Swathing Hay in North Dakota with a Versatile 400 Swather

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11 ай бұрын

Swathing Hay in North Dakota with a Versatile 400 Swather
In this video I am out in a field near New Salem North Dakota as a farmer is swathing hay using his 1979 Versatile 400 self propelled swather.
This was one of those video opportunities where I just happened to take the right road and stumbled upon this vintage machine in action.

Пікірлер: 106

@whiteout1962 11 ай бұрын

Thanks Mike, I am the lucky guy on the swather. Great job of editing out all the plug ups from my friend the pocket gophers. I sure enjoyed meeting and visiting with you!

@soderholmfarms4654 11 ай бұрын

You have a well maintained machine to get it to cut hay!

@greggardner2823 11 ай бұрын

Great to see you out there, thanks for everything you do.

@glensquirrell6117 11 ай бұрын

Lots of these in Ontario. I owned 3 over the years. Would really cut but hard on parts. Not much swathing done here anymore. Good dealers over the years.

@pauletheridge2412 Ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your time and work for all of us to enjoy!

@bryanginder5903 11 ай бұрын

Hybrids have changed But the reason for swathing a crop was if it had grass or weeds in the crop they would dry before going threw the combine, it make a big difference!

@stephenreimer9481 11 ай бұрын

My dad used four 400 models with the double swath option. Later he switched to the 4400 models with ac and radios in the cabs. The engine used in all of them was the good old Ford gas six cylinder.

@lnpipeline3306 6 ай бұрын

We ran a John Deere 800 swather for years, think it also had the same engine. We had someone on that thing at least 16 hours a day. Based on the hours per day, day per year, and the amount of years we used it, I’m sure it had over 15,000 hours on it. And we never had any major engine problems. Lots of other breakdowns, but nothing with the engine. Finally traded it for a brand new 4895 in 2007. Looking back, I can’t believe how much hay we cut with that old machine.

@lnpipeline3306 6 ай бұрын

Edit: I looked, and I think the 800 actually had a Chrysler engine.

@chadshafer8095 11 ай бұрын

I enjoy your videos of older Equipment that you dont see everyday.

@Purington 11 ай бұрын

I knew these existed, but have never seen one used in anger. Thanks for showing rare and old equipment still in use!

@badlandskid 10 ай бұрын

😂. They could cause some anger fo sho

@scottpykare801 11 ай бұрын

Wow, that's pretty interesting. No creature comforts there.😂

@thepoorhunter2004 10 ай бұрын

My grandfather and uncle ran a pair of these, cut most of their hay and all of their grain with them. And kept three or four more of them in various states of disassembly out back for spares. That sound takes me right back to many, many hours of pulling a 5 wheel Vicon rake behind an 1830 Deere while they were dropping the next field over.

@thepoorhunter2004 10 ай бұрын

And those old Ford industrial motors were damn near unkillable.

@thepoorhunter2004 10 ай бұрын

The back end was a little light, and the rear wheel would leave the ground if you went over a bump with the header up. Most guys who ran them in our area had a big ol’ piece of scrap iron chained to the rear end of the frame to help keep it down

@BRPFan 11 ай бұрын

I have worked on many, many thousands 400 Versatile swather! Hard to bet a good old 400! Thanks for the video Mike!

@goatfarmmb 5 ай бұрын

seen many of those around but now one can see the odd one for sale at an auction

@randykrochak1185 11 ай бұрын

Back in the day, I had a Versatile 330 It was built on the 400 swather frame, but used a Ford Pinto over head valve 4 cylinder engine! It only came in 15 or 18’ table. It cut like a dam, and was very cheep on gas.

@tapertim 11 ай бұрын

I remember this swathes from the 70s they were the first ones I saw with a steering wheel instead of levers

@staceyacre8870 11 ай бұрын

When I was a teen in the 1990’s, I used to help a friend’s dad swath his hay fields during the summers. This brought back so many memories. He used to tease me if I missed any strips. By the time I graduated, I was pretty good and didn’t have any strips. He then teased his kids about how clean cut my fields were compared to their cut fields! Held my head high that last year!! Good times!!

@kennethcarlton2860 11 ай бұрын

When I worked at a warehouse for a tractor company a lot of the " city people didn't know what a swather was . Two were debating what it was and I just saw the swivel rear wheels and told them , they were surprised ,, but I had farmed 25 years before I went to work at the warehouse in a large city . Thanks for your great video and finding the older equipment they used to have .

@Andy-From-England 11 ай бұрын

Leaves a nice finish on the grass....great machine 💪

@outbackladas 11 ай бұрын

Wonderful older machinery, great video, thoroughly enjoyed it.👍 Regards from Down Under.

