teach me about tedders

Jamo58 · Jul 27, 2015

We are having some good(dry) haymaking weather here in PA and I've finally gotten some hay made.

It was so thick and matted that I was constantly jamming the reel on the haybine and clogging the cutterbar from the volume of grass. I bought a 2 basket tedder to help me dry it, and I got most of the first cutting up - now I'm wondering how you guys use your tedders?

Do you always plan on tedding or only if it's overly wet? My haybine is a 9'-0" cut and I use to leave the swath pretty wide before I had the tedder to optimise drying. Now I am thinking that if I plan on having to ted hay to help dry it, I should always set a tight windrow behind the habyine to keep from running over it with my tractor tire and then come back later to ted it back out after the ground has dried.

I only do orchard grass, timothy and clover - no alfalfa. How do you guys typically use your tedders, specifically in the northeast climates with native grass hay?

Any and all thoughts/input appreciated.

Thanks,
Jameson

2underage · Jul 27, 2015

It sounds to me as if the problem is with your haybine. I would check to see if the skid plates are set so as to leave a high stubble and check the knife sections to see if they are good and sharp.

I have a tedder but never use it because I use a spin rake which throws the hay up into a large open windrow. If I were to use it I would not put the hay into any windrows behind the mower but leave it spread out on the ground. The tedder should throw the hay up into the air and leave it in fluffy piles on the ground. This should be done about the second day after the hay is cut or when it is partially dry. Usually you can rake the hay a couple of hours after tedding but you need to test the hay for moisture content before raking. If the hay is raked at the right moisture it can be baled soon after.

Bernie/MA · Jul 27, 2015

I have a 9 foot moco also. I make the windrow about half and don"t ted until the ground/top dries. I have read that hay is ready to move again after 2 hours in hot sun which is what I do. So I mow by 11AM, ted about 2, and rake into windows as the sun goes down. Next AM I turn it with 2 wheels on the rake and toss it with the Grimm ground-drive tedder which I pull with a hitch on the rake. Rake and bale about 3PM.

Jamo58 · Jul 27, 2015

I set my haybine skids all the way down because I wanted tall stubble to try to dry this stuff. The knives are sharp with good registry to the cutter bar. This has been an extremely wet summer and the first cutting died in the field and matted down and the second cutting came up through it. This is all the first time most of these fields could be cut this year because of the rain.

I mowed in my lowest gear and watched as there was simply to much volume at times between the gathering fingers on the reel and the cutter for the fingers to move through. It was a tangled mess. It doesn't jam up in normal conditions as I had some fields that I had bush hogged down earlier this year and the haybine did just fine.

cool hand · Jul 27, 2015

We, here in SE IN, almost always cut leaving a tight windrow, then ted the next day beginning about 10:30-11:00 AM. Every phase of "makin hay" depends on ground condition and weather, of course.

JK-NY · Jul 27, 2015

You are on the right track. I am in upstate NY and have had a similar year for first cut , weather wise. I mow with a haybine , rake with a side delivery rake (planning to upgrade to a rotary). When I plan on using the tedder is - early in the season when hay is very green, when ground is damp, or when hay is soo heavy/green that mowing it and laying it out flat when the top is plenty dry to rake and underneath it looks like you just cut it. Also tedding cuts the drying time , ofetn by a whole day if you are around all day long to work on your hay. When I plan to ted the hay I do as you mentioned- windrow the hay to about 5 feet wide as I cut it . This allows the ground to dry out and keeps you from driving on the hay.This time of the year I rarely ted unless hay is so thick I have no choice. Another time the tedder is helpful is if you have hay get rained on , especially if is raked up. You can spread it back out and get it dry much faster than trying to do it just by raking.
Be sure to use short drawpins on your haybine and tedder so you dont catch alot of hay . On my tedder I have a real short pin that I put in from underneath , with a washer and pin clip on top to hold it so it cant catch on the hay.

Billy NY · Jul 27, 2015

We used to cut, leave it one day, ted the next morning, possibly rake that afternoon to bale, or just wait until the third day, same kind of hay grasses, similar climate in eastern NY. Lots of variables, how thick the cutting is, ground moisture, but this was typical, I did all of the tedding and raking on 150 acres the one year, and with a little cooperation of the weather, it sure does help dry hay grasses sooner than not using one.

JD Seller · Jul 27, 2015

I have used a hay tedder now for just at 30 years. IF the ground is wet I make a tight windrow and let the ground dry then ted. I NEVER ted during the afternoon. I want the hay tough so the leaves stay on it. So it is first thing in the morning or early evening after the hay is a little tough.

I see guys on here tell about how they ted in the afternoon. They must have grass hay. If you do that to alfalfa you have nothing left but stems.

