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talfarms
Posted 7/7/ 16:55 (#)
Subject: John Deere chopper

CenMoI am looking at putting up close to 100 acres of corn silage every year and 80-100 acres of Sudan silage. We will be bagging all of this. What model John Deere copper would you all suggest will be pulling it with a magnum at 215 horse?

Casey IL. ( I -70 ) then south on rt.49I don't do silage. But why not make a trench and pack it in there. I just hear about so much varmint damage in the bags. Have had friends loss it all. Years ago I used a trench and seeded oats and put straw over the top. I fed it all. I had beef cows.

CenMoI have had it custom cut into bags the last two years and to my surprise the only problem I have had was operator error when I back into one bag.

South West MN.

CenMoShould of specified I think I am going to stick with a pull type not wanting to invest much.


Lincoln County. NCtalfarms - 7/7/ 19:12

Should of specified I think I am going to stick with a pull type not wanting to invest much.

I should hope so for 100 acres.

Central iowaI’d still suggest a self propelled you can get a 90’s Deere very reasonable...once you go self propelled you won’t wanna go back I wouldn’t trade our field queen for a brand new pull typeIn my opinion New Holland pull types are a better chopper. If you don’t care about paint look at a 230 or 240 NH.

Fairbury, NE (Southeast)agree, doesn't take very many acres to make a machine pay and keeps hours off tractor. Might pick up a few custom jobs. We do every year with an old .X100

Watkinsville, GAI've ran 3 JD models. ,60, and now have a 75. I would go with at least a cause it steps up to a wider cutter drum. 4 rows of knives versus 3 on previous models.

MoI’ve got a JD and my is good.

Greensboro North CarolinaI also know we’re a is that can be bought chrap

Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WAFlamme Farms - 7/7/ 16:53

I’d still suggest a self propelled you can get a 90’s Deere very reasonable...once you go self propelled you won’t wanna go back I wouldn’t trade our field queen for a brand new pull type

With corn in the mix, I also would recommend a JD series for the OP’s acreage. They are the cheap old machines now, and have their shortcomings, but will absolutely walk all over any budget friendly pull type. A lot of the electrical headaches they were famous for can be avoided by manually sharpening the knives and adjusting the shearbar and KP. That stuff is manual on a PT anyway, if you can find a PT with a KP.

Get a rotary header and enjoy chopping corn.




western iowa,by Denisona jd would handle your snort -it is a industrial chopper-or a dion-for maybe a or -you have to make sure everything is up to snuff-they all will be fine-and 20 acres a day with a 2 row not a big day-your bagger will be the limit -so the pull chopper will be good fit
A with low acres -and maybe a new head-get the long tounge with hyd swing


northeastern OhioI've ran a and . The was made in the early 80's while I believe the was made from -. The 's were made from to present. The 's are getting old and some of the 's are over 30 years old too. Of course condition trumps age, but age is a factor too.

In , I cut my in half and welded in a Lancaster kernel processor. That was a big disaster! The Lancaster would plug at seemingly random times..... and often. Very bad design. Fought it for two years and then bought a self-propelled New Holland. I now have two NH self propelled,,,, one for haylage and one for corn silage.

If I was buying a pull type again, I would look at a Dion (might be available as a Hesston or MF too ).

Central iowaOur 9ft Ag bagger can keep up with a and 6 row head with 2 haulers chopping right next to the bag

MichiganI also bought a fx58 last year. Had some problems at first but got most of the bugs worked out now and it is way better than the 240l we had as far as getting done in a hurry. Bought it with just over 2k hours for half the price of a new fp240 and no way would we go back. But with the acres the op wants to chop should get along fine with a pull type. I would look for a 230 or 240 instead of a deere, light years ahead.

SE Manitobatalfarms - 7/7/ 16:55

I am looking at putting up close to 100 acres of corn silage every year and 80-100 acres of Sudan silage. We will be bagging all of this. What model John Deere copper would you all suggest will be pulling it with a magnum at 215 horse?

I might be the 'weird' voice here but others have opened the door so here goes.