@markreetz1001 11 ай бұрын

Well that was an interesting find. Really cool Mike!

@chrisgossman6512 11 ай бұрын

Another piece of farming equipment I have never seen before .Thanks for sharing again. I like Mike 👍. Happy subscriber 😊!

@peterlarson8932 27 күн бұрын

Fun to see. I spent many hours on 400 models. Oats, barley, Durum, and hay. They were very economical and easy to service. Ford 200 industrial engines. I bought a lightly used one at a sale once that was overfueling and found out the carberator had two main jets in it instead of an idle jet and a main. After Ford New Holland bought them out parts became very high priced. There were aftermarket parts available but of poor quality. I had to give them up and modernize with newer pull type equipment eventually.

@notpoliticallycorrect4774 11 ай бұрын

PTSD of about 1000 hours of my childhood right there. All before I was 14 and we got a Massey with a modern cab.

@Hinesfarm-Indiana 11 ай бұрын

Wow that’s been around for a few years, the early drapper head, really neat 👍👍

@John-jg5dh 11 ай бұрын

Great to see the old equipment still working. I still use the 350 Owatonna 12ft swather that my dad had, only for cutting grain now.

@user-rt4nh1sq3j 11 ай бұрын

hats off to you Mr, you do an outstanding job with this content that lets us look in to past today

@samellis4054 11 ай бұрын

Hands down one of the coolest machines on the channel in my opinion!! but any old is way cooler

@joelg8004 11 ай бұрын

That looks so cool from above! Great video!

@cameronhaynes4487 5 ай бұрын

man that sure brought back memories my grand father had an open cab like that not sure what brand if i remember it was orange and was leaver action no steering wheel and still ran like a champ riged up his own canopy. mever upgraded anything even used wheel moves.

@AndreiTupolev 11 ай бұрын

That single rear wheel gives a great turning circle. It can do neutral turns like a tracked vehicle!

@troyp467 11 ай бұрын

We stopped grain farming in about 03 when I was 6 and we had one of these exactly like this with a 18 foot head. Combine was I think a white 8650 pull type or something like that we ran with a case IH 2096. Coop to see one still running. I don't remember much about ours but I know it was 3 wheels like this and looked the same

@markelton2594 11 ай бұрын

Used 400 versatiles for most of my life to cut grass seed(bluegrass and ryegrass) just switched to a mcdon in the last few years. The 400s were rough but they worked good to cut close to the ground and were easy to fix.

@randy2283 11 ай бұрын

Amazing video mike I haven't seen one of those in a long time good to see you

@jakeguli5538 11 ай бұрын

Cool as hell. Runs like a freaking champ still. Can only imagine the man hours going in to keep it alive, keeping everything sharp ECT, to keep this ole girl slaying the hay

@SimonKL11 11 ай бұрын

Cool to see that unique swather at work😉👍 thank you for the video Mike👍👍

@purplerunner1715 11 ай бұрын

Didn't look to that easy of a crop or land to cut, so I would say he did a pretty good job with that 400, hope it made so happy livestock or where ever it ended up.

@martingardener90 11 ай бұрын

Lovely to see this old girl still working. Swathers or haybines were never a thing here in the UK but the Farm my Dad worked on in Devon did have a New holland for a couple of years until disc mowers became bigger and were much faster. I remember it was very manouverable in the field but a pig to drive on the narrow country lanes.

@mikebuschette3297 11 ай бұрын

I little history about this. Versatile actually made 2 models of this swather at the same time. The 400 had the 6 cylinder Ford gas, and the other one was a model 330 with a 4 cylinder Ford gas engine. I had one of those with a 15 ft head and if you didn't have much for hills it would work just as good as the 400. Thanks for this video, it brings back some good memories!

@ndtschau 11 ай бұрын

I just love all that old equiptment, where everything rattles and shakes. Of course this was horrible for the guys who had to work with this when you were coming home in the evening, feeling every single bone of your body. 😖 But it's great to see some of it still working... 😃 Thanks a lot for the video! 😊👍🏻

@jasonrathgeber5999 11 ай бұрын

We had 3 of 400's two 20fts and a 15ft. We had a removable crimper on the 15ft for cutting hay, worked really good just dont plug it up.

@asmrhead1560 11 ай бұрын

That's awesome that he recognized you!

@kurtislarson704 11 ай бұрын

I cut my teeth on a 400 versatile , I now run two claas butterfly mowers. I bought my first Vermeer this year a zr 5 , after putting well over 100000 bales on Deere machines. Crazy where we are at with equipment. Love your vids.

