# Mower/tedder vs Mower/conditioner



## U Lazy V Ranch (Nov 30, 2020)

Who uses what? I'm thinking about switching over to mower/tedder from the traditional mower/conditioner here. My main concern is some heavy Canary Grass and Garrison Foxtail, which comprises the bulk of our hay. In my thinking, I should actually speed up the drying process with a mower/tedder, since it's spread over a bigger area. There's a lot of times I have a stand that's 7+ feet tall and the resulting windrows are huge and take a few days to dry. In that time, it's not uncommon to have the top 90% dry and the bottom still wet. Seems to me that spreading it out and then tedding should make that dry more evenly and quicker?

What's the consensus out there, and have any of you switched over ?
John


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## Trillium Farm (Dec 18, 2014)

What's a mower-tedder? Never heard of this one!


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## TJ Hendren (May 12, 2017)

Laying a wide swath is the general consensus in a fast dry down. I've done it both ways and I like the conditioner route better, running the tedder right behind the conditioner saves a full day. Cutting at 3-4 inches to get it off the ground and air underneath, a wide swath, sunshine, heat and a breeze are the keys to a good fast dry down. Two of those we can control the rest are up to a higher authority. Vermeer conditioner are very easy to set the cutting height up to six inches, no high skids or other "options" required. I feel a tedder is a must have which ever way you choose to go.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Why not both?


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## U Lazy V Ranch (Nov 30, 2020)

Trillium Farm said:


> What's a mower-tedder? Never heard of this one!


Two seperate machines....trail mower with no conditioner and then a tedder a day or so later... sorry for the confusion.

John


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## U Lazy V Ranch (Nov 30, 2020)

I've been running a 1350 John Deere with the flail conditioner and it does a good job, but it's about an 8' cut. I'm trying to upgrade to about 10' cut and just wondered if anyone had done heavy hay without the conditioner.

Just want to weigh all my options. One place that I put up about 150 tons is fairly light hay, but the home place is pretty heavy for the most part. I do have an H&S Hay Machine II, and it does a great job of tedding and flipping a windrow. Like I said, just wanting to weigh all my options and curious to see what everyone else has done.

John


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I've moved from mower conditioner to just mower tedder the last few years. We usually need 1-3 tedder passes. Mowing and a tedder pass as soon as it starts to wilt is way better than mower conditioner but is an extra pass.

The problem I get is when we have several good days in a row and up to 3 days cutting needs tedded after mowing.

Edit - we have always needed a tedder even with conditioner.


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

I am in the southeast (high humidity). I run mower conditioner (with rolls) and tedder.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

I run moco and let it dry the first day. I don't come in and ted until the dew is off on the second day. Tedding on the second day allows the top to dry off substantially and throws the hay out farther and fluffs it more since it's not as wet and heavy. This was a trick I learned from a local hay producer. This is with orchard grass and not what you're using, so YMMV.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Both here we run ,. mower conditioner set as narrow window as possible . After gro
und is dry ted


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## siscofarms (Nov 23, 2010)

Conditioner and tedder is a nice combo but if you look at the dollar and cents , if your doing pretty much all grass hay the mower tedder works good , saves the expense and maitenance of a condititioner , and if you have a 4 basket or bigger tedder you can do it in a good time frame . With grass you can do it any time of day also . Time is very touchy tho if your doing legumes as it will knock the leaves right off it . Lets say you were buying new , you can get a disc mower and a tedder before you can even touch a mower/conditioner . And brand doesnt matter . You also can do the mower and tedder with a smaller tractor or if you already have bigger ones it will use a lot less fuel .


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Can't imagine making hay here without all three and used liberally. That said, you live in a different world. Been out in Kalispell twice in July and just had to drool over haymaking conditions, it's really just unfair. Then, again, I don't have to ship my product 1,500 miles to my customers either. Guess it evens out.


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## U Lazy V Ranch (Nov 30, 2020)

Yeah, usually we do get some great haying weather, but I've also hauled hay off a meadow to a high spot through a foot of water overnight! Last year, in the lighter hay, I was cutting one day and baling the next, or it was too far past dry. On our meadows at home, it gets heavy enough that it lays at least a couple days, and by the time the bottom is ready, the top is crispy. There's always a give and take. Our biggest problem is ground moisture, but I do leave a long stem to keep it up off the ground and if I could lighten the load and spread it out, it'd just make sense to me that it would dry quicker. I might have to give it a try and see what happens.

Thanks for the replies and interesting comments!

John


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## Ridgefarmer63 (Apr 5, 2017)

U Lazy V Ranch said:


> Who uses what? I'm thinking about switching over to mower/tedder from the traditional mower/conditioner here. My main concern is some heavy Canary Grass and Garrison Foxtail, which comprises the bulk of our hay. In my thinking, I should actually speed up the drying process with a mower/tedder, since it's spread over a bigger area. There's a lot of times I have a stand that's 7+ feet tall and the resulting windrows are huge and take a few days to dry. In that time, it's not uncommon to have the top 90% dry and the bottom still wet. Seems to me that spreading it out and then tedding should make that dry more evenly and quicker?
> 
> What's the consensus out there, and have any of you switched over ?
> John
> ...


