Today Donna and I drove down to Missoula, MT. Missoula is where I usually go to sell my cattle at the livestock auction. Today, though, I went to Missoula for a different reason. For the last few weeks I have been looking at tractors and mower conditioners. My New Holland haybine has seen its better days and I want something new to cut my hay. Over the years hay cutting equipment went from swathers to haybines, now to mower conditioners.
Once I get a mower conditioner I will talk and show how they are different. For now, the one difference I will mention is that mower conditioners require more tractor PTO horsepower to run the machine. 70 hp or more. My tractor's PTO hp is 65. Not enough to run a mower conditioner - though some people say I could use my current tractor to run a mower conditioner if I cut the hay slow. No, I don't want to. I don't want to cut my hay slower or risk a problem with the mower conditioner or tractor in doing so. So that means a slightly larger tractor. And that is expensive.
I am looking at two brands of tractors and mower conditioners. John Deere or Case IH New Holland. The two dealerships had the tractors I want/need at their Missoula branch, not the Kalispell branch. I want to see the tractors in person before buying. I've been trying to get to Missoula for a few weeks now, but between my schedule, Donna's schedule, or the weather I haven't been able to get to Missoula. The John Deere dealer already had a mower conditioner in Kalispell. I didn't ask, then told them they didn't have to, but they decided as I wasn't making it to Missoula last week they brought the tractor here to Kalispell. I looked at it last Friday. Today Donna's and my schedules and the weather worked and we were able to drive to Missoula. Because Donna can get carsick riding long distances if she is a passenger, she drove. So I saw the Case tractor and mower conditioner. Now I have an idea how I want to proceed and what I prefer. I just have to a little more work to do, so perhaps next week I will have things settled. I'll let you know.
Of course, I took a few photos at my typical favorite viewpoint of the Mission Mountains along the way.
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