Tedding question

Question for hay producers. I have heard people say that they go in directly behind the disc mowing and ted/fluff the hay and that reduces drying time. I typically have to wait until the following day to run the tedder over the hay. Most of my hay is fescue and timothy. I just use a standard disc mower so it just cuts and lays it down flat on the ground. Other folks I talk to leaned against tedding the hay same day as cutting for fear of beating off the seed heads. Just wondering what everyone else out there does?
All input is much appreciated.
 
I am a one person operation. As soon as this person gets off the cutter he gets on the tedder. Reason is the tedder cracks the stems in several places speeding the drying time, so why not get it going right off. On knocking off seed heads, how could waiting and allowing for some curing improve their retention? One would think the opposite would be true. I don't do Alfalfa so I can't comment on that.
 
In my opinion ,I think its a waste of time to tedder , until the hay has been down a day or so and has had some time to dry on top. That way some of it has stiffened up and can support the wetter limp hay that has not seen the sun yet. Every time you turn the hay you are exposing more of it to direct sunlight and you can loose a lot of color . Other factors are, humidity , type of hay, type of tedder, type of rake and weather forcast etc. For me I want to bale with enough moisture to pack good bales , but not turn musty or moldy .
 
No hard and fast rule!
Depends on drying conditions at the time!
I'm working with mixed grasses, with little or no legumes!
A good breeze and less sun, I may leave it in the swath for 24 hours.
A bright sun and little air movement, I may spread it out immediately after cutting.
I cut with a NH 408 discbine, and ted with a 4 basket tedder which completely covers 2 mown swaths.
 
Somewhere, over the years, and not too long ago, I read an article where hay actually did most of it's drying in the first few hours after being cut- like 40- 50%. By tedding soon, it gets kicked up and is aired more for drying if you do it soon after cutting, which causes it to dry much more quickly. With first cutting, because it is so heavy, I usually cut mine in the morning, tedd it in the afternoon, again the next morning and bale the next day....
 
Thanks to all who replied. Reason I asked mainly was I had always wondered if it helped but never had a way to get it done same day. This year however, I have a prospective operator that I could utilize tedding while I cut. I may just have to try it out. Thanks Everyone!
 
I like to ted as soon as possible after cutting. The idea (for me) is to spread out everything, including the inevidtable clumps of grass for even drying. Ted again afterwards the next day(s) as required. I don't see any downside in tedding sooner than later in grass hay.
 
If the ground is not dry I will window with the discbine and Ted it open the next day. Most of the time I Ted after I cut if time permits.
 

Ted directly behind disc mower, but with a slight delay (tedder covers ground faster than mower) Mower leaves hay laying flat, tedder fluffs it and lifts it up so it dries quicker.

Very rarely do we not tedder right after mowing.

Typically mow-ted-rake-bale. Only ted a second time if real heavy dew or rain....
 

Well Fletch, plenty of good information here, and apparently most, like me, wait for some drying to take place between mowing and tedding. 4520 touched on a very important factor. Tedders aren't used in a lot of the country and the biggest difference is the amount of moisture in the ground. Here in the Northeast there can be a lot or it can be dry. If the ground is moist we have to give it a good amount of time in the swath before tedding so that the sun and breeze can dry the ground some. I normally give it 4-5 hours of good drying time before tedding it out. If the ground is really dry I can open the mower out to spread it wide and maybe not ted at all.
 
I have to say 2 years ago I started tedding right after
Mowing and it seemed to speed up my drying time . I always had spots that weren't quite there . Especially tire tracks and occasional slugs of really thick hay.
 
thanks to everyone for your comments! A lot of great info out here! I have only been at this 12 years now so I still have a lot to learn. I really appreciate all of your help!
 
Well sir "thank you" for the feedback. Usually a question gets asked and the author disappears...................
 
That's the reason I bought mine. My fields are irregular with some turns over 90 degrees. Was using a sickle bar back then and in the spring the grass was always full of water. Here you had this nice hay patch ready for baling you thought but contained therein were these wads of wet grass just waiting to burn your barn down. After buying and using, can't imagine why it took me 25 years to get one. Probably because I didn't know they existed till I saw one in an ASC catalog one day.
 
In New Zealand with mostly ryegrass based pasture we found tedding (with mostly a PZ Haybob, AKA Eggbeater) let the sun and breeze through the hay more evenly than just leaving it lying flat from mowing. And not too proud to do it again if deemed beneficial before windrowing for baler
 

We live in the damp, humid northeast. I mow with haybines and try to set the outfeed to leave as tall, fluffy a windrow as I can. The ground exposed between windrows will often be damp or even wet. I ted after this ground dries at least. I've had to ted 3-4 times to get hay dry before. IMO you ted as soon as you think you should, as often as you think it needs it. Of course the longer the hay is down, the more leaf you lose, but that's just the way it goes.
 