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## U Lazy V Ranch (Nov 30, 2020)

Yeah, the main meadows are peat bogs, so the Canary grass and Foxtail do really well there! They're flooded until about the end of June, then I pull the plug and head for the other hay I put up. In a few weeks, they're dry enough to get on and knock the hay down...but we still wind up stuck often. It's like walking on a waterbed....you can see the "wave" ahead of you a ways as you work.

John


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

We’ve got patches of reed canary too, taller than our little tractor! Struggle to get over that wet ground before it’s too mature.


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## cjsr8595 (Jul 7, 2014)

I use a disc mower and a tedder. I run the tedder right behind the mower. I like to cut early if possible, ted behind the mower and if its thick with legumes I will ted the next day in the morning when the dew is still on. We have a lot of red clover and I do the same on my alfalfa to minimize leaf loss. I have good luck with this approach and make a lot of 3 day hay in the Ohio Valley. Its hot and humid and sucks for making dry hay.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

I wouldn't even consider a mower with no conditioner. I'd quit baling hay before I'd go away from a conditioner. If you need more than what a conditioner can do, then add the tedder.


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## DSLinc1017 (Sep 27, 2009)

Gearclash said:


> I wouldn't even consider a mower with no conditioner. I'd quit baling hay before I'd go away from a conditioner. If you need more than what a conditioner can do, then add the tedder.


Agreed, particularly for our location.

If the ground is wet, like cutting when its raining or it just did (dry days ahead) we will lay it narrow, give it a good half day to dry the ground then ted it out

If the ground is dry, we lay it as wide as possible. Then still ted it out usually the following day.

It is very unusual that we ted just once. Been days that we will ted the same field again a few hours latter to beat the weather.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I used to say the same thing as I'm in a very wet humid area. Then I tried without. The conditioner did not save me a tedder pass. Very little in difference in time of day I can start to bale on day 2 or 3. Last summer mowed in tandem with a friend running a NH 411 with roller conditioner. Windrows were all ready to bale at the same time.

Note this is all in grass hay.



Gearclash said:


> I wouldn't even consider a mower with no conditioner. I'd quit baling hay before I'd go away from a conditioner. If you need more than what a conditioner can do, then add the tedder.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

slowzuki said:


> I used to say the same thing as I'm in a very wet humid area. Then I tried without. The conditioner did not save me a tedder pass. Very little in difference in time of day I can start to bale on day 2 or 3. Last summer mowed in tandem with a friend running a NH 411 with roller conditioner. Windrows were all ready to bale at the same time.
> 
> Note this is all in grass hay.


I've baled a lot of grass behind conditioner and no conditioner in the last 20 years. Non conditioned crop is invariably a 1/2 to a full day behind the conditioned crop. The moisture monitor on the big square tells no lies. Unless there is something about the particular crop you are working with I think there is something wrong with the conditioner if it can't get hay dry faster than no conditioner. Those are New Holland rubber chevron rolls in that 411, they need to be shimmed so that they are lightly touching or near to touching and crank up the pressure on the rolls. The conditioner should be making the tractor work a little. It is also possible that the rolls are too worn to be fully effective.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Gearclash said:


> It is also possible that the rolls are too worn to be fully effective.


Likely.

Regards, Mike


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Possibly but similar results against a 489 with new rollers and against flail conditioner machine as well. 2 to 3 tedder passes depending on the weather and ground.

Again, here, if the green doesn't get flipped on top for direct sun, it just won't be ready on day 2 or 3 here. I'm assuming our air temperature is just too low but nothing dries in windrow here until August if we get a dry spell.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

A tedder and conditioner are still doing two different things, so I don't rate the ability of my conditioner on whether I had to ted or not. I still ted because if there's a cracked stem AND it's fluffed and spread out then it dries faster.


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## chevytaHOE5674 (Mar 14, 2015)

I have 2 mowers one with conditioners and one without. In the same field mowed the same day the unconditioned hay is always at least 1 day behind and sometimes 2 UP here in the cool, damp north country.


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## ttazzman (Sep 29, 2019)

SW MO ....we do heavy grass hay........cut with a moco with high cut kit and flail conditioner....lay the cut as wide as we can without driving over it while cutting........then ted the next morning out on the dry ground and high stubble sometimes sooner.......in great weather we can mow one morning and bale the next day afternoon (30hrs)........but usually its the following afternoon (50hrs)...doesnt bother me at all to ted more than once if needed

we also rake with a rotary rake which is a must on heavy hay for us


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I have one field with reed canary.Use a mower conditioner and added a tedder last yr.Made a world of difference.Always laid it out as wide a possible 12' with a 15' cut.Without a tedder would take 4-6 days.Last yr I got it put up in 2 when using a tedder

crimper on M/C helps alot in RC with the bigger stems getting cracked open

my vote goes or using a M/C and add a tedder to the toolbox.


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