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I agree with the others. For top quality alfalfa, you would want the conditioner unit. In addition to squeezing the hay, it breaks stemmy plants every inch or two, allowing the juice to dry out the broken ends, rather than traveling all the way to the end of the stem. In humid areas with lots of rain, you want the conditioner - it speeds up drying and helps you to miss the rain. In arid climates or grass hay, especially thin-stemmed grasses, the sickle mower might be better - the conditioner won't do a whole lot for you. The conditioner is more expensive & takes more money to keep running. It seems to be a bit safer - kids & critters tend to run away from the big spinning reel, while birds & cats tend to hide from the tractor & get their legs cut off with the sickle mower. As you guessed, the sickle mower is better for trim work. You'll really need a rake either way - while a conditioner looks like it piles the hay in a windrow, it still needs to be turned once, and any rain at all & you will need to rake once or twice. It's best to set the conditioner to spread a wide windrow if you are baling the hay. Tight windrows are only good for haylage (like corn silage) where the alfalfa doesn't need to dry down much. --->Paul
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