YOU DO NOT run a hay tedder at 540 PTO speed. I run mine at 1/2 -2/3 of 540 PTO speed. You just want to lift he hay and spread it out. Not throw it into the next windrow. On a JD 4020 I run the engine at 1200-1300 RPM and run in 6th gear in flat ground.

showcrop · Jul 27, 2015

As JK and JD said it depends on conditions. If your ground has a lot of moisture in it you need to mow into a 4-5 foot swath so as not to drive on it, and allow the sun to dry the ground. If your ground is powdery dry, and crop is not heavy you would be wasting your time. most of my mowing is done in the latter afternoon and I tedd around 10:00 AM so that the hay has had about 4-5 good hours of drying. When the forecast shortens by a day ten minutes after mowing I will give it an extra fluffing. Normally I run over it twice.

Bruce from Can. · Jul 27, 2015

Cut in tight windrows ,scatter it out the next day ,rake back up when dry. No big deal, you will learn as you go. Bruce

NEIADan · Jul 27, 2015

A tedder is a tool with a lot of variables. Wether it be wet ground rained on windrows or just trying to get good quality hay. As a commercial hay producer I have found the only set in concrete rule is what worked last time wonbt this time. First thing to remember is hay is a living organism even after it is cut. The quicker ypou getr that hay down to 65 percent moisture the more nutrients and color will be in the final product. Thus, we cut and put the hay into a tight windrow. The majority of the hay is then in the dark and in the respiration mode. (not using calories to stay alive). Allow the stubble to dry one to two hours and get rid of the soil surface moisture. Then ted, get that hay spread out and dried below that 65 percent level fast. Preserves leaves, color and nutrients. If you dont have the drying weather come hit it again the next day AFTER the dew is off. Dont spread a windrow on top of moisture. This year the ground being so wet. Our Krone tedder has a feature where you can shift the wheels and toss the windrow sideways a couple feet. This gives us a chance to move that windrow enough to get it off that soaking wet ground. Then we run straight later or the next day and really spread it out. This same feature works great if we get rained on windrows. Rember drying occurs from the bottom as well so try to get the surface dry. We have baled in as little as 22 hours after cutting and almost always within 48. Even this year with such wet ground and having over mature hay yielding almost 3 to an acre we were baling in the 48 hour window.

JRSutton · Jul 27, 2015

Here in Mass, we'd be lucky if our hay ever got so dry that it'd be harmed by tedding.

We follow the mower with the tedder to spread it out and get it drying right away. Air dries hay - the more surface area exposed to air the better.

Next day, ted in the morning, then afternoon

Next day ted in the morning and rake/bale in the afternoon.

That's the typical routine, we are all cool season grasses - mostly timothy and orchard grass

Works for us.

If I'm feeling the hay's particularly delicate/dry for some reason, and still wet underneath, I'll use an old kick type tedder to fluff it as opposed to the kind harsh thrashing the regular tedder gives it.

If i might give you some advice - sell your two basket and buy a four - Even in a small field, it's nice to get it done in half the time!

John_PA · Jul 28, 2015

Yes Sir,

Good to here from you. We are having some great drying weather right now. I am near Hickory, PA.

If you have your whole day ahead of you, to farm, it is good weather right now to cut hay around 11am, and put the tedder to it around 10 or 11am the next day. That is the best way to make sure you get the hard dew off the windrows, and still have some hay that won't just shatter from being too brittle from being over dry. As long as we have these mornings when the dew is so thick that it looks like a night rain on the hay, we got to wait a bit. IF you are up a hill with good sun exposure, you might be able to go a bit early, and if the dewpoint gets lower, and you can cut at 9am, with a nice crunch on top by 4pm, you can ted it same day. The idea is to keep the leaves on the plant and get a good fluff and even drying on dry ground.

We have some real nice dry ground under the hay right now. I can bale next day, with the ground being this dry and the hay being devoid of moisture.

That tedder is more pertinent on second cutting when everything is green and wet. for what I have, and you probably have, the tedder is overkill. Keep it for when we get a good grass second cutting and the dew doesn't burn off until almost noon in the September air.

WIZZO · Jul 28, 2015

Here in the western side of Great Britain we get a LOT of rain in summer. This question appears on the farming forums every year.

Many of the rotary tedders make by Krone, Claas, Pottinger, Kuhn etc just stir the grass around over the working width and leaves lumps of grass.

The Lely Lotus is widely acclaimed to be the best. It tosses the grass up off the ground to allow air to pass through to speed up drying. There is an optional wire tined basket which windrows the grass into a swath [it swings up out of the way when just tedding]

Pair-a-dice farm · Jul 28, 2015

I mow with a disc mower so it's a little different. I always cut all day and tedder it the next morning. If the dewpoint is low when I cut the hay I may not tedder at all. It just depends on the conditions at the time. I think that my wheel rake does a better job if it's been teddered, especially in shorter hay,

Bret4207 · Jul 28, 2015

I'd say I ted 85%-90% of my hay. In our area you have to. This year it's a must. In a dry year, with hot weather, thin hay and a breeze you can just rake- maybe. But most years tedding is the only way to spread out the clumps and get the hay onto dry ground.

