Tedder

[Roger in Wisconsin]

Trying to make hay with all the rain we've been getting has been a challenge. I've been thinking about getting a tedder or fluffer to help drying. Is a Pequea 710 a good unit, or any other recommendation.

 

[tomstractorsandtoys]

Having had both bar tedders and rotary tedders I would never go back to a bar type. You need to ted sooner with a rotary but they pick up the entire windrow shake and spread it.I had the only rotary tedder here 10 years ago now there are a dozen others. Tom

 

[Texasmark1]

Hands down you can't spend better money than buying a Tedder for spring haying.....took me many years to even hear the word, many more to understand what it did, bought the 2 basket, 3 PT Morra from ASC (cheap) for my STO, modified it to suit my varied fields and terrain and the rest is history. I put up hay first of the week and the tedder is still on a tractor, ready for the next field when it's ready.

 

[Tom in TN]

I bought a two basket rotary pull behind tedder about 10 years ago. I don't know how I lived without it before. It's a Tonutti brand which is an Italian product but I've found good support for the brand from two different American companies.

Go for the tedder.

Tom in TN

 

[Leroy]

To me the rotary type is a beater while the bar type is just a fluffer. I would not want to beat the leaves off like I think the rotary type will. Have had neither, Just the old New Idea Rake Tedder and that at times beat the hay more than I liked, But the rotary type and the bar type I have seen working and the bar type looks like it is more gental on the hay just lifting and dropping. I believe better for just lifting a swath but the rotary type will tear apart a winrow better. So depends on when you think the most use would be, before raking or after raking. I can see each type having better uses. My Amish friends use the bar type.

 

[Gary201]

We've used a rotary type for years. As they are pto driven you can vary the speed and match it to your ground speed, they can be pretty gentle if operated properly.

 

[Leroy]

Perhaps what I saw were not operated correctly but when that spinning unit is moving so fast you have trouble seeing it then it cannot be anything but hard on leaves. I would say good advice about pto speed.

 

[SETX]

I run two Kuhn rotaries. No issues.

 

[David G]

You will like a tedder, one piece of advise from me, do it while dew on hay, leaves will stick better.

 

[Fred Werring]

That's the thing....most guys I see running them around here run the pto WAY too fast. You can see the leaves flying off.

I keep the rpm's down and gear up for speed.

Fred

 

[Hay hay hay]

Rotary. Don't beat heall out of it! Just move it, lift it. open the pockets, spread it out, and let the sun and wind dry it faster! Simple.

 

[Northvale PA]

I have a 4 star Kuhn and a reel type 7? Grimm. We use both. On alfalfa we use the rotary once the hay wilts. Then hit it again about 2 hours later, moving in 7th gear at almost an idle. It stands up the hay and is not bad on the leaves. We rake hay in the evening and run the Grimm over the windrows next morning to fluff them up. Again, not too fast. Both types have a place here. Photos are 2nd cut alfalfa.

 

[showcrop]

Thebar type can work for you but only in VERY flat ground. otherwise it will not follw the ground.

 

[modirt]

(quoted from post at 17:18:34 05/07/20) Rotary. Don't beat heall out of it! Just move it, lift it. open the pockets, spread it out, and let the sun and wind dry it faster! Simple.

When I first discovered tedders, I was under the belief that they were likely needed as a lot of hay was now being cut with disc mowers....no conditioning......vs. something like a moco or haybine with roller conditioning to crush stems to aid in dry down. Neighbor does just that......mows with a disc mower as he claims it is so much faster. It is, but it does not condition. So to get the drying time down, they used a tedder.

I have found that with some hay types.....fine stemmed stuff, they will be as wet and green two days later as they are when cut.....so a tedder is critical to open up an spread any slugs or bunches....and in heavy hay like I sometimes have, the hay on top is crunchy dry.....hay down below is still wet and green. You can rake it, but unless it is a coarse stemmed hay like brome.......it may not dry out in the windrow......unless conditions are perfect.

A tedder changes that.

Also.......not sure if there is a "best practices" established way to ted hay. Some will mow early in the morning........then ted mid afternoon same day.......others will hit it early morning 2nd day....while dew is still on an hay is "tough" so as to retain as much leaf......which only applies to legumes like alfalfa or clover.

Either way, goal seems to be to get hay dried down ASAP after being cut......and tedder helps do that.

One guy I know said he has only used his on hay that got rained on. Helps salvage what would have been a ruined crop. Maybe if he had used it before, it might not have gotten rained on?

 

[Texasmark1]

I don't do Alfalfa so I can't comment on that crop. On grasses what folks may be missing is the fact that the process of the tine whacking the stems, and checking stems, getting hit multiple times prior to exiting, you just did conditioning. Every "kink" caused by the tedder is an exit point for moisture.

I have highly irregular fields and lots of wads at the irregular spots. I try to get right back on the field after cutting to get the wads scattered as soon as possible as they are my "fire" concern.

 

[Bill VA]

2 basket tedder here, New Holland 156 - which is a Kuhn.

We condition our grass with either rollers or impellers depending on which mower conditioner we use - still a tedder greatly assists with dry down - especially next morning where the grass is in contact with the ground. Tossing it around gets it off the ground, re-fluffed and air dried.
Farmall 756 Tedding Hay

 

[showcrop]

Roger, having a tedder give you another option in your procedures to dry your hay quicker. Having a lot of moisture in the ground slows your drying and if you spread the hay wide out of your mower, next pass around you are pressing the hay down into the ground where a tedder will not be able to pull it out, resulting in wet bunches. Here in the northeast everyone mows into narrow swaths, then gives it a few hours (my target time is four), for the sun to dry the ground before tedding it out. The grass will dry down much faster on dry ground than wet.

 

[Roger in Wisconsin]

Thanks for all the feed back. I will be shoping for tedder.