# When to use a hay fluffer



## daveannette68 (Jul 2, 2015)

I live in east central Iowa. I have an H&S Tedder / Fluffer.

I am wonder when is the best time to fluff the hay after cutting? I usually cut in the morning and am done around noon. It usually takes 4 days before I can bale. I always thought the best time to fluff the hay was the next morning after cutting, but I have been told that advice is more for the rotary tedder than a fluffer. I was hoping I could get some advice from someone who uses an fluffer. - Thanks


----------



## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

We have a fluffer tedder as you describe. I have found that it is nearly ineffective on alfalfa unless the hay has been rained on. Even then the benefits are hit and miss. Grass hay is a completely different matter. If there is any hay at the bottom of the windrow that is not drying as fast as it should be the fluffer will fix that problem. I prefer to run the fluffer the day before the hay is to be baled. A fluffer is not a replacement for a tedder, but does have some virtues a tedder does not. For a fluffer to work properly the hay must be somewhat dry already.


----------



## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

Fluffed hay picture. Sadly, the picture loaded upside down. Very disappointing. You can see that one windrow is laying flat and the other beside it has been fluffed up. The picture does not do justice to how much more volume the fluffed windrow has. Over time the fluffed windrows will settle down.


----------



## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

There... fixed it for you...

If you're uploading a pic from a phone, basically they can end up "any which way"... ie if the phone is held "upside down" to the camera's orientation, it'll display "upside down" on the web page once it's uploaded.

If your pics display sideways or "upside down" on the hay talk page, (or any other webpage for that matter) just look at them and click "save picture" at the bottom of the page-- a window will pop up asking you WHERE to save the picture-- I save it to "my pictures" on my computer, then go to the "my pictures" folder and click the photo to open it in the computer's picture viewer program, and usually there will be some buttons at the top or bottom of the page that will allow you to "flip" the picture 90 degrees at a time either clockwise or counterclockwise... one 90 degree flip for a sideways picture the appropriate direction, or TWO 90 degree flips for an upside down picture in either direction, and the picture should be upright and ready to display... close the window displaying the picture and the changes in orientation will be recorded by your computer, and the next time you open it, it should display "right side up".

You can always "edit your post" using the button at the bottom of your post, delete the old picture that was displaying incorrectly, and then "add a picture" and reload the CORRECT orientation one from your hard drive...

Works like a champ!

OL JR


----------



## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

Thanks luke! I am like some people with farm equipment when it comes to computers. I can do basic stuff and that is as far as it goes. Lack of time and interest in going further into it. But I want to get this picture loading thing figured out, as I have many pictures I would to post on Haytalk some day. If I click the save picture button on the bottom of the open picture all I get is another Haytalk page open with only the picture displayed. Any more advise? Thanks!

Also have to say that how pictures are oriented when they load from my shmart phone to the internet appears to be a complete crap shoot. I doubt I ever hold my phone upside down when I take the original picture!


----------



## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Gearclash said:


> Thanks luke! I am like some people with farm equipment when it comes to computers. I can do basic stuff and that is as far as it goes. Lack of time and interest in going further into it. But I want to get this picture loading thing figured out, as I have many pictures I would to post on Haytalk some day. If I click the save picture button on the bottom of the open picture all I get is another Haytalk page open with only the picture displayed. Any more advise? Thanks!
> 
> Also have to say that how pictures are oriented when they load from my shmart phone to the internet appears to be a complete crap shoot. I doubt I ever hold my phone upside down when I take the original picture!


Assuming you're taking them in "landscape" format (phone sideways), it's less obvious when you have it "upside down". What gives you the land-down-under look is taking landscapes with your phone 90* to the right. 90 to the left will be right side up.


----------



## Coondle (Aug 28, 2013)

8350HiTech said:


> Assuming you're taking them in "landscape" format (phone sideways), it's less obvious when you have it "upside down". What gives you the land-down-under look is taking landscapes with your phone 90* to the right. 90 to the left will be right side up.


Now I know why my pictures when I actually manage to post them are upside down.

I'll hold my much-smarter-than-me phone upside down and the pics will be right way up for you


----------



## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Gearclash said:


> Thanks luke! I am like some people with farm equipment when it comes to computers. I can do basic stuff and that is as far as it goes. Lack of time and interest in going further into it. But I want to get this picture loading thing figured out, as I have many pictures I would to post on Haytalk some day. If I click the save picture button on the bottom of the open picture all I get is another Haytalk page open with only the picture displayed. Any more advise? Thanks!
> 
> Also have to say that how pictures are oriented when they load from my shmart phone to the internet appears to be a complete crap shoot. I doubt I ever hold my phone upside down when I take the original picture!