@davidsparrow6772 11 ай бұрын

Oh wow talk about memories. Made by the same manufacturer i'm sure. We had an older awatana thirty five. It was a light green. Color. But it also had all mechanical planetary drive. This one sounds like it may have hydrostatic. Which would better a huge improvement. Every day you adjusted something. But it worked well. They also had nice for cylinder ford powerplant. Suspected it was military when we were two left over. But great memories just the same.

@mbury8004 11 ай бұрын

A great video again ! Regards from germany

@jilleanjohnson6618 11 ай бұрын

Very cool video Mike.

@404nitro 11 ай бұрын

This was quite cool to see.

@michaelbaumgardner2530 11 ай бұрын

The Pittman arm takes a beating on that machine.

@whiteout1962 11 ай бұрын

Yes it does, It has been reinforced and I usually change the bearings and races every couple years.

@tamiller84 11 ай бұрын

Thanks for the great video. Would have been great If he would have had the old school crimper on the swather. Wait - it's not old school, just middle school. I'm not that old. :-)

@rongrose3746 11 ай бұрын

Should be in a museum!

@emadeldinhessain3272 11 ай бұрын

Great. Well done.

@reggiezylstra9142 11 ай бұрын

I had one in the early 80s farmed in South Dakota raised hay for dairy cows used it a couple years and traded it for a hydraswing I always liked it did a good job. If I remember right I think I payed $2500 used for it. Don't remember the year I just remember it did a good job I just traded it for something with a conditioner hoping the alfalfa would dry faster.

@luisnunes7933 11 ай бұрын

Hello! Fine oldie doing a good job!

@jamied.2734 11 ай бұрын

Got to love going old school sometimes.

@bradleymcwilliams6348 11 ай бұрын

Old school! Gotta say if that had been me on the machine, I would have insisted you make a pass or two to get a feel for it!

@noehueber6602 11 ай бұрын

Hello everyone good vidéo mike In Alsace a friend of my boss and I have one it's super cool to drive in road and in the field we use it at this friend's because it swaths rapeseed, barley wheat and oats and we pick it up with a classic minneapolis moline from 1959 and harvesting grass

@kmyers3481 11 ай бұрын

I still use a 400 swather to cut all my hay I do about 350 acres with it works great

@frankscruggs4749 11 ай бұрын

Good video.

@johnluimes8359 11 ай бұрын

Last Versatile swather was the 4750 which was made to 1992. There are still some in use around here at Edmonton Alberta.

@rightsideofthegrass8114 11 ай бұрын

This resembles a Hesston we used to swath seed crops, early 60's. It had a single tail wheel, Hercules engine, cutter bar like this. It had no steering wheel, rather two sticks that controlled v-belts (one each wheel) with a reversing jackshaft. One stick had side to side control for fine tuning on wheel speed (right side).

@vrisntell 11 ай бұрын

I used to work on those old dogs putting the steering drive belts on could be a challenge, Im being to kind when i said challenge lol.

@rightsideofthegrass8114 11 ай бұрын

@@vrisntell If I recall correctly, the two v-belts followed a triangular shape; one driver pulley on a forward jackshaft, another idler connected to the sticks, and the other pulley on the driven shaft that went to the wheels. When pulling back on the sticks, the idler pulled the belt against the reverse-rotation jackshaft, thus making the driven shaft rotating in reverse direction. The driven jackshaft was driven from the engine on a variable speed sheave arrangement - wide v-belt, with deep sheaves, one side was moveable. As the sliding sheave was forced in or out, the belt rode higher or lower on the sheaves, thus changing the speed of the jackshaft. Our header was 10' wide. These machines replaced New Idea 7' sickle mowers for swathing grass crops (e.g. ryegrass). They had draper heads. We made forming rods that bolted behind the opening for the purpose of folding up the swath tighter than the material just dropping out of the header opening. One of the machines was nearly as productive as three New Idea 7" mowers. Later, the swaths were harvested with a JD 55 or 95 combine with a belt pickup.

@farmergage6773 11 ай бұрын

Neat !!!

@ljkck3578 11 ай бұрын

Down in the rocky country. If you ever find yourself north of New Salem there is a guy that puts up hay with an old Haybuster stacker yet.

@farmhandmike 11 ай бұрын

Right before this I was about 12 miles north of New Salem videoing a Vermeer self propelled round baler. I definitely would have stopped if I saw a Stackhand in action.