I don't think there's a set rule as to when to ted, location (north, south) is a factor as well as the type of hay ones dealing with.
Here we get a fair amount of rain during 1st cutting season so we sometimes only have a few days between rain showers, tedding right after mowing seems to speed up the curing process and helps dry the ground. Type and thickness of hay usually determines if it needs a second tedding.

We ted right after mowing unless we mow late, then we'll ted the next morning, tedder breaks up the stems on long grass, lifts and spreads hay for better air movement and faster drying. If hay has a lot of legumes we ted a second time in the morning before baling that afternoon.
Alfalfa needs to be tedded soon after mowing, if given such welt time a tedder will beat the leaves off.

Tedders operate differently, some spin very fast, others much slower, my MW PT407 spins fast, first tedding right after mowing I run it pretty fast to break up stems, spread and fluff hay, if it needs a second tedding I run it at lower rpm's with faster ground speed to simply lift and stir without beating the leaves off.

Have had my tedder for 20 years, still learning how and when to use it, sometimes I think I've got it figured out, other times I wonder what the heck am I'd doing.
 
Depends on help/time/conditions for me. If the ground is wet, I'll mow it narrow in the morning and ted it out the next morning before the dew is off. If the ground is dry I'll mow it wide and ted it asap. Sometimes don't ted at all 2nd cutting on if the weather is very nice. This is all alfalfa mix hay in Michigan.
 
I think another factor in tedding is the type of mower you are using. I mow with a Reese drum mower that leaves a very tight windrow behind the mower. That often does not dry well, so I tedd soon after mowing to break up that tight windrow.

Now to complicate it, my drum mower has a removable spreader attachment that works great in light to medium hay, but can clog in really heavy hay. To avoid clogs I remove the spreader in really heavy early spring mowing.(straight grass hay)

So...in heavy hay I tedd soon after mowing.

When I can use the spreader attachment, it often eliminates the need to tedd at all.
 
(quoted from post at 13:52:43 05/25/17) I mow with a Reese drum mower that leaves a very tight windrow behind the mower.


What model Reese mower do you have? I looked at them and really liked the 3100 trailed unit but ended up buying a Kuhn 9 ft trailed disc mower.
I have a old Claas 8 ft trailed drum mower I've had for over 20 years, good old mower but it's age is starting to show, it also makes tight windrows that need tedded for hay to dry properly
 
I have 2 Reese drum mowers, a 2400 HL (lift type) and a 2070 fold back. Both 3 point, both heavy, but simple and easy
to work on...but knock on wood, not many repairs. I bought them both used and combined paid less than any one decent
used disc mower would have cost. They are not popular around here, but they get the job done for me.
 
I prefer to let the ground dry before tedding, but do it when the dew is set, as to do the least damage to the hay.
 
You couldn't give a plain disc mower away around here. everything is mower/conditioners. So yes go out and ted it directly after cutting it like we did with crimpers trailing sicklebar mowers. back in the 50s&60s.
Loren
 
I don't think there's any one hard and fast answer... I generally cut in the afternoon and go with the tedder the next morning. However, in good drying conditions and if the ground is dry... and have the help, the tedder will follow the mower. Main exception would be wet ground.... then I might leave it a day to dry before tedding it. We usually go again with the tedder on the second day and stir it up in the morning before raking in early afternoon.

Rod
 
For one thing nobody mentioned the type of tedder they use. The different types you could use under different conditions. The type that looks like a combine real would not bust up and spread a winrow. But they will not beat the hay either like the rotary type will. So different types different conditions. I like the type that looks like the real but then they are not as wide as the other type. And then I used the old rake-tedder that you reversed the real to ted from rakeing.
 
The ones that look like the combine real can be either ground drive ot PTO drive and I don't believe the ground drive would beat the hay as bad as the PTO drive and less yet than the spinner type. So depends on tedder you have and type of hay.
 
(quoted from post at 18:04:56 05/26/17) For one thing nobody mentioned the type of tedder they use. The different types you could use under different conditions. The type that looks like a combine real would not bust up and spread a winrow. But they will not beat the hay either like the rotary type will. So different types different conditions. I like the type that looks like the real but then they are not as wide as the other type. And then I used the old rake-tedder that you reversed the real to ted from rakeing.

No tedder is going to beat hay up or shatter any leaf until it has lost some moisture. Here in the northeast you don't need to worry about leaf loss or shatter until a good twelve hours before the hay is made. Until then you can ted it a dozen times if you feel like it.
 
(quoted from post at 11:54:38 05/26/17) You couldn't give a plain disc mower away around here. everything is mower/conditioners. So yes go out and ted it directly after cutting it like we did with crimpers trailing sicklebar mowers. back in the 50s&60s.
Loren

Loren, I'd take a plain disc mower if someone was giving it away! I'm going to have to ted at least once no matter what, so I'd give it a try. I'd need a larger tractor to run a discbine.
 
We usually wait 24 hours to tedd after mowing with the disk mower. We want the hay to dry somewhat so that when we tedd it kinks the hay.
 

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