"Chemical drying agents reduce field curing time 50 percent, setting the stage for making 'hay in a day.' However, to get the most from a drying agent, it should be applied at mowing, and with equipment that coats alfalfa stems with precise accuracy."

So says a Wisconsin-based company that's developed a mower-mounted applicator that does just what the "doctor" ordered, coating the alfalfa stems with precise accuracy.

Two push bars bend alfalfa plants forward, allowing spray nozzles, mounted on a third bar, to target 80 percent of their output to plant stems," explains Jeff Roberts, president of HarvestTec, Hudson, Wis., manufacturer of the "push and spray" bar.

The 3-bar assembly, made of tubular steel, mounts on the cutting head of pull-type, mounted disk or sickle mowers. (It doesn't adapt to older-style side sickle mowers). Height of the applicator is adjustable (up to 18 in.) to get optimum "pushing" action, depending on crop height. Nozzles mounted on the spray bar are spaced 18 in. apart.