@ljkck3578 11 ай бұрын

@BuckeyeFarmer686 I believe it would be another 10 or so miles north. It's been a year or two since I went by him putting up hay that way, but if I catch him again, I'll get some pics or possibly a short video.

@user-pl9eu5uk2k 11 ай бұрын

wish I could find a 15 foot head like that to fit mine! Pretty cool

@keithpowell2786 11 ай бұрын

AWESOME fine and video Mike Great to see That era Equipment still operating. Just have 1 question Wonder word This gentleman finds parts to keep that awesome peaceful equipment running ?

@aidencrawford3487 11 ай бұрын

There is one of these on the very edge of Custer National Park

@franciscosandiego3026 11 ай бұрын

I like Mike less videos on KZfaq from the imperial county California 👍🚜🚜🚜🚜🚜

@Snowtruckdriver 11 ай бұрын

Other than some mustard it looks like a pretty decent dryland hay crop.

@farmhandmike 11 ай бұрын

I was told that yellow was sweet clover.

@bobnistler 11 ай бұрын

😎😎

@farming4g 11 ай бұрын

Those Versatiles were all over the place decades ago, but did have their slew of issues. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did some models have the side-delivery option or moveable draper positions? Still do swathing myself yet, but with a bigger unit... grew to hate dessicating crops with chemicals, so do a lot of swathing yet (oats, flax, and the organic cash crops).

@farmyardfab 11 ай бұрын

Judging by the reel speed and belt speed these were probably meant to be run at a much higher speed. Probably running slower due to poor field conditions? Or maybe not to tax the old machine too heavily?

@billbooth4147 11 ай бұрын

Pretty dang cool,did they have crysler engine in them?

@ljkck3578 11 ай бұрын

Ford 6cylinder

@jonpeterson9733 11 ай бұрын

from a distance the operator looks like Brian Sonne, you didn't say anything about a collaboration with Sonne farms.🤣

@ollie-lk5dx 11 ай бұрын

I know where a 20' double cut is. They were ahead of there time.

@piperdoug428 11 ай бұрын

Yeah we ran a couple 4750's until we couldnt get wheel motors so we went up to HW's i do know you can get crimper kits for the 400 and i see pickup reels on allot of them (not mine tho)

@denniskurtz1428 11 ай бұрын

Put 100s hours hours on one of them in the 70s and 80s. Had 20 ft double swath. I think it was a 1977 model.

@klausk626 11 ай бұрын

Where do you found those rare things? Really like this one.😊

@markhudak5085 11 ай бұрын

I cut hay with a twin stick 400 versatile swather. Im in bucyrus, north dakota

@kennethcarlton2860 11 ай бұрын

We also cut wheat and left the straw in windows for the customer could bale it

@badlandskid 10 ай бұрын

Spent many hrs on a 400. It’s what I learned on.

@jackwillie2729 11 ай бұрын

That had the steering wheel..and were indistructable

@bobsmith1814 11 ай бұрын

Just because the paint is faded and has lots of hours on it doesn’t mean is still can get the job done.

@Dbergson 11 ай бұрын

Never gonna find any old gold on the Interstate! Cruise the 2 lane and the gravel backroads!

@Navet63 11 ай бұрын

There was a boat load of clover in that field.

@ileenmcminn2062 11 ай бұрын

I had a Massy 36 swather very much like this one. It had a Chrysler slant 6 engine, do you know what this has for an engine?

@freebooter247 11 ай бұрын

Ford 6 cyl

@tallen47 11 ай бұрын

What is that yellowish weed plant that is in the grass? Or is it not a weed? Is it okay for hay? Thanks for sharing.

@whiteout1962 11 ай бұрын

yellowish plant is sweet clover, it is similar to alfalfa. If cut before blooming or flowering it has protein valuable for animal feed.

@tallen47 11 ай бұрын

@whiteout1962 OH okay, thanks!

@moneyandtimefreedom3352 11 ай бұрын

This kind of farmer leaves good pheasant habitat, I wish more would do the same instead of clean farming it so there is no wildlife habitat.

@rocksandoil2241 11 ай бұрын

We swathed fescue for seed -

@wallyyuriy8912 11 ай бұрын

I’m pretty sure every farm in North America had 1. Lol

@dalebargen 11 ай бұрын

That swather sure seems slow compared to modern equipment!

@amjadmurtaza1499 11 ай бұрын

Hi Do you hire farm worker?

@rockfosg 11 ай бұрын

Watched some swedes pull a hesston 300M out of a shed after 31 years the other day, It looks somewhat similar kzfaq.info/get/bejne/acCRoMuQmNSshmQ.html