Recommendations on brands of tedders?

[aczlan]

Our ancient Duetz Fahr Kh40 tedder has lost another wheel bearing and the time has come to replace it. I am looking at an Olivi tedder that is on ebay (Auction # 230344955412), has anyone used them? are they any good?
A local dealer is selling Pequea TT4000 machines which look great, other than the price of $7500, for ~20 acres it is not worth it to get that one.

Does anyone have a tedder make/model that they recommend? it needs to be a 4 basket tedder with an ~18 foot working width. I would like it to be 3 point mount, but will probably have to get a trailed one as I see very few 3 point tedders around.

Or, is there a better way? our hay is a mix of grass, clover and alfalfa (in about that order). We currently mow it with a mower conditioner, hit it with the basket rake a time or two (depending on how the weather is) and then roll it up with a ancient bar rake and bale it or (if it needs to dry a little more) roll it one more time then bale it.

Thanks

Aaron Z

 

[jimg]

My neighbor and I own manual (as opposed to hydraulic) Tonutti TR500s which are 4 basket but not quite as wide as you're looking for. Both were bought new and have performed really well. Price was slightly less than other popular local brands (NH, Vermeer, JD/Frontier).

 

[bill in ny]

i have a sitrex tedder, 17 foot. paid $2500 for it at auction two years ago. built very well, and parts are easy to come by.

 

[steveky]

Bought a Kuhn last week, real nice, $2100 2 gang.

 

[aczlan]

My neighbor and I own manual (as opposed to hydraulic) Tonutti TR500s which are 4 basket but not quite as wide as you're looking for. Both were bought new and have performed really well. Price was slightly less than other popular local brands (NH, Vermeer, JD/Frontier).

Are they three point mount or trailer style? We have a local Kubota dealer who can get Tonutti implements (IIRC that is what he said). I have looked at the brochure (from here) and they look pretty good to me. I especially like the fact that the outer rotors spin inward for transport, that will make trailering it easier when we need to do that.

Aaron Z

 

[jimg]

They're trailed only. Oddly both my neighbor and I own the TR500 but his has a longer tongue. Guess they changed spec midway. His is far easier to back.

 

[Mike120]

I used to borrow my neighbors Kuhn when I needed it until he gave it to his son when he sold his place. It was a good one. I don't always need to tedd but didn't want to be without one. After looking at both new and used I settled on the new Vermeer TR90 Tedder/Rake. My logic was that it could also be a backup for my old NH 256.

First cutting this year, I busted the drive shaft on my 256 rake halfway through the field. The TR90 saved my butt. I've bought the parts to fix my 256, but next cutting I'll let the 256 be the backup for the TR90. I could go a little faster, it made nice fluffy windrows, and I could adjust them to exactly the width of the baler. I haven't used it as a tedder yet but if it tedds half as well as it rakes, I'll be a happy camper.

 

[HayDR]

There are a number of good choices among tedder manufacturers. You need to match your tedder to your mower. If you have a 9'2" or 10.5' mower you may have trouble tedding out 2 swaths in one pass with a 17' tedder. You need a 18' or larger. Most so-called 17' European tedders only tedd 16'9".

 

[aczlan]

There are a number of good choices among tedder manufacturers. You need to match your tedder to your mower. If you have a 9'2" or 10.5' mower you may have trouble tedding out 2 swaths in one pass with a 17' tedder. You need a 18' or larger.

That is something I hadn't thought of, we cut with a 9' NH Mower Conditioner, so it looks like we will need a ~18' tedder.

Thanks

Aaron Z

 

[svenstrs]

That is something I hadn't thought of, we cut with a 9' NH Mower Conditioner, so it looks like we will need a ~18' tedder.

Thanks

Aaron Z

maybe not. I am also looking for a new tedder. According to Class, my 9'10" Claas mower conditioner will work with their 17' tedder as long as the swaths are not bigger than 6'.

I found this thread while searching for additional info on the olivi tedder being sold on eBay. I like the price, but am suspicious that I can't find any information on the manufacturer. I think it's a good chance that they are made in India or China And channeled through Italy. It's just hard to believe that any European country could be producing something that much cheaper than the competition.

 

[aczlan]

Update,
We are getting a Rossi 17' 6" hydro fold tedder from our local Kubota dealer, it is a few hundred more expensive than the one from Ebay was going to be, but they can get parts for it and my father-in-law has a good relationship with them (he has bought 2 (soon to be 3 perhaps) Kubota tractors from them as well as 2 Cub Cadet mowers and some smaller power equipment (weedeaters a tiller, chainsaw, etc). They treat him well and have always been there when needed.

Svenstrs,
I looked at our current tedder and it is ~15' wide, but we use the mo-co to make windrows, so width is not quite as important as it would be otherwise.

CCI,
On further inspection (as opposed to taking someone else's word for it) the cut width on our mo-co is 8' 8", so a 17' 6" tedder will be a perfect fit no matter how we set the windrow width.

Aaron Z

 

[HayDR]

Haybines and disc bines have the ability to pull the swath in. Also realize 3 point hay mowers without conditioners outsell pull-type mower conditioners 5 to 1 so those 3 point mowers are not windrowing the hay as much as a mower conditioner will. Grass hay is about 70% of all hay grown in the USA.

 

[lb-farmboy]

Just wanted to let you know that we own an olivi 4 basket tedder and have had it for 2 years, it performs really well, very reasonavbly priced and also all parts are available through United Farm Implement from Georgia......hope this helps!