In-Season Maintenance Tips for Hay Equipment

Jun 16, 2022

Things move fast during during the haying season. Unexpected downtime due to equipment repairs can be costly — both in terms of productivity and forage quality losses. Making daily inspections part of your routine, as well as staying on top of maintenance schedules, will help maximize your productivity. The operator’s manual will have a maintenance checklist for your specific equipment, but here are some overall suggestions to keep you in the field and out of the shop.

Routine Maintenance for Cutting Equipment
Whether you’re running a disc mower or a self-propelled windrower — like the new Hesston by Massey Ferguson WR Series — keeping on top of in-season maintenance provides short- and long-term benefits. Look for well-designed, maintenance-friendly equipment to make it easier on you and your team. Features such as sealed bearings or composite bushings minimize lube points. Additionally, models with longer service intervals will cut down on maintenance in the middle of your busy season. A large portion of Hesston by Massey Ferguson equipment offers a 50-hour service interval to help maximize your productivity.

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Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.