Yeah, I know what you mean... I know just enough to be dangerous... LOL

Yeah, when you click "save", the picture will open up in a new window... put the cursor over the picture, then right-click the mouse, and a little pop-up box will open over the picture with several prompts in it... go down the list to "save image as" and click it, and another box should open with the picture's file name and a list of choices of location in which to save it... choose whatever file or folder you want from the list (for me it's "my pictures" and then click "save" at the bottom of the screen... easy-peasy.

Then you just close that window, go to "my pictures" on the computer, and find the picture (I keep all my pics in file folders, so I just have to scroll down past the folders to the "loose" pictures at the bottom of the list, and click the one I want to open it. Then it should be easy.

Depending on your computer, you should have a list of programs that you can open the picture up in to work with it, if you want to do anything like crop it or resize it or add text or whatever... particularly handy when trying to point out something on a machine or part or something like that... the program is typically called "paint". When you're viewing the picture (on my computer the picture opens in Windows Media Viewer) there's some commands at the top-- click "File" and a menu will drop down... select "Open with" and a submenu will pop up beside that, with a list of programs the computer has on it to tweak pictures... select "Paint" and the picture will open in the Paint program, then you'll find the tools for "selecting" to draw a dotted line box around it, then you can "Crop" to cut off everything from around the dotted line box, or you can resize the pics if you want by typing in a percentage of enlargement or reduction... you can use the "line" tool to draw a line, make an arrow, etc, text tools to put a text box beside the arrow (click the "A" in the toolbox at the top next to the eraser and stuff) (makes another dotted line box, then you type in whatever you want to say-- you can put the cursor over the corners or sides of the box to move it around or change the size/shape of the box so that the text doesn't cover up something in the picture you want more visible... you can even select colors for your additions from the color palette... also, you can use the 'circle' tool in the toolbox to circle anything in the picture you want to draw attention to... If you make a mistake, just click the "back" arrow at the top to "undo" the mistake, if you keep clicking it, it will keep undoing the last thing you did in order you did them.

Once you're finished with it, go to the little "file" emblem tab at the top of the page next to the tab that says "home" and click it-- a menu will drop down, go down to "save" and click it (or "Save as" if you DON'T want to make permanent changes to the ORIGINAL photo... click "save as" and then the "save image as" box will pop up on the screen with the file name and desired location list to choose from, put the cursor over the filename box and click it to REMOVE THE HIGHLIGHTING (otherwise if you type anything it will erase the highlighted file name) and once it's not highlighted anymore, type in "a" or something like that to add to the filename, so it creates a NEW file for the picture that has been modified, and leaves your original photo intact and unchanged!) Then click "save" button at the bottom of the pop up save-as box...

Then, if you saved it to "my pictures", you're new modified pic will be there, ready to upload like any other pic... here's some examples...

Hope this helps! OL JR


----------



## Thorim (Jan 19, 2015)

I think we need to change the title of this thread to How To Get Your Pictures Posted Properly (upright) lol great advice luke thanks for sharing


----------



## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

We've digressed really badly here!

BTW luke, those pretty little things you circled . . . are . . . thistles .

I will keep working on the picture posting.


----------



## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

When I was running one I did it the morning before it would normally be dry, just as the dew was going off. Then I could bale that day rather than waiting. This was with clover/alfalfa/orchard grass hay and later with alfalfa/brome. I liked using it but it was a JD from the 50's and worked well when I was cutting my 35 acres with a 720 diesel and a sickle mower. It doesn't work with the wide 13 foot swath from the NH discbine I have now. Here is a picture of my old rig from a few years back......


----------



## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Gearclash said:


> We've digressed really badly here!
> 
> BTW luke, those pretty little things you circled . . . are . . . thistles .
> 
> I will keep working on the picture posting.


Oh, ok... shoulda guessed... dandelions would be really hard to see and probably blow all to pieces when cut (unless they weren't open yet). Hard to tell from the photo.

I wasn't raggin' on the weeds, just showing how you'd use circles and lines and text and color to point out something in a pic... no insult or disparagement intended... 

If it'd been a pic of some of the fields I used to do when I was custom baling, it would have been a circle with a line going over to the word "Hay!" to point out that there was something there *besides* weeds... LOL

Later! OL JR


----------

