Suggestions finding the right tedder

[Hay Dude]

I am selling my Pequea TT-6100. It teds about 26’ wide.
My disc cutters cut about 11’ each, so I cut about 20’ wide per pass (there’s a littlew overlap between mowers)
I like to “lay out” my hay as wide as possible to get it to dry, so 26’ is a tough working width.

Also, I find the Pequea tedder I have to be terrible to pull down the road. It’s very squirrelly. It borders on being dangerous.
In fact, Pequea must have listened to me because they redesigned their new tedder to be much more stable.

Esch makes a 20’ tedder, which I could live with, but no road transportation wheels, just the tiny tires.
A new 30’+ tedder is $35,000 and I don’t want to spend that kind of coin on something that I don’t need to use very much.

Thoughts on a possible replacement?

I’m thinking about a used 30’+, but wondered if anyone made a 20’ tedder that is stable towed down the road?

 

[Farmer495]

I would buy a Kubota one again.

I have a 4 rotor one (17' 1") now and I am very happy with it. It has smaller tires but roads fine. I actually pulled it home from the dealership with a pickup.

Kubota has a 24' 11" model. TE6576CD, that model has the larger transport wheels and all.

 

[Hay Dude]

That would put me right back in the same problem/situation. The size would be wrong.
I need a 20’+ or 30’+ tedder. My mowers cut 10’ wide and I want to keep the crop spread out 10’ wide

 

[Farmer495]

That would put me right back in the same problem/situation. The size would be wrong.
I need a 20’+ or 30’+ tedder. My mowers cut 10’ wide and I want to keep the crop spread out 10’ wide

I'm in the same boat if I get a bigger mower, I can do three small swaths perfectly, tractor tires never drive on the untedded hay first pass.

I used to run a small two rotor, did a swath and a half at time. Might be an option, not sure how often you ted, but the price jump from the 4 rotor is huge when you jump up to 6 and 8 rotor models.

Orange 30 & 40

 

[LHF2019]

I will recommend Pequea all day long. Move up to the 8 rotor if wanting wider. I haven't had the same issues yet with my tedder on the road. The road locks are much better now. No cables, all linkage now. They have drastically beefed up the entire tedder as well as sped up the gearbox 23%. During my ordeal I would have taken the Pequea owner's offer and upgraded my tedder had I been in a better position financially and it wasn't such a poor hay year.

Pictures I took of the tedder before returning. Compare with your tedder. I could feel the weight difference. There was nothing I didn't like about the new models. I would challenge you to find a heavier built one.

 

[Hay Dude]

I don’t get nearly the rain you do (or so it seems). Not much 3rd cutting done here, either.

I use a tedder just a handful of times per year, so although heavy built is always preferred, I don’t think I need one built like my Pequea. No doubt the Pequea was built heavy, but going down the road, I was worried I would damage a car or worse….

I do think the new Pequea looks great, much better road gear.
But IMO, it’s crazy to spend almost $30,000 on a hay tool that gets used maybe 5 times per year.
I had even thought about renting one, since it just sits so much.

I did find one of the Italian named tedders. More lightly built. They make about a 30’ tedder and it had road gear. There was one on FBM, but I couldn’t buy it because mine hadn’t sold yet. Maybe it was Enrossi or Tunutti?

I might actually go to a 20’ esche tedder and just do more passes. A new 20’ tedder is $10K. A new 30’ tedder is $30K.
For $20K, an extra pass might be worth the cost. However, there’s the roading. I don’t see those tiny tires being very stable at road speeds.


Anyway, the Pequea TT6100 went out the farm driveway for the last time yesterday. Now it’s on to figuring out my next tedder….who knows, might be another Pequea.

Please keep the topic/suggestions going.

 

[Hay Dude]

I'm in the same boat if I get a bigger mower, I can do three small swaths perfectly, tractor tires never drive on the untedded hay first pass.

I used to run a small two rotor, did a swath and a half at time. Might be an option, not sure how often you ted, but the price jump from the 4 rotor is huge when you jump up to 6 and 8 rotor models.

Orange 30 & 40

View attachment 1690899View attachment 1690900

Yeah those are 35 grand.
I don’t even want to spend 35 grand on a tractor, not to mention a tedder.

I’ll probably be buying something used, but it needs to tedder 20’ or 30’, not 26’ or 35’.

 

[LHF2019]

Rereading this. I see what you’re trying to do. You’re not going to find a 20’ with road gear. Your saying the pequea did not spread it nicely due to your mower width? I wonder if smaller but more rotors would solve your issue. Kuhn has a bunch of diagrams in their literature that might be of assistance in see available options.

 

[Farmer495]

Yeah those are 35 grand.
I don’t even want to spend 35 grand on a tractor, not to mention a tedder.

I’ll probably be buying something used, but it needs to tedder 20’ or 30’, not 26’ or 35’.

Used market might have better pricing options for sure.

Kuhn

 

[Farmer495]

I don’t get nearly the rain you do (or so it seems). Not much 3rd cutting done here, either.

I use a tedder just a handful of times per year, so although heavy built is always preferred, I don’t think I need one built like my Pequea. No doubt the Pequea was built heavy, but going down the road, I was worried I would damage a car or worse….

I do think the new Pequea looks great, much better road gear.
But IMO, it’s crazy to spend almost $30,000 on a hay tool that gets used maybe 5 times per year.
I had even thought about renting one, since it just sits so much.

