Quick answer: If you mostly make baleage, you may not need a conditioner at all — research and field experience both show unconditioned forage actually dries faster the first day, which is all the dry-down wet wrapping needs. A conditioner earns its keep on dry hay, where it speeds the last, slow bit of drying. If you do run one, choose by crop: roll/crimp conditioners for thick-stemmed, seed-bearing crops like sorghum, triticale, millet, and corn; impeller (flail) conditioners for alfalfa and grass. And ted to dry heavy windrows for dry hay — but don't ted small grains you're taking wet; just rake them together.
Conditioners, tedders, the whole "do I need this implement" question — it changes depending on whether you're making dry hay or baleage. Wet wrapping rewrote a lot of the old rules, and a surprising amount of iron you were told you "need" may be costing you drying time. Here's what the agronomy and the people running both ways actually find.
Do you even need a conditioner for baleage?
This surprises people: for wet wrapping, skipping the conditioner can dry the crop faster in the critical first day. The clearest explanation traces back to forage researcher Dan Undersander, relayed on the forums:
"Mowing without a conditioner dries faster at first than with a conditioner. To make balage, unconditioned was better, because conditioning breaks the stem and doesn't allow moisture from the stem to come out the leaves. For dry hay, conditioning was better because it allowed all the moisture to leave but took longer. Basically, if you're making balage don't spend money on a conditioner — it takes more fuel and horsepower and dries slower the first day. Make the swaths as wide as possible."
— Eric B, relaying a Dan Undersander presentation · AgTalk thread 785115
The mechanism: an intact plant keeps breathing moisture out through its leaf pores for the first several hours after cutting. Conditioning ruptures the stem, which helps the final dry-down for hay but short-circuits that fast early leaf-path drying. Since baleage only needs to come down to roughly 50–60%, you ride the fast part of the curve and stop — exactly where unconditioned wins. Operators bear it out:
"I have just a disc mower, no conditioner rolls or flails, make a lot of balage and also dry hay. I honestly think my unconditioned hay dries faster than the neighbor's conditioned hay."
— Dave EOh, Eastern Ohio · AgTalk thread 785115
Plenty of baleage operations run a plain 3-point disc mower and cut, rake, and bale in the same day. The catch is your rake: a wheel rake behind a disc mower usually needs center kicker wheels to gather a clean windrow without leaving hay. (More on matching the rake in our rake selection guide.)
When is a conditioner still worth it? When you make a meaningful amount of dry hay — it's the last 20% of moisture, the slow part, where conditioning pays. For the full dry-hay-speed playbook (wide swaths, tedding, pan evaporation), see how to make dry hay faster.
Rolls vs impeller: match the conditioner to the crop
If you do run a conditioner, the roll-vs-impeller choice matters — and it splits cleanly by crop type. Roll (crimp) conditioners crush the stem between rollers; impeller (flail) conditioners use spinning tines that scuff the waxy cuticle off the stem to speed drying.
| Crop | Better choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sorghum, sorghum-sudan, triticale, millet, corn | Rolls / crimp | Impellers beat up thick stems, lay a tighter windrow that dries slower, and can shell seed heads |
| Alfalfa | Either; impeller works well | Scuffs the waxy stem; many run impellers and still test 24–26% protein |
| Grass hay | Impeller often shines | Fine-stemmed grass responds well to flail conditioning |
The thick-stem warning is worth quoting, because it's the most common impeller mistake:
"We have run them side by side, and we no longer use the impellers on sorghum / triticale / millet / other like crops. It really beats the crop up and lays the windrow much tighter, and can't get it to dry out as fast as crimpers. Alfalfa and grass hay, it works as well or better."
— Whats Up · AgTalk thread 1151961
Two more considerations: impeller conditioning generally has higher field (leaf) loss than rolls — invisible, like fermentation loss, but real — and on seed-bearing forage sorghum, impellers will knock off some seed (though usually not much more than rolls). For thick-stemmed, seed-headed crops, rolls are the safer default; for alfalfa and grass, an impeller is a fine, often-better tool.