You have 200 acres of silage.
Timely silage makes the BEST feed.
1. are you mechanically adept?
if yes, buy a older sp
if no, older sp (choppers in general imo ) like repairs
(they are tough working machines though )
2. will you also chop some alfalfa and/ or alfalfa grass?
if yes - - - - forget pull types (I learned the hard way that they don't like lumps!! )
if no then you're back to the beginning.

I would suggest finding an older Class chopper.
May be slightly tougher to find parts. (IMO they all suck today! Just some a little less than the others. )
Dealers are harder to find. (I found the American head office to be quite responsive but ymmv! )
You will love your lower fuel consumption!!!
Deere doesn't seem to have got that fuel costs money!
NH 40 years ago totally dominated the forage industry in North America (IMO ) but today they have some strong items but their lineup is not like it used to be.
Your fuel costs for chopping are significant and cutting them by say 8 to 10% will really show up - - - even on 200 acres!

If you still want a pull type - - - - the NH 900 or newer series blow the doors off the Deere stuff and whatever you do a Gehl - - - - leave it for the scrap guy!!! (Ask me how I learned this if you have a few hours! )
Deere makes some great equipment but their choppers - - - -sorry they are not even close to first rank (imo ).

Be interesting to hear what you do!garvo
Posted 7/8/ 14:28 (# - in reply to #)
Subject: RE: John Deere chopper

western iowa,by DenisonThe nice thing about the Deere chopper is -it is very easy to replace parts and several company's also supply many parts-+ you do not have to nail it with horsepower-I know are Dion and Deere take more hp-I think the downfall is that you have to find one that is not wore out or rebuild it, I do like the parts available quickly for the , and ,
we still use pull type for chopping haylage because available help through the summer is hard to come by-usually end up just chopping by myself and use a older that we spent $ on parts-it really sings chopping hay-and we are only running the jd on it-the has more snort-but the is nice to run

I have over the years ran over 100 different pull type choppers-of all brands-the -70-75 series was the easiest one to work on. For not having a nickel in dire need I ran a Hesston -150, it was harder to work on but parts were cheap and easy to get in the 80's-a fox seem to cut really fine -as in length of cut-a gehl was just a pain and the new hollands always had a couple things I didn't like-a 830 case ih was a money loser from day one

Today I have a dion,a - and a -If we have help and are pushing haylage or rye-wheatlage we use the jd-usually saddled to 300+ hp -that thing will just smoke-and is capable to blow over into pull along wagons-

For simple and one man with occasional help the .70 or 75 are just nice to run-throw on a 2 row head and don't worry,plus the 7.ft hay head with dolly wheels makes windrow pick up easy.J. Sheehan
Posted 7/8/ 18:10 (# - in reply to #)
Subject: RE: John Deere chopper

Sunnyside, WAWe chop a lot of alfalfa haylage with a pair of Dion F41 choppers. My next choice would be a NH FP240 chopper. We just traded our NH a couple weeks ago. The Dion choppers can slow down a 360 hp tractor. Can also handle a 4 row head, but we don't chop corn with them.



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talfarms
Posted 7/8/ 20:57 (# - in reply to #)
Subject: RE: John Deere chopper

CenMoThanks for all the reply’s. I have a 16 row planter so I am trying to decide what size head to try to go to..... should I run a 2 row head or a 3 row head?Carlton Hale
Posted 7/8/ 21:09 (# - in reply to #)
Subject: RE: John Deere chopper

Watkinsville, GA3 row for sure. These folks talking about Dions. Those things are pricey. I would rather have a SP before I bought one of those.J. Sheehan
Posted 7/9/ 00:41 (# - in reply to #)
Subject: RE: John Deere chopper

Sunnyside, WACarlton Hale - 7/8/ 19:09

3 row for sure. These folks talking about Dions. Those things are pricey. I would rather have a SP before I bought one of those.

Buy used. Plenty of cheap used choppers. Even Dion choppers. This Hesston is made by Dion. So is a New Idea

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/...

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/...

The new JD pull type choppers are going to be made by Dion

Edited by J. Sheehan 7/9/ 01:43




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garvo
Posted 7/9/ 06:29 (# - in reply to #)
Subject: RE: John Deere chopper