A conditioner (or ''hay conditioner'') is a

farm implement Agricultural equipment is any kind of machinery used on a farm to help with farming. The best-known example of this kind is the tractor. Tractor and power *Tractor / Two-wheel tractor * Tracked tractor / Caterpillar tractor Soil cultiv ...

that crimps and crushes newly cut

hay 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 domesticat ...

to promote faster and more even drying. Drying the hay efficiently is most important for first cutting of the hay crop, which consists of coarse stalks that take a longer period of time to draw out moisture than finer-textured hays, such as second and subsequent cuttings. A conditioner is made up of two grooved rollers which the hay is forced through, causing the stalks to split, thus allowing the liquid trapped behind

cell wall A cell wall is a structural layer surrounding some types of cells, just outside the cell membrane. It can be tough, flexible, and sometimes rigid. It provides the cell with both structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mech ...

s (

sap Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separa ...

and

cell sap A vacuole () is a membrane-bound organelle which is present in plant and fungal cells and some protist, animal, and bacterial cells. Vacuoles are essentially enclosed compartments which are filled with water containing inorganic and organic mo ...

) to leak out and also giving more

surface area The surface area of a solid object is a measure of the total area that the surface of the object occupies. The mathematical definition of surface area in the presence of curved surfaces is considerably more involved than the definition of arc ...

for

evaporation Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. High concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humidi ...

. The stand-alone conditioner is no longer used on most farms, since the conditioner has been incorporated into mower-conditioners, which combine the

mower A mower is a person or machine that cuts (mows) grass or other plants that grow on the ground. Usually mowing is distinguished from reaping, which uses similar implements, but is the traditional term for harvesting grain crops, e.g. with reapers ...

and conditioner into a single machine. The names Haybine and Discbine are

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

names of mower-conditioners, although some farmers use these names somewhat generically.

Mower-conditioners

Mower-conditioners are a staple of large-scale hay making. Mower-conditioners are defined by the mechanisms that accomplish mowing and conditioning. There are three types of

s: sickle bar mowers, disc mowers, and drum mowers. Sickle bar mowers use a reciprocating blade to cut the grass and typically use a reel to fold the grass over the knife. Disc mowers have a number of hubs across the cutting width, each hub having a small (18") rotating disc with knives. Drum mowers use two or three large plates (called the drums, about 36" across) which ride over the ground as they are spinning. A sickle bar mower's main advantage over disc mowers and drum mowers is the reduced horsepower requirements. Its disadvantage is the extra maintenance required due to the high number of moving parts and wear items. Disc mowers were historically considered an "all the eggs in one basket" kind of mower because all the mower hubs were in one large gearbox. If one blade hit something and a gear tooth broke, the whole gearbox would suffer a catastrophic failure, and there would be nothing worth fixing. If anything broke, everything broke. Drum mowers prevented this by having typically two belt-driven drums compared to six or more gear-driven hubs. Modern disc mowers use isolated gearboxes, and if one fails it can be swapped out without rebuilding the entire machine. Conditioners come in three main types: rubber-roller conditioners, steel-roller, and flail. The roller conditioners consist of two opposing rolls that have a raised, interlocking pattern. The rollers have either a rubber or steel pattern and a steel main shaft. The crop is crimped between the rollers, decreasing the drying time. The flail conditioner is an arrangement of steel Vs on a main shaft that beat the crop against the top of the mower-conditioner. The flail conditioner reduces drying time by removing the waxy coating on the crop. Even though conditioners can shorten the dry time of the hay, they can come with problems in the hayfield. The space between the two opposing rolls can decrease or increase by the users needs, but there is a max area of opening. This can cause a breakdown or problem in the machine. If the hay is wet or lay downed in the field it can bunch together when pushed into the conditioner rolls. This can jam the rolls, even causing the hay to wrap completely around them. If caught early, the user can shut down the machine and cut the hay free by hand. If it is not caught early this can stop the bars from rolling, thus stopping the belts from turning the machine, then stopping the tractor. If this happens, one is looking at major problems with their machinery. Not only can this damage the rolls, but also the belts on the mower-conditioner can snap, and the tractor itself will be receiving considerable amounts of stress on its engine. Even though this can be a major money and time-consuming problem, if the user is alert and constantly aware of their equipment's performance, this issue should never go further than a small stoppage. ''Haybine'' is the brand name of the first mower-conditioner. It combined the sickle bar mower and the hay conditioner to promote faster drying hay all in one process. The current versions produced by New Holland are branded the ''Discbine,'' since they now feature faster disc mowers.

References

* * {{cite web, author=Lee, Karen , date = 2016-05-20 , title=Hay-in-a-Day: A Wide Swath More Important Than Conditioning , location = Brodhead, WI, USA , publisher = Kuhn North America, Inc. , work= Information Center; Ag Practices and Trends , url=http://www.kuhnnorthamerica.com/us/ag-practices-trends-hay-in-a-day.html , access-date=20 May 2016 , quote = Agricultural machinery

Mower-conditioners

See also

References