Pulling is the first stage of the crop. It occurs when linens are mature. This term is used to mean that the plants are not mowed for the operation can be done quickly and in order not to lose the fibers present in the lower part of the stems.

In practice, the operation consists of:

draw heavily on plants whose stems break off at ground level and the roots remain in the ground,
keep the rods parallel to each other and drop them on the ground in strips (or sheets) continuous called windrows.
Pulling mobilizes specific machines, railcars, called harvesters. These pinch the flax stems halfway between pulleys and belts and sell them by the progress effect. The multitude of pinch points on the working width of a harvester machine forced the group all taken to form two swaths rods and move them from standing to prone position using straps quarter turn.