Sold on the tedder

[slowzuki]

Already have impeller conditioner, tedder and a belt rake which rakes like a rotary. Still tough to make hay. Re saving rained on hay, my experience here is you can't save it raking it. Needs to be tedded out. We always rake immediately before baling, won't dry in any type of windrow here unless we get a windy day by chance (rare on a sunny day)

 

[tessiers]

Baby steps guys, just now getting the tedder, only piece of equipment I got that isn't older than I am, except one of the tractors, which I don't use for hay. You guys are not the only ones to praise the rotary rakes but my sights are set on a round baler next, I still do the squares out of nessesity, I do hire out baleing and wrapping a few silage bales each year, wish I could do them myself. I really think people are crazy to dry so much hay anyway, like I said nessisary for now. Thanks for all the encouragment, my wife thinks I am crazy to be excited about hay, as long as she gets her 200 bales for the hay burner.

 

[5030]

You guys have only found half of what you need to get your hay to dry faster here in the Northeast. Tedders are great, and yes they are a tremendous help, but if you really want to help speed things along, you also need a rotary rake.

Y'all are simply happy with the tedder results. Get a hold of a rotary rake and you will be completely beside your self. This gets to be even more critical as the days are getting shorter and the ground is getting wetter.

Tedders spread out the hay nicely, and this is fine for drying when the ground is fairly dry, or at least not soaking wet. After the hay has been teddered and dried for a good day this time of year, then you want the rotary rake to stand the stuff up off the ground and really let the air get to it. Also, when you rake an existing wind row, you will always have what was on the bottom of the windrow on the side of the new on. No more just flipping it over right back onto the wet hay on the bottom. How much the windrow fluffs when you rake it is as a great indicator as to how dry the stuff has become. Get enough experience with one and you can tell how dry the hay is right off the bat. I have only ever had one regret about the rotary rake I bought 6 years ago, and that is I did not do it sooner. Point blank, I WILL NEVER EVER EVER use a roll bar rake again as long as I live and do hay. (Wheel rakes are a complete joke up in this area. They may be okay down south, or where you have really flat ground but that is not here. They pick up all kinds of green stuff in your dry hay.)

Rotary rakes will really allow you to save much rained on hay. The problem in rain wetted hay is that the bacteria and micro organisms are trying to reclaim the hay to the soil. Tedders spread the hay out and give max exposure to the bacteria. Now do not get me wrong here, you need the tedder to start to get the excess water off the hay, but once you start to get that smell in the air that they hay is starting to go south, this is when you need the rotary rake to stand as much of the hay as possible up off the ground and away from the bacteria.

Good tedders are great, but until you get the rotary rake you still are not doing the best you can for your hay.

+10 on that. My old side delivery roper is a yard ornament.....

I'm not a tedder fan however. Leafy legumes suffer too much leaf loss by tedding. Fine for grasses but suck on legumes.

I have one I'll give away.

 

[AKfish]

+10 on that. My old side delivery roper is a yard ornament.....

I'm not a tedder fan however. Leafy legumes suffer too much leaf loss by tedding. Fine for grasses but suck on legumes.

I have one I'll give away.

I pay attention to "over-tedding".... leaf loss even on grass hay (Timothy) is something to watch out for - IMO.

Agree also that raking with a rotary rake is not a better means to dry your hay out than tedding.

I leave the hay tedded in the field all day to get as much drying time as possible. If I think there's a chance that the hay might get rained on - I'll rake it up into windrows. Or, if I think the hay is real close to baling but not enough time left in the day to get it baled - I'll rake it into windrows - roll it the next day with the rake and bale it in the afternoon.

Hay will dry in the fluffy rotary windrows enough to bale without tedding again.

AKfish

 

[Barry Bowen]

Tedders are a necessary part of any hay making operation where humidity is high and drying takes some time. In the irrigated alfalfa areas, like down south, they turn off water several days, cut in the AM, combo rake in the evening when the dew has set in, and bale overnight. Wish I could get hay dry like that, but that is not the case.

Using tedders on alfalfa (personally I do not care for clover, toooooo hard to dry, and gives horses trouble most of the time. My customers are all horse people so you understand why.) is a moisture and timing issue. Usually I cut in the AM with dew still on. It dries just as fast this way as if waiting till later, drop narrow row, and then ted out in early afternoon. Second day, ted in AM while still some moisture from the dew so that leaf loose is minimal. Then I rake late on second day as dew is starting to get in hay, and many times this means raking by the lights of the tractor. Even with rotary, this makes a tight windrow due to moisture. ( Fluffiness coming off of a rotary rake is a good indicator as to dryness.) Turn over in the AM when dew is gone, and then go back and VERY VERY slowly flip over a few hours later. This gives very very very little leaf loose, extremely green hay as dew was kept off of most of it, and very dry hay on the third afternoon. Come September and October, it will stand in windrows longer. The rotaries keep it fluffed so it will dry nicely.

Rotaries are great also when it comes to saving a rained on hay. I will tedder right after the rain stops to get droplets spun off, and keep teddering till that rotting smell starts to show up. This is the bacteria in the ground starting to work on reclaiming the hay to the soil. Then I take rotary and stand up in the air and minimize ground contact. This saves the hay most of the time.

Like all trades, there are many tricks to this one also.