I wasn't really gonna get into this, but I guess I want to because I've read so many dumb remarks. First off, realize I have been putting hay up in Northern Maryland (read humidity and an unreliable weather forecast) while working an outside job for thirty years and the last fifteen years with plenty of time and acreage to cover.
I started with a 3 point MF mower and moved up to a JD side mount with a crimper behind. In long hay like Orchardgrass, the crimper would wrap every other round, so I bought a NI haybine after using my cousin's rig. It was a step up to a 1207 Deere because it would follow uneven ground better. But, it could still take three days to dry in humid weather, and there were still tough spots. That, and the weather idiot would call for some nice weather one day, and it would rain before I could get the hay up. Some of that was due to my having to work, but I still had to throw a good bit into the woods. I have had a discbine for 22 years now and am on my second one.
I bought my first tedder, an older bar style Grimm,about 25 years ago. I didn't always use it, but it was there. Bit, I traded it in when I bought a NH rake-tedder. The machine did both jobs adequately, but wasn't the beast at both, and had a tendency to break down when I had a lot of hay cut. It was sold when I bought a carted 12 wheel rake and a Pequea TT4000 tedder from a young guy down the road whose wife told him he couldn't afford a new baby and the payment on the tedder on 20 acres of hay, so I got it for what he owed on it.
Today, I do about 150 acres of orchardgrass in three cuttings and alfalfa in about 4 cuttings. My new discbine is a flail conditioner, and works great in grass and good in alfalfa. But, I cut in the morning, and tedd in the afternoon. Reason being, hay dries almost fifty percent in the first hour or two after it's cut. I cut about a four to five foot wide swath, then tedd as soon as I can. The hay is turned over in tedding, and when you use one, it should never be run as fast as your tractor can go. The rpm's are always at 1500 or less- just enough to pitch the hay over and spread it. If it's a heavier first cutting, I may wait until the next morning to tedd it, but it does get tedded. Lighter cuts, tedding after it's cut and it may be ready the next day to rake in the early afternoon, and dry enough, even with high humidity, to bale later in the afternoon. The crop doesn't get as much of a chance to sun bleach, and looks much better going into the barn.
Sorry if this is long, but a good tedder is one of the cheapest forms of getting consistantly good hay. Hay is not a high value crop like corn or beans, but it can make money with less investment. A discbine and tedder may cost a few grand for a few years, but will make great money for many more. I figure the tedder I have costs me about $4-500 a year, but saves me much more than that in making a premium hay. The discbine's cost (mine was new) costs me maybe $1000 a year over it's life, and like the tedder, makes great hay in less time by decreasing weather exposure. My cost is about 30 bales of hay a year to own them, so that makes them cheap tools. Like I said, sorry about the length of this, but hay is part of my living now- and there is a right way and a wrong way to put up hay. It's much easier to put it up right......