The cutter bar attachment

This unit consists of a cutter bar and drive mechanism, much like the mower.

It has a reel for pushing long material against the cutter bar and onto the conveyor. The reel may be of closed type, with three or four bats. The reel bats and fingers sweep the forage into the conveyor portion of the pickup. The conveyor may be the same as that used with the pickup.

The reel may be ground-driven or driven by the main power system. In some harvesters it can be adjusted from the tractor seat.

The width of the cutter bar is generally much less than in a conven­tional mower. Accordingly some operators mow their forage with a mower and then pick it up with a windrow attachment. To use your harvester to its full capacity, you should have as wide a cutter bar as possible. You can always cut a narrow swath with a wide cutter bar, but you cannot cut a wide swath with a narrow cutter bar.

One manufacturer sells a low-cost, easily attached cutter bar unit as an attachment to the pickup.