To ted or not to ted
Tedding spreads and fluffs the cut crop to dry it faster — but with wet wrapping it's situational, and on some crops it actively hurts you. The rule of thumb by goal:
- Dry hay → ted, right after cutting. Spreading wide and tedding early keeps leaf pores in the sun and is the single biggest dry-down accelerator. Even operators who dropped tedding for baleage keep it for dry hay.
- Heavy, thick-stemmed crops → ted to dry the windrow bottom. Sorghum-sudan and other rank summer annuals pile up wet, heavy windrows whose bottoms never dry; tedding (or at least raking and flipping) gets that wet material up off the ground. See our sorghum-sudangrass guide.
- Small grains you're taking wet → don't ted. For oats, rye, and the like wrapped as baleage, tedding just scatters them and you lose the easy, even moisture. Leave them in the windrow and rake together right before baling — covered in our oat-pea baleage guide.
- Legumes (alfalfa, clover) → ted early and gently, or not at all when wet. Tedding bone-dry legumes shatters the protein-rich leaves; if you ted, do it while there's toughness in the crop, and consider skipping it for wet wrapping. See round-baling alfalfa.
How many passes? For dry hay, one good tedding pass right after cutting does most of the work; a second pass the next morning helps only if the windrow is still heavy and damp. More passes than that mostly add leaf loss, not drying.
The bottom line on iron
- Mostly baleage? You can likely skip the conditioner — unconditioned dries faster the first day, which is all wet wrapping needs. Spend on wide swaths and a good rake instead.
- Making real dry hay? Keep the conditioner; it earns its keep on the last, slow bit of dry-down.
- Running a conditioner? Rolls for sorghum/triticale/millet/corn; impeller for alfalfa and grass.
- Tedding? Yes for dry hay and heavy windrows; no for small grains you're wrapping wet; gently (or not) for legumes.
However you cut and dry it, finish with a tight bale and good net wrap — and if you're new to wet wrapping, start with our first-time baleage guide.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a mower-conditioner to make baleage?
Often not. For baleage you only need to wilt the crop to about 50–60% moisture, and unconditioned forage dries faster during that first day because the intact plant keeps breathing moisture out through its leaves. Conditioning ruptures the stem, which helps the final dry-down for hay but slows that fast early drying. Many baleage operations run a plain disc mower and cut, rake, and bale the same day — just make sure your rake gathers a clean windrow behind it.
Is a roll or impeller conditioner better?
It depends on the crop. Roll (crimp) conditioners are better for thick-stemmed, seed-bearing crops — sorghum, sorghum-sudan, triticale, millet, and corn — because impellers beat those crops up, lay a tighter slower-drying windrow, and can shell seed. Impeller (flail) conditioners work as well or better on alfalfa and grass, where they scuff the waxy stem to speed drying. Impeller conditioning also tends to have somewhat higher leaf loss.
Does conditioning hay slow down baleage drying?
Yes, for the first day. Forage research and field experience both find that unconditioned forage dries faster initially, because conditioning breaks the stem and blocks the fast early moisture loss through the leaves. Since baleage only needs to reach about 50–60% moisture, you benefit from that fast early drying and stop before the point where a conditioner would help. For dry hay, conditioning is worth it because it speeds the slow final 20% of dry-down.
When should you ted hay, and when shouldn't you?
Ted for dry hay — right after cutting — and ted heavy, thick-stemmed crops like sorghum-sudan to dry the wet bottom of the windrow. Don't ted small grains such as oats or rye that you're wrapping wet; leave them in the windrow and rake together before baling so the moisture stays even. With legumes, ted early while there's still toughness in the crop to avoid shattering leaves, or skip it when wrapping wet.
How many times should you ted hay?
For dry hay, one good tedding pass right after cutting does most of the work, with an optional second pass the next morning if the windrow is still heavy and damp. Beyond that, extra passes mostly add leaf loss rather than meaningful drying, so more is not better.
The XES Netting team manufactures bale net wrap for round balers and writes these guides so forage operators can find clear, source-cited answers. Every farmer quote in this post is verbatim with a link to the original AgTalk thread — go read the discussions in full.
Featured photo: A Claas rotary tedder by Alan Hughes, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