I did find one of the Italian named tedders. More lightly built. They make about a 30’ tedder and it had road gear. There was one on FBM, but I couldn’t buy it because mine hadn’t sold yet. Maybe it was Enrossi or Tunutti?

I might actually go to a 20’ esche tedder and just do more passes. A new 20’ tedder is $10K. A new 30’ tedder is $30K.
For $20K, an extra pass might be worth the cost. However, there’s the roading. I don’t see those tiny tires being very stable at road speeds.


Anyway, the Pequea TT6100 went out the farm driveway for the last time yesterday. Now it’s on to figuring out my next tedder….who knows, might be another Pequea.

Please keep the topic/suggestions going.

For 10k and very little use you can make a few extra passes. I am actually tedding 20 feet of hay with my 17 footer the way my swathes lay. 10 acres an hour travelling 5 MPH.

The Italians build a lot of hay gear, some gets badge engineered. I know both Agco and NH badge engineered some Italian hay gear, might be worth looking at for lower use.

 

[Hay Dude]

I think I will explore the Kuhn and Italian tedders over the winter.
Maybe I can find something with strong enough road gear in the 20 or 30 (+/-) size.

The Pequea was well built and easy to maintain, but it’s 26’ width and sloppy road gear didn’t make for an ideal piece for me.

 

[Farmer495]

I think I will explore the Kuhn and Italian tedders over the winter.
Maybe I can find something with strong enough road gear in the 20 or 30 (+/-) size.

The Pequea was well built and easy to maintain, but it’s 26’ width and sloppy road gear didn’t make for an ideal piece for me.

Kuhn was actually my original choice for a tedder. They made the Deere and New Holland ones for years. The two rotor Kuhn here lasted almost 40 years and I only replaced it since the gearbox shaft it needed (OEM part was still available from local dealer) was 10 days out in the middle of an already wet hay season.

I have a good Kubota dealer and they had a tedder on the lot so I only lost half a day and was a worthwhile operational upgrade.

 

[Hay Dude]

I might even try a Pequea 8’ fluffer type tedder since they’re dirt cheap.
Not leaving any ideas off the table.

My new wheel rake does a great job drying hay, so raking is now a much bigger solution to the drying process.

 

[Gregster613]

I might even try a Pequea 8’ fluffer type tedder since they’re dirt cheap.
Not leaving any ideas off the table.

My new wheel rake does a great job drying hay, so raking is now a much bigger solution to the drying process.

What exactly does a "Tedder" do differently than a rake? I've heard of them but have never seen or used one. Does it fluff up already rake windrows if they have gotten rained on? I would think just re-raking would do a similar job? Just curious, thanks.

 

[Sportsman762]

What exactly does a "Tedder" do differently than a rake? I've heard of them but have never seen or used one. Does it fluff up already rake windrows if they have gotten rained on? I would think just re-raking would do a similar job? Just curious, thanks.

Raking takes a wide swath of hay and makes it into a narrow windrow for the baler to pick up. Rakes generally will make the hay more dense in a window compared to density of a swath. Re raking can mix the hay up and does some light fluffing but it still leaves denser areas and does not completely mix the hay up. Some types of rakes such as parallel bar and wheel rakes will rope the hay making it harder to dry.
A Tedder "fluffs" the hay moving wet hay in the bottom to the top to allow it to dry. You can set a tedder to be more aggressive to spread the hay out to assist with drying. Another use is to remove water off the hay after a rain and fluff it to dry better.

 

[zzvyb6]

What would it take to make a '2 into 1' ? Meaning 2 separate towable units in combination, then spread out for field use. I'm seeing a lot more balers and rakes done this way. It requires a beam hitch with a PTO power driveline off the back of the lead unit, then maybe a hydraulic fold out mechanism.
Could a pair of offset ground drive tedders work in tandem ?

 

[LouNY]

Our 4 rotor Kuhn trailing tedder does a good job of tedding, traveling can be another story. I see that they have a 6 rotor 21'4" which would give just a bit of over lap and it is 3 point mounted so the transport should be much more stable then a trailered unit.

 

[Farmer495]

I might even try a Pequea 8’ fluffer type tedder since they’re dirt cheap.
Not leaving any ideas off the table.

My new wheel rake does a great job drying hay, so raking is now a much bigger solution to the drying process.

2 rotor brand new, 10" wide.

They have a four rotor vertical fold at 19'

 

[Farmer495]

What would it take to make a '2 into 1' ? Meaning 2 separate towable units in combination, then spread out for field use. I'm seeing a lot more balers and rakes done this way. It requires a beam hitch with a PTO power driveline off the back of the lead unit, then maybe a hydraulic fold out mechanism.
Could a pair of offset ground drive tedders work in tandem ?

Likely be doable, but just cheaper the buy a wider unit by the time you get the power divider unit. I am not aware of any ground drive tedders currently made.

 

[Farmer495]

What exactly does a "Tedder" do differently than a rake? I've heard of them but have never seen or used one. Does it fluff up already rake windrows if they have gotten rained on? I would think just re-raking would do a similar job? Just curious, thanks.

Tedder lets you turn and fluff the hay so the "bottom" hay comes to the top, but is still spread out wide to dry in the sun & wind.

Normally you use on hay after it is mowed to speed up drying. I normally ted once, even for haylage, since it gains me half a day minimum for little time spent.

Sometimes ted twice if it gets rained on.

Can ted out windrows if they get soaked, then rerake when dry.