A tedder (also called hay tedder) is a

machine A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromol ...

used in

haymaking Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

. It is used after cutting and before

windrow A windrow is a row of cut (mown) hay or small grain crop. It is allowed to dry before being baled, combined, or rolled. For hay, the windrow is often formed by a hay rake, which rakes hay that has been cut by a mowing machine or by scythe ...

ing, and uses moving forks to aerate or "wuffle" the hay and thus speed drying before baling or rolling. The use of a tedder allows the hay to dry ("cure") better, which prevents mildew or fermentation.

History

The tedder came into use in the second half of the nineteenth century. While Charles Wendel claims in his ''Encyclopedia of American farm implements & antiques'' that the machine wasn't introduced to the United States until the 1880s, there are enough indications that the tedder was in use in the 1860s—''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reports on its efficacy in 1868, and in that same year the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

comments on the American-made Hubbard's hay tedder, which had been on the market since 1863; according to the Maine report, in 1859 the machine was "an implement lately imported from England." The action of the tedder is described, in the late 19th and early 20th century, as being used to "stir" or "scatter" cut hay in the field.

Operation

The original tedder is a farm tool on two wheels pulled by a horse; the rotation of the axle drives a gear which operates a "number of arms with wire tines or fingers at the lower ends." The tines pick up the hay and disperse it; usually, the height at which the tines pick up the hay can be adjusted. In an early, simple hay tedder described in 1852 and manufactured in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

by the company of Mr. Slight, the two wheels, via a

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

wheel and a pinion, drive a set of light wheels, the "rake wheels"; on these two rake wheels are mounted eight rakes, which pick up and disperse the hay. A later "English hay-tedder" uses two separate cylinders with rotating forks that can be reversed to lay the hay down lightly for improved exposure to air. American machines, such as those made by companies such as Garfield, Mudgett, and Bullard (Ezekiel W. Bullard of Barre, Massachusetts, is credited in one source with the invention of the machine, nicknamed "the grasshopper"), typically used a system with a revolving crank in the middle of the arm and a lever at the upper end, or a system whereby rotating wheels moved the forks up and down. The first tedder widely available on the American market was the already mentioned ''Bullard's Hay Tedder'', which had forks moving up and down on a compound crank, working in a motion described as "the energetic scratching of a hen." The ''American Hay Tedder'', made by the Ames Plow Company of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and described in 1869 as a "new machine, remarkable for its simplicity and perfection of working, was more like the British machine in its rotational operation. Some tedders have the rotating tines enclosed inside a solid structure to increase the force applied to the hay. Other similar machines included ''the Wuffler'' and ''the acrobat''. The Wuffler shuffles the hay in a manner similar to the tedder. The acrobat may be used also for turning, and for rowing hay up ready for

baling The Baling District is an administrative district in southeastern Kedah, Malaysia. Located about 110 km from Alor Setar, it borders Perak and Betong, the southernmost town of Thailand. Name The name Baling can be traced to a series of e ...

Centrifugal rakes

On two opposing horizontal gyroscopes, which are pto-driven, are mounted obliquely downward standing tines. These refer to the green waste and throw it back. Due to the rear-mounted collecting baskets a windrowing is as possible with a Rake. Their distribution is low because of the limited job performance.

Use and importance

Its development was of great importance to agriculture, since it saved labor and thus money: using a tedder, one person and one draft animal could do as much work as fifteen manual laborers. It also resulted in greater economy, since cut grass could be turned into hay the same day even if it had become wet or been trampled by horses and before its nutritional value could be reduced by repeated soaking from rain. Especially in humid areas (such as the Eastern United States), the invention of the tedder added greatly to improved hay production from such crops as

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

and

clover Clovers, also called trefoils, are plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution with the highest diversit ...

, and allowed for haying while the grass was still green which produced hay of much higher value.

References

External links