Tedding Hay

Dennis@mo · Jun 2, 2015

My son and I disagree on when the hay should be tedded.He wants to do it as it is mowed down. I like to wait for at least 6-7 hours to let the top of the windrow start to dry. What are some opions of the experts out there?

Don-Wi · Jun 3, 2015

no idea but do half and half and give us an answer!

Donovan from Wisconsin

Pair-a-dice farm · Jun 3, 2015

(quoted from post at 23:13:24 06/02/15) My son and I disagree on when the hay should be tedded.He wants to do it as it is mowed down. I like to wait for at least 6-7 hours to let the top of the windrow start to dry. What are some opions of the experts out there?

My grandad used to say that an ex is a has been and a spert is a drop of water under pressure. I cut my hay one day and tedder the next. No other reason except I'm a one man operation and it works for me. I also like to rake my hay a few hours before baling if possible.

495man · Jun 3, 2015

Done it both ways, what seems to work fine is waiting for a little bit, as little as 1 to 2 hours if a nice hot day. Following the mower around with the tedder is too close for comfort.

If you are a one man show, I'd have no issue with starting tedding the minute you are done mowing, ted in order mowed so the hay wilts slightly before being tedded.

gene bender · Jun 3, 2015

Do it the next day that lets the bare ground dry some.

NEIADan · Jun 3, 2015

years ago Pioneer Hybrids published an article explaining how a saves the most nutrition by putting the windrow very tight at cutting, to wait 1-2 hours for surface moisture to dry and for stubble to stiffen to help hold the hay off the ground. Thje premise was that the alfalfa plant was still a living breathing plant until its moisture dropped to 65 percent moisture. In that tight windrow the plant thinks it is in the night time respiration mode in the dark and not burning energy from the plant, you also dont have top leaves drying out and separating if tedded close after mowing. But whrn said and done we all just ted hay as labor and timing allow. I personally dont like to ted after 5 or 6 pm and wait till next day. I start mowing early morning and ted after lunch then mow again till late.

Bret4207 · Jun 3, 2015

It depends on the situation. Sometimes doing it right away is best because the ground is wet. Most times it's best to let is sit a while or overnight. If you got out early and have a hot, breezy afternoon and evening it's est to ted right away and take advantage of the weather. Sometimes I've had to ted 2-3 times. You work with the situation you have and try to learn what works best.

I'm on clay with zero alfalfa in northern NY. Where you are and what you're growing makes a difference too.

showcrop · Jun 3, 2015

Our ground here in NH is usually wet, so as others have said we want to allow the ground and stems to dry out a significant amount, so we will give it 3-6 hours in the narrow swath to dry down before we ted it out. First we mow with our mower then ted with our tedder, then rake with our rake, then bale with our baler. Around here nobody tedders.

RLA · Jun 3, 2015

I run the spinner tedder on it the next morning just about the time the dew burns off..
Shake it up good to get it's attention....

JRSutton · Jun 3, 2015

I think Don-Wi gave the best answer.

I have to admit, I really don't know. I think like most I've tried it different ways - but unless you do an actual side by side comparison, there are too many variables to account for the different results to mean much.

It would seem to make sense that it'd dry better spread out and fluffed up immediately. On the other hand, right after cutting, the grass is so wet that the air flowing around it probably gets so saturated it becomes very inefficient at drying anyways so it doesn't really matter (unless you've got a strong breeze).

Thing is - I can't really think of a reason NOT to do it. Yeah, letting the ground in between dry - but - wouldn't the ground under the cut hay stay wetter, offsetting any gain of dry ground between?

Funny though - for all the hundreds of years of haying experience out there you'd think it'd be an exact science, with an absolutely definitive answer, documented with facts and figures.

Leroy · Jun 3, 2015

First question, is the hay ran over and packed down in mowing? Too many tires running on top of it? If packed then lifting it back up could do some good. If not packed down then would be a waste to do it right away.

tomstractorsandtoys · Jun 3, 2015

In good drying weather we run the tedder right behind the discbine and rake a few hours latter and chop for silage the same day at 65 percent moisture or less. For dry hay we wait a few hours or even overnight. Tom

showcrop · Jun 3, 2015

(quoted from post at 18:01:41 06/03/15) First question, is the hay ran over and packed down in mowing? Too many tires running on top of it? If packed then lifting it back up could do some good. If not packed down then would be a waste to do it right away.

Hay Leroy, something I agree with you on, LOL. Here in the NorthEast everybody mowing for hay mows into a narrow swath to avoid driving on it and pressing it down into the moist ground. Of course you still have to drive over it in the headlands, but that is normally a small part of it.

Tedding Hay

Dennis@mo

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Don-Wi

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Pair-a-dice farm

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495man

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gene bender

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NEIADan

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Bret4207

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showcrop

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RLA

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JRSutton

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Leroy

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tomstractorsandtoys

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showcrop

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