Swather

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Swather

A swather is a farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibers and, increasingly, fuel....
implement that cuts hay

Hay

Hay is a generic term for Poaceae or legumes that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing animals like cattle, horses, domestic goat, and sheep....
or small grain

Cereal

Cereals, or cereal grains, are mostly Poaceae cultivated for their edible brans or fruit seeds . Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more energy worldwide than any other type of crop; they are therefore staple foods....
crop

Crop (agriculture)

A crop is the annual or season's yield of any plant that is grown in significant quantities to be harvested as food, as livestock fodder, or for any other economic purpose....
s and forms them into a windrow

Windrow

A windrow is a row of cut 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 mower machine or by scythe into a row, or it may naturally form as the hay is mowed....
.

A swather (also called a "windrower") may be self propelled via an internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs in a combustion chamber inside and integral to the engine. In an internal combustion engine it is always the expansion of the high temperature and pressure gases that are produced by the combustion which apply force to the movable component of the engine, such as...
, or may be drawn by a tractor

Tractor

File:John Deere 3350 tractor cut.JPGA tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction....
and powered through a power take-off

Power take-off

A power take-off is a rotating splined driveshaft, usually on a tractor or truck, that can be used to provide power to an attachment or separate machine....
shaft. A swather uses a sickle

Sickle

A sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a curved blade typically used for harvesting cereal crop or cutting grass for hay. The inside of the curve is sharp, so that the user can draw or swing the blade against the base of the crop, catching it in the curve and slicing it at the same time....
bar (see mower

Mower

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Encyclopedia

A swather is a farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibers and, increasingly, fuel....
implement that cuts hay

Hay

Cereal

Crop (agriculture)

Windrow

Internal combustion engine

Tractor

Power take-off

A power take-off is a rotating splined driveshaft, usually on a tractor or truck, that can be used to provide power to an attachment or separate machine....
shaft. A swather uses a sickle

Sickle

Mower

A mower is a machine for cutting crops or plants that grow on the ground. A smaller mower used for lawns and sports grounds is called a lawn mower or grounds mower, which is often self-powered, or may also be small enough to be pushed by the operator....
) to cut the stems of the crop. A reel helps the cut crop fall neatly onto a canvas or auger conveyor which moves it and deposits it into a windrow, with all stems oriented in the same direction. As combines

Combine harvester

The combine harvester, or simply combine, also known as a thresher is a machine that combines the tasks of harvesting, threshing, and cleaning cereal crops....
replaced threshing machine

Threshing machine

The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine , was a machine first invented by Scotland mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture....
s, the swather was needed to replace the binder

Binder

The reaper-binder, or binder, was a farm implement that improved upon the reaper. The binder was invented in 1872 by Charles Withington....
.

Swathing (windrowing) is more common in the northern United States and Canada. This is because the curing time for grain crops is reduced by cutting the plant stems. In regions with longer growing seasons, grain crops are usually left standing and harvested directly by combines.

"Swather" is predominantly the North American term for these machines. In Australia and other parts of the world, they are called "windrowers".

Swather

See also