How do you rake hay?

[Fritz Maurer]

I was teethed on a New Idea 45G and ran it for many years (still have it). I went and purchased a new New Holland 258. When I got to the center of the field, I found I couldn't get out. You see, the old 45G would pull a small amount of hay around the corner and leave a way out. The 258 would form a perfect windrow around the corner. The only way out is to drive over the windrows and make a mess, and go back and fix it by hand. Possibly a 258 raking a swath and a quarter (9 foot Haybine) causing the trouble? How do you guys do it?

 

[fixerupper]

Well, you could leave the rake in the middle till the hay is baled. Haul it out with the loader. Use a helicopter-no- scratch that idea. Too much wind.

When we raked and baled we made straight windrows and left headlands to turn on. If we baled around corners the chute would catch on the hayrack and the PTO would rattle like crazy. Jim

 

[Anonymous-0]

if you rake to the center rake the corners into a windrow like an X last then bale these first, also easier to turn when baling

 

[paul]

rake yourself out through a corner to the exit; you can bale this windrow first or last.

I often am combining 3 sickle mower swathