Swather

A farm machine that cuts standing crops and lays them in rows, called windrows, to dry before harvesting. It is used especially for crops that need field drying before threshing.

Disc mower: A mower that cuts vegetation with rapidly rotating discs fitted with blades. It uses rotating blades rather than the reciprocating sickle bar common on many swathers.
Canola: An oilseed crop cultivated from varieties of rapeseed bred for low erucic acid and glucosinolates. Swathing canola helps manage uneven maturity and reduce losses from shattering before combining.
Windrower: A self-propelled or tractor-drawn machine that cuts crops and places them in windrows. In agricultural usage, windrower often names the same machine or a closely related design.
Crop maturity: The stage at which a crop has developed sufficiently for its intended harvest or use. Swathing timing depends on crop maturity, particularly when plants ripen unevenly.
Horse-drawn reaper: A harvesting machine pulled by horses that cuts standing grain and leaves it for collection. It belongs to the earlier family of mechanical cutters from which powered swathers developed.
Reel: A rotating assembly of bats or tines that guides standing crop toward a cutter or conveyor. It helps feed tall or tangled stalks evenly into the swather’s cutting system.
Alfalfa: A perennial legume grown widely as nutritious forage for livestock. Swathers cut alfalfa into drying rows before it is baled or chopped.
Mower-conditioner: A machine that cuts forage and crimps or crushes it to accelerate drying. It emphasizes conditioning cut forage, while swather can describe machines used for grain crops too.
Crop drying: The removal of moisture from harvested or cut crops to prepare them for storage or processing. Windrows expose cut stems and heads to air and sunlight for drying.
Cyrus McCormick: An American inventor and manufacturer associated with the commercial development of the mechanical reaper. The mechanical reaper helped establish machine cutting as the basis for later crop-cutting equipment.

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Reaper-binderCompared with: A swather leaves cut crop in rows rather than tying it into sheaves.