Which Tedder

[PROFarms]

Hi Guys,
Im in the market for a used 4 basket tedder. Im not really sure whether to go for a mounted or trailed one. I would be using it in 5 acre+ fields, all of which are very open with no obstacles. From the ones i have seen on eBay so far the mounted ones are around $150 whereas a trailed one is averaging around $600 or more. Do you guys have any thoughts on which tedder would be best for me as i am relatively inexperienced at a haymaking with only starting a few years ago. Love our 2 basket tedder but it is really far too slow for the amount of land we do a year - we are doing around 8-10000 bales a year.
Cheers

 

[Bigfoot62]

You can search this forum for "tedder" and come up with lots of reading. Here's one recent thread: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/haying/315384-v-rake-4-basket-tedder.html

 

[Grateful11]

Finally convinced my wife to buy a 4 basket Krone Tedder a few years ago, now they wouldn't be without it. But I doubt you'll find a decent 4 basket tedder in the $600 range. Here in the US it's hard to find even a decent 2 basket for that. Krone is probably the best made Tedder on the market followed by Kuhn. A Krone is built like a tank and should be close to a lifetime Tedder, with proper maintenance, for someone doing 8-10,000 bales.

BTW: My relatives came from the Devon area of England, Bratton-Clovelly to be exact.

 

[PROFarms]

actually there is a guy down the road from us who has been in a rented farm and he was evicted and is now selling of some really good haying stuff really cheap prices!
Really?!!?! Im not even joking, i live less than 10 miles from Bratton-Clovelly, in fact we used to make some hay in that parish!! - its some lovely farmland around there - you ever visit?

 

[Grateful11]

No visit yet but I hope to someday before I leave this old world. My wife and I would love visit some of the farms in that area.

 

[PROFarms]

yes, it is lovely, do your relatives farm too?

 

[Grateful11]

I married into a farm family. My wife and son still farm. My wife and late Father ran a small Dairy until 2003. Now she and my son have 39 head of breeding stock and 15 calves. My Mothers parents always farmed on a small scale mainly to survive my Mother was born right before the Great Depression and there was 7 mouths to feed.

 

[PROFarms]

OK cool, sounds a good story.
So can someone help me still as to which sort of tedder is better? trailed or 3pt hitch mounted?

 

[Grateful11]

Well a 3pt has the advantage of picking it up when going from field to field which nice if you have a lot ditches or low spots to cross. The biggest disadvantage IMO is the process of hooking up to the 3pt like anything else 3pt. Also if you use your top link for other stuff it would need to be adjusted each time you use it. Most people run the leading edge of the tines about 3/4-7/8" above the ground.

On a trailed tedder if it doesn't have hydraulic tilt you will have to manually tilt it back when going from field to field. They're very easy to hook up. You do have watch your 3pt lift arms with a trailed one so not to hit the PTO in turns. Here they just remove the extendable links on the lift arms to be on the safe side with the Tedder and the DiscBine. Some people remove the lift arms altogether but that's a pain.

 

[Grateful11]

Sorry Double Post.

 

[aczlan]

Well a 3pt has the advantage of picking it up when going from field to field which nice if you have a lot ditches or low spots to cross. The biggest disadvantage IMO is the process of hooking up to the 3pt like anything else 3pt. Also if you use your top link for other stuff it would need to be adjusted each time you use it. Most people run the leading edge of the tines about 3/4-7/8" above the ground.

On a trailed tedder if it doesn't have hydraulic tilt you will have to manually tilt it back when going from field to field. They're very easy to hook up. You do have watch your 3pt lift arms with a trailed one so not to hit the PTO in turns. Here they just remove the extendable links on the lift arms to be on the safe side with the Tedder and the DiscBine. Some people remove the lift arms altogether but that's a pain.

We have a 18' 4 basket Enrossi tedder, it is towed and it trails the tractor well. I lift the 3 point arms up all the way and it clears everything.

Aaron Z

 

[Grateful11]

Well it takes less than 5 minutes to remove the extendable arms on the JD 5065M that way when a certain operator forgets to pick the arms all the way up or bumps the level down a bit then there's no way for them to hit a $500 PTO shaft on the Tedder. The only time the 3pt is used on the Deere is with a 110gallon 3pt sprayer and that's only a few times a year. Everything here is pull type except the sprayer and a 12ft. Field Cultivator with drag bar and crumbler basket and the Deere can't handle it anyway.

 

[aczlan]

Well it takes less than 5 minutes to remove the extendable arms on the JD 5065M that way when a certain operator forgets to pick the arms all the way up or bumps the level down a bit then there's no way for them to hit a $500 PTO shaft on the Tedder. The only time the 3pt is used on the Deere is with a 110gallon 3pt sprayer and that's only a few times a year. Everything here is pull type except the sprayer and a 12ft. Field Cultivator with drag bar and crumbler basket and the Deere can't handle it anyway.

Ah, we go straight from the tedder to a 3 point trailer mover that we use to tow the rollbar rake to make windrows so we use the 3 point a lot more often.

Aaron Z

 

[PROFarms]

ok so in relation to the actual operation of the tedders then there shouldn't be any difference with one doing a better job than the other?

 

[aczlan]

ok so in relation to the actual operation of the tedders then there shouldn't be any difference with one doing a better job than the other?

A 3 point one will have a tendency to swing wide in turns and might miss tedding the hay on the inside while a towed one will track the tractor on turns.
On the other hand, you can lift up a 3 point one to go over something you dont want to tedd which you cannot do with a towed one.

Aaron Z

 

[PROFarms]

ok, is it likely that the 3pt one might not ted all of the grass as it passes over it, think i may have read that on a forum somewhere?

 

[aczlan]

ok, is it likely that the 3pt one might not ted all of the grass as it passes over it, think i may have read that on a forum somewhere?

A 3 point one might be more sensitive to bumps, but if either one passes over the grass, it should tedd it.

Aaron Z

 

[PROFarms]

ok thanks, think i might go for the 3pt one as its in really good order and is for sale at 150 from a farm down the road so i know its had an easy, short life. will post pics when i pick it up