Hay in the mountains La Clusaz June 19, 2022 mowing, tedding, windrowing, and baling. http://www.la-clusaz.ovh/ Mowing, tedding, windrowing, and baling hay. A windrower, windrower or windrower is an agricultural machine used to windrow (to windrow) hay, silage grass, tops, or plant debris such as straw or vine shoots. The use of this machine dates back to the early days of agricultural mechanization (1870s) during the second industrial revolution. The windrower was then pulled by draft animals (horses or oxen). Today it is generally driven by an agricultural tractor. Windrowing is called windrowing. There are specialized windrowers for harvesting fruit on the ground (walnuts, tomatoes, squash) and windrowers, particularly for harvesting bulbs and peanuts. Types of machines and history Windrowers gather the fodder or straw in a continuous line or windrow. The windrows can then be collected by a fodder baler, a forage harvester, etc. Intermittent discharge windrowers Before rotary machines driven by PTO, windrowing was carried out with an intermittent discharge windrower (also called a rake), raking the hay, and lifting it at regular intervals to group it together before collecting. The windrow was then formed perpendicular to the direction of travel of the machine. The discharge had to be triggered at exactly the right place to obtain a continuous windrow. The following machines do not have this difficulty. "Sun" wheel windrowers Model of "Sun" wheel windrowers. Then, still without PTO, rake wheels (sun or starwheel in English) raked the hay, only rotated by friction on the meadow; animal traction remains possible. In the 2010s, the sun-type windrower reappeared. It deposits the windrow in the direction of travel, it is characterized by large toothed discs that slide on the ground, either in a "funnel" fashion in order to bring the fodder from the outside to the inside, or only laterally. This type of windrower does not have a PTO, it is only towed. It offers greater versatility than other types of windrowers, because it has very flexible teeth and a central flange allowing the working angle to be adjusted. The sun-type windrower is very effective for windrowing straw buried in stubble, but also for heavy and bulky materials such as corn stover, hemp or miscanthus1. Previously, small machines with 4 or 5 suns were also sometimes used for tedding, however less energetic than with tine systems, which can still be appreciated for fragile hays such as alfalfa. There is a modern version with hydraulic drive and funnel arrangement. Comb rakes Comb tedders-windrowers mounted on a large rotor with horizontal axis and side discharge were popular in the 1940s-1950s. They were usually pulled by a horse. Some were pushed by a motor cultivator (motor rake or motor tedder). Faired comb tedders-windrowers (aerotedders) were used in the 1960s as towed machines and since then as large self-propelled machines. Windrowers with small combs mounted on a conveyor belt have also been built. Rotor rakes Hay raking with a two-rotor rake Modern machines are rotor rakes (there can be several) consisting of small rakes that rotate around a vertical axis, driven by the power take-off of a tractor. They were preceded by smaller two-rotor machines capable of tedders (rotor tedders). Video filmed with Olympus TG-Tracker Action cam 4K Black