to work on Lexington area horse farms,” he says. “Several still work there and have hay hauling businesses. I sell to them and they re-sell the hay to the horse farms.”

During his last year of teaching, Hord’s FFA students won both the Kentucky and national FFA welding contests and the contest and the Mid-South Fair in Memphis, Tennessee.

Purebred Charolais Herd

Hord’s pride and joy is his 70-cow Charolais herd. Half the cows are calved in spring and half in the fall. Bulls are sold from 12 to 18 months of age, heifers at around 15 to 16 months. Bulls and heifers are sold both privately and at Hord’s annual sale, held each spring at the Bluegrass Maysville Stockyards in Maysville, Kentucky.

Why Charolais? The Hord family ran a Grade A dairy until 1974, the year Rick went off to study at Morehead State university. in the switch from a dairy to a beef cow herd, the Hords found themselves with half Hereford-half Holstein heifers – the result of having bred some of their Holstein cows to a Hereford bull.

“We bought a Charolais bull to increase the muscling and performance of the herd,” Hord days, “And then we also traded some of our dairy cows for registered Charolais sows. That’s how we got into Charolais. Because of their performance – the Charolais outgrew everything – we kept Charolais replacement heifers, used Charolais bulls and within four to five years we were all purebred.”

Hord has worked to steadily improve his herd, primarily by buying top bulls. “I try to use the modern bloodlines, and buy mostly embryo transfer bulls.” He sells to other breeders and commercial farms, with around 90 percent of his bulls and heifers going to commercial farms.

man in front of cows

Who: Rick Hord
Where: Tollesboro, KY
New Holland Equipment: Discbine® H7220 Disc Mower-Conditioner, ProTed™ 3417 Rotary Tedder, Rolabar® 256 Rake, BR770 Round Baler, 311 Square Baler, T4.120 Tractor
Dealer: Rose Farm Supply – Flemingsburg, KY

This story is an excerpt of a featured story in the New Holland News Magazine – Spring 2018

Toro-Titan-HD-Commercial-Zero-Turn-Mowers-Display-960w

Winterizing Your Lawn Mower

/in /by

When you buy a lawn mower, you’re buying a machine that you expect to be mowing your yard for the next seven to ten years. We understand the value of properly maintaining your machine so that it will continue to be reliable for you year after year. When the fall rolls around, follow these tips on winterizing your mower to ensure your mower will be ready to go when you are in the Spring.

Gasoline

Gas can begin to degrade in as little as 30 days which when left in your mower can cause gumming that will clog up your carburetor and can also cause misfires in the engine. The result of this ends in costly repairs to clean the carburetor or possibly even a carburetor replacement ($300), none of which is covered by any manufacturer’s warranty policy. A carburetor is the valve that provides fuel to the engine, so when the valve is junked up and doesn’t operate properly, your engine will not perform as it should. The good news is that there are a couple of ways to prevent this from happening and keep your mower’s fuel system fresh.

1. All-Season Canned Fuel (RECOMMENDED): Simply empty all of the gas out of your tanks by running the mower out of gas. After it runs out, use All-Season Canned Fuel for 4-Cycle Engines to cycle through the engine. This engineered gasoline has a shelf life of three years and doesn’t contain any ethanol, which is one of the top reasons for fuel corrosion. With this high octane fuel sitting in your fuel system, you will have no issues hitting the ground running in the spring.

2. Fuel Treatment: Add fuel treatment, also know as fuel stabilizer, to the existing gas in the mower. It will help to protect your engine from gum, rust and corrosion that standard gasoline can cause. Stabilizer can preserve fuel for up to six months, but it can be affected by the climate and environment it sits in. So be cautious when solely depending on fuel stabilizers to treat your fuel over winter.

Battery

Some might say that lawn mower batteries are garbage in general and that you should expect to get a new one every year. That might be true for some of the batteries on the market, but there are several things that you can do to stretch the life of your battery.

The first thing is the most obvious and is the most effective, but most people just don’t make it a priority and that being going and starting your mower a couple times a month and letting it run for a while. This will cycle gas and oil through your engine, will pump hydraulic oil through the wheel motors and will allow the battery to charge. Overall this is the absolute best practice, but if we’re being honest, going outside to the shed or barn to start your mower in the snow doesn’t seem to fall at the top of the priority list. So here are a few alternatives:

1. Trickle Charger (RECOMMENDED): Keeping your battery active and charged is the most important thing in maintaining battery life. If you don’t want to unhook your battery from the mower, simply get a trickle charge and hook it up to your battery. All you will need is an outlet next to your mower. You can get any type of trickle charger, but here’s a link to one on Amazon.

2. Storing At Room Temperature: Batteries have a low freezing tolerance meaning when the acid inside of the battery freezes, it can cause major damage to the cells inside. When this happens, you will get cells that go bad or your cold cranking amps (CCA) will permanently decrease which causes the battery to not perform dependably. So if you will unhook your battery from the mower and store in a garage or a place that will not freeze, you will extend the life of your battery.

Note: Do not store on directly on concrete floors as the concrete will pull the moisture out of your battery causing permanent damage.

Clean & Store

Cleaning your mower will allow it to run more efficiently and cut better while also preserving the paint and mechanical parts. When grass, dirt, leaves, etc. sit on your mower for months as they decompose, it can cause the paint and metal to crack or rust. By cleaning your mower of this on a regular basis and especially before winter, you will preserve the machine as a whole. But when I say clean, I mean a little more than just giving it a good scrub for looks and that being found under the deck.

When you cut grass, some of it collects under your deck against the side walls and will stick. The amount that collects is much more when you are mowing wet grass. Many manufacturers have deck washout ports as standard features on their mowers so that you can keep this collection from becoming a problem. In general, they work great as long as you use them every time that you mow wet grass, but once that wet grass collects, it dries like concrete. This can cause your deck to not get the proper flow of air to cut correctly, which will leave your yard looking uneven and uncut in some areas. It’s a good idea to check under your deck before storing it for winter for any grass buildups. You can remove the grass or dirt with something as simple as a paint scraper. This will make sure your mower has the best cut possible next spring.

When it comes to storing your mower, under cover is the best to protect your machine from the sun, rain, wind and snow. Repainting your mower can be costly and time consuming while a new seat is an automatic $500. If under a roof isn’t a possibility for you, consider an outdoor mower cover. For $50-$60 you can keep your mower from fading, cracking or rusting.

Summary

If you take a couple hours to winterize your mower, you’ll be extending your mower’s life by years. Not only will the machine last longer, it will operate at peak performance and you’ll be a lot less frustrated along the way. Do yourself a favor and save yourself some money by taking a few hours to follow the steps above and winterize your lawn mower. Happy mowing!

Get In Touch