Abstract: A forage harvester and attachment therefor are provided wherein such attachment serves the multiple purposes of cutting, conditioning, and selectively moving a crop in two basic directions from a crop transfer zone within the attachment, one of the directions being toward the ground and the other being away from the ground. The attachment comprises a flail device of predetermined width for cutting and conditioning a standing crop in one mode of operation and for picking up a pre-cut ground swath of a crop in another mode and moving that swath to the transfer zone. The attachment has an auger for gathering a crop into the transfer zone immediately after cutting to define a dense swath thereof which has a width less than that of the flail device and approximately equal to the width of the ground swath. The attachment has an additional auger and a door for selectively moving crop from the transfer zone in the above-mentioned two basic directions.

Abstract: A novel combination of a resilient upper roller having circumferentially spaced rib formations and a rigid lower roller having complementary rib formations. The formations are spiral or herringbone-like and register rib-to-rib while the conditioner provides a crushing action. The rolls are driven in timed synchronism.

Abstract: A tractor-drawn and powered hay harvester and conditioner has a box-type frame to which a pair of wheels are rigidly attached. The frame supports a sickle bar cutter and journals both a pick-up reel and a pair of ribbed crop conditioner rolls which crimp and flatten the stems of the hay cuttings, thereby facilitating curing and drying. A novel power drive subsystem is featured which enables both control of cutter bar height above ground and automatic adjustment of the spacing between the crop conditioner rolls as a function of crop density.