The Whipper

     A few days ago I talked about stunting the growth of the alfalfa so that it blooms at the right time. In that post, we were seeing the brillion do the job. This is a another way.

     This alfalfa field may not look out of the ordinary at first glance, but a closer inspection shows that the top part of the plants have been mulched a bit. This is the other way. You retard the development of the plant by whipping the top off with this:

     This is a whipper. What it does is take a lot of PTO energy and turn it into a rotating drum of these guys:

     The drum itself is quite heavy, so it picks up a lot of momentum which it transfers into these flails. (as they're called) It's all put inside of a protective housing so that things don't come flying out at high speeds, much like a lawn mower. Also like a lawn mower, the entire operation lowers down over the work area, (by use of hydraulics) so you don't really get to see any of it happening. The aftermath smells pretty good too, just like a lawn mower. (see, it's kind of like a lawn mower...)
     The Whipper will see a brief period of work around some of the alfalfa fields in the spring, and also to knock down weeds that get a bit out of control. It will come to use much more commonly in the fall, though, when it's time to knock down stubble. But, once again, that's a post for another day.