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Implement Alley Discussion Forum

DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER

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JOHN

03-22-2004 09:07:57




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AFTER READING ALL THE POST LATELY ON DRUM MOWERS.
WOULD A DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER BE THE WHY TOGO TO KEEP COST OF EQUIPTMENT DOWN AND MAKE GOOD HAY?
CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG BUT I'M THINKING THAT THE TEDDERWILL GET HAY TO DRY ALOT QUICKER.




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Jerry A.

03-23-2004 15:47:23




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 Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to JOHN, 03-22-2004 09:07:57  
I've used a small Zetor drum mower followed by a two rotor tedder for last 3 years on about 15 acres of alfalfa/grass mix. Works fine. I ted the hay as soon as I cut it, as the drum mower lays the hay in a wind row.

I let my hay dry longer than what most of the other guys describe. I live in western Illinois and I'll usually let it dry 3 days before baling. The folks a I sell small bales to aren't very picky about the color of the hay.

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kyhayman

03-22-2004 16:29:50




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 Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to JOHN, 03-22-2004 09:07:57  
It works great for me but you have to work it right. There is a finite window to maximize your tedder. If you ted before wilt you just scatter hay around. If you ted too dry it wont bruise the stems (and lose a lot of leaves). I put up straight timothy and straight alfalfa plus lots of different mixes of alfalfa. No matter what, I hold half as long to ted as it takes me to mow in that same day. Waited 2 years ago on some timothy and tedded the next day and I only gained a few hours drying.

The secret to color is evapration of moisture (sun will bleach but not as rapidly as dew evaporation will draw out the color). I may ted and then rake if I have to to save color, can ted it out again and rake it again if you have to. After the ground drys out (June 10 or so) it's not as big a deal, I cut (timothy)from 8 until noon, start tedding at 1:30 and finish by 3. If I'm pushing I can usually ted again about 6:00 am (throws the dew off) and rake about 1:00. Usually will bale before dew falls again. I like to hold it until the next day in the windrow to hold the color and get the moisture on down a little more (plus I hate running a balewagon at night).

Bottom line is I sold a JD disc mower conditioner (2 years old) second time I tried a straight disc mower/tedder combo (didnt believe it the first time). I'm 30 minutes outside Lexingotn, KY. Most of my (square baled) hay goes to some of top thoroughbred and saddle bred farms in the US (and a little even as far away as Dubai). Color and smell sells horse hay.

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Barney

03-22-2004 09:17:18




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 Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to JOHN, 03-22-2004 09:07:57  
John, my drum mower cuts the hay and sends it between the drums to lay behind the mower of course, but in a windrow. Depending on the type of hay you have or the weather or both, you could run the tedder over the field, and it would certainly speed up drying, or you could wait and let it dry the windrow as I do. It would depend if you had time to do this each cutting I guess.

Barney- baling Coastal Bermuda Hay in South Ga.

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Tim(nj)

03-22-2004 09:34:57




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 Re: Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to Barney, 03-22-2004 09:17:18  
Won't work up here in New Jersey with small square bales. (timothy hay). Been there, done that. Even with the tedder, it doesn't hold enough color with the extra drying day to make the fussy-butt horse people happy. We have to condition. No cow guys around anymore, so anything that ain't green-green usually goes in the landscape junk pile, and gets sold way too cheap to make it worthwhile. Now big squares for mushroom mulch, that's a different story for the disc/drum mower around here. Color doesn't matter on that stuff.

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Hay Dr.

03-22-2004 16:07:28




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 Re: Re: Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to Tim(nj), 03-22-2004 09:34:57  
I'll bet anyone any where that I could take a drum mower and a tedder and put hay up in the same day period as any type of mower out there. I can prove with it 22 years of selling drum mowers and using drum mowers. We are in the mountains and average 45" of rain a year. Just ask the farmers in New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland & the UK about drum & disc mowers. The haybines just do not exist anymore there. These locations have more rain than the USA and have a cooler ambient temperature. These old wives tales about haybines curing hay faster are not true. I'll be finished cutting before the haybine cuts the first sprig of grass because the Drum/Disc mower will mow in the rain if needed.

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Roy in UK

03-23-2004 05:43:56




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to Hay Dr., 03-22-2004 16:07:28  
We tend to think that America is 'one step ahead' of us Brits with a lot of things,Wrong eh? We bought our first 'non sickle' mower ( A Fahr KM4 drum mower) in 1968. The year Neil Armstrong walked on the moon!"



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Hay Dr

03-23-2004 06:10:49




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to Roy in UK, 03-23-2004 05:43:56  
That is just what I point out above. Europe as a whole is ahead of the US in cutting, tedding hay, and haylage technology. Gary Vermeer did invent the large round baler in 1971. The European companies had the advantage in the 1960's and used the patents to stay ahead of the USA. Given the climate and rainfall you Brits have you had no recourse but to be resourceful and change to the drum/disc mowers. The US farmers are bull headed and it takes a generation for many of them to change their ways. In 1972 we took delivery of a Vermeer round baler and all the farmers laughed and said the hay would spoil when stored outside. The round baler alone transformed the US cattle industry. Alfalfa has it's place but it is being replaced with high protein grasses with more yields per acre. The sicklebar concept is dead when it comes to harvesting hay. But in the US, we will have to wait for some more of the 1940's & 50's generation to pass on because they really believe their old stuff is better than the newer technology.

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Hay Dr

03-23-2004 06:09:56




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to Roy in UK, 03-23-2004 05:43:56  
That is just what I point out above. Europe as a whole is ahead of the US in cutting, tedding hay, and haylage technology. Gary Vermeer did invent the large round baler in 1971. The European companies had the advantage in the 1960's and used the patents to stay ahead of the USA. Given the climate and rainfall you Brits have you had no recourse but to be resourceful and change to the drum/disc mowers. The US farmers are bull headed and it takes a generation for many of them to change their ways. In 1972 we took delivery of a Vermeer round baler and all the farmers laughed and said the hay would spoil when stored outside. The round baler alone transformed the US cattle industry. Alfalfa has it's place but it is being replaced with high protein grasses with more yields per acre. The sicklebar concept is dead when it comes to harvesting hay. But in the US, we will have to wait for some more of the 1940's & 50's generation to pass on because they really believe their old stuff is better than the newer technology.

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Tim(nj)

03-22-2004 16:47:12




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to Hay Dr., 03-22-2004 16:07:28  
Well, it didn't work for me in timothy. Used a disc mower and my 254 New Holland tedder. Mixed grass was passable. The timothy still bleached too much. And then when you add clover and alfalfa into the mix, the lack of rollers was even more noticeable. Now, in my grass and timothy, I use an M-C rotary scythe. It is outdated, I know, but because it chops the hay in shorter pieces, it dries fast without crimping. And it mows in the rain. My customers happen to like the smaller pieces of timothy stem, but not all people will buy it that way.

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Josh

03-22-2004 09:39:46




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 Re: Re: Re: DRUM MOWER AND TEDDER in reply to Tim(nj), 03-22-2004 09:34:57  
In s.e. PA it is the exact same.



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