# Anyone run a Pequea tedder?



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Looking at buying a Pequea 710 tedder. Don't really like my Tonutti that much. 
My tonutti is a rotary star type while the pequea is more like rotating drum. It looks like the Pequea would "fling" the hay up in the air better than a star type tedder. 
Anyone have experience with the Pequea?


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## DYNOBOB (Nov 29, 2011)

Let me start by saying I have no experience w/ any other type of tedder... I've had my 710 for 8 yrs and like it. It seems fairly gentle on the clover and if I have to put a bunch of windrows together w/ the 256 it un-ropes them nicely. It does fluff it up pretty good but the stuff on the bottom tends to stay on the bottom. They're cheap, mechanically simple, and you can buy replacement teeth at TSC.









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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Do they really throw the hay up high in the air to help it dry down?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

You're looking at a "fluffer" type, they were all the rage here for a little bit then lost popularity as if you really need a tedder, then you need to spread it out as well as fluffing it up, a fluffer won't do that while a rotary type will.


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## DYNOBOB (Nov 29, 2011)

The drum is rotating the same direction as you're traveling, just faster. It picks the crop up and flings it up and back behind it. The crop is never more than 2-4' off the ground. I use the 710 on the windrow my moco leaves or a finished windrow thats ready to bale. My equipment and approach is out of date and takes a little longer to cure hay than today's "spread it out wide and have a huge rake to get it back" approach.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

OK, maybe the "grass isn't much fluffier on the other side" with the pequea.


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## whitmerlegacyfarm (Aug 26, 2011)

I'm using a H&S 8 Tedder pretty much identical to the the 710 just that mine is 8ft i believe. It works well i guess but i never used a rotary tedder, i wish i had a rotary tedder though. I seem to have trouble picking up any hay that gets driven over, but with a wider ag tractor you may be ok. I'm running a compact so my wheel width is not as wide as most. I picked mine up for 450.00. I duno what they cost new but i know there was just a Pequea 710 on craigslist locally here in central PA.


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## whitmerlegacyfarm (Aug 26, 2011)

I just checked craigslist, there is one in Greencastle, PA for 700.00. Also one in Honeybrook, not sure if that's PA or not i didn't recognize the area code but that was a Pequea 910. If you are intested let me know i can get you the phone numbers, but if plug in Harrisburg for the city in craigslist it should come up if you search tedder.


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## Hayguy (Jun 4, 2008)

A fluffer type tedder will drop the windrow right back on the same wet ground from where it was picked up unless you've got a good cross wind or are working on a steep slope. If the ground is bone dry like most places this year, you probably don't need to ted anyway.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

We have a fluffer tedder very similar to the Peaquea. It is ground drive, so I often pull it with an ATV. I would not want to be without it, but I don't think it is s substitute for a real tedder. I usually use it to "spot treat" parts of a field that are not going to be dry with the rest of the field. I have had the best results using it in grass hay, a day before baling. The stems need to be somewhat dry for a fluffer to be effective.


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## TORCH (Jan 7, 2012)

Will it pickup the windrow after a few hours of the wilting stage? Or is this type of machine better used after two days and dryer? Will it pickup the hay that has been driven on?


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

TORCH said:


> Will it pickup the windrow after a few hours of the wilting stage? Or is this type of machine better used after two days and dryer? Will it pickup the hay that has been driven on?


Yes, but you won't gain anything as the crop will just drop in a dense windrow again. I prefer to wait until the day before I would like to bale. Yes, if it's set close enough to the dirt.


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## TORCH (Jan 7, 2012)

Have my eye on a used unit 710. Never used this type of tedder only the rotary type. Want to try this type because I wont be driving over it like
when using rotary. Cut with 10 foot discbine lay down 6 foot windrow. Next day use a New Idea hay crimper to crack again and fluff it back up. Want to try pequea 710 fluffer the 3 day before baling. Using a 9 foot rotary rake now. Want to get Ogden 10 wheel v rake so I can rake two windrows into one. Than pick the best machines out of them and see were that leads.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

Grass or alfalfa hay? A fluffer doesn't have much benefit on alfalfa i've found.


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## TORCH (Jan 7, 2012)

One field is 70% Alfalfa and 30% grass. Other fields are more grass and 25% Alfalfa.

The big question is should I wait till I can see one work or just buy and take chance it works good? Picking the best equipment for the job
sometimes does not turn out the way we think it should.


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## Widairy (Jan 1, 2016)

My uncle used and 8 foot h&s for years on windrows for chopping into the harvestor silo. If you let the top get a little crunchy, usually a day or two of drying you can get the hay fluffed really nice. He raises pure alfalfa. It won't spread the hay but with some adjustments and playing around with ground speed and throttle settings you can get the hay fluffed if it's dry enough to have some stiff materials in the windrow.


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

We have a 710 and a 910. I had decided that we'd only use them in alfalfa, say 2nd and 3rd cut. I could make really nice hay by using them, and the way things needed to be done with them, but you should wait till the 2nd day to ted (the 1st day will be a waste of time). You don't get much ground covered in a day, and uneven fields are a real challenge, cause the teeth might be too high or too low, and if they hit the dirt too much they don't last too long. I haven't used ours for a few years, but the rotary tedder gets used every day in summer....... if that tells you anything.

Rodney


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