I'd qualify all that with "if you don't have a rotary rake". From what I've seen the rotary rakes make a windrow that's so much fluffier and looser that a tedder might not be required as often.

K Effective · Jul 28, 2015

Here in SW Lower MI, I like to ted a few hours after mowing, spreading the windrow thin to dry, once the ground has had a few hours to dry between the windrows as well. If I mow after work, I will ted right when finished to gain the drying time overnight (hopefully) My older four basket tedder was designed with two speeds, high for spreading, low for merging. After the spread hay has time to dry on top, I merge it back into windrows, which are stood tall, and kind of serrated, like a pie crust. This low speed run is at about half throttle, higher gear. This unit also can be angled to move the windrow over a couple of feet to dry ground. If it gets rain, then back to spreading it out to dry. Many times, I am able to mow-spread- then merge and bale without raking at all. This does leave more hay ungathered than I like, especially out by the road where nosy neighbors can see, so I usually will follow the baling with the bar rake and make 4-6 windrows across the field to bale the gleanings. Waste of time and fuel, but gotta keep up the image, you know. This also helps when your baler driver is an old man who can't turn his head to watch the pickup or younger kids who haven't figured out how to get more than 50% of the corners (I am a tough critic from the wagon). When I bought my tedder from a buddy, he said the best part was no rules- ted on the diagonal, make circles, whatever you want, it will follow along just fine, you almost cannot do it wrong. It is much gentler on the leaves. Unfortunately, mine suffered a catastrophic failure of a major driveline part, so I narrowed it to two baskets- still works, but the baskets spin the wrong way for optimum results. A newer 4 basket may be in the future...covering the field in half the time is really nice in hay efforts!

Nick m · Jul 28, 2015

I'm in the central lp of michigan. How I mow it depends on the ground condition. If it's really wet, like this spring was, I mow it as narrow as it will go one morning, then the next while the dew is still on spread it out. If the grounds dry, I lay it wide and do the same thing. I always ted 1st cutting, 2nd, 3rd and 4th depends on the weather. If they're calling for a week of perfect drying weather, I don't bother. Tedders are also nice if a raked up field gets rained on. Just spread it back out.

JRSutton · Jul 28, 2015

good point on the rotary rake fluffing the hay up. We use a bar rake which ropes the hay fairly tightly. Not nearly as good for
drying... sure feeds nicely into a baler driven by somebody that can't drive though!

showcrop · Jul 28, 2015

(quoted from post at 07:16:51 07/28/15) Here in SW Lower MI, I like to ted a few hours after mowing, spreading the windrow thin to dry, once the ground has had a few hours to dry between the windrows as well. If I mow after work, I will ted right when finished to gain the drying time overnight (hopefully) My older four basket tedder was designed with two speeds, high for spreading, low for merging. After the spread hay has time to dry on top, I merge it back into windrows, which are stood tall, and kind of serrated, like a pie crust. This low speed run is at about half throttle, higher gear. This unit also can be angled to move the windrow over a couple of feet to dry ground. If it gets rain, then back to spreading it out to dry. Many times, I am able to mow-spread- then merge and bale without raking at all. This does leave more hay ungathered than I like, especially out by the road where nosy neighbors can see, so I usually will follow the baling with the bar rake and make 4-6 windrows across the field to bale the gleanings. Waste of time and fuel, but gotta keep up the image, you know. This also helps when your baler driver is an old man who can't turn his head to watch the pickup or younger kids who haven't figured out how to get more than 50% of the corners (I am a tough critic from the wagon). When I bought my tedder from a buddy, he said the best part was no rules- ted on the diagonal, make circles, whatever you want, it will follow along just fine, you almost cannot do it wrong. It is much gentler on the leaves. Unfortunately, mine suffered a catastrophic failure of a major driveline part, so I narrowed it to two baskets- still works, but the baskets spin the wrong way for optimum results. A newer 4 basket may be in the future...covering the field in half the time is really nice in hay efforts!

K-effective you need to be more safety conscious! When raking near the road with that tedder you need to be sure to leave some for the neighbors to see at a glance, not that they have to scan for ten seconds to see as they drive by. Same with mowing, always put a "holiday" right close to the road so that the mowing inspector needs to just glance for a second to see it. You don't want it on your conscience that there was a collision and a death because your work was so good that the inspector was looking so long to try to find something to report.

teach me about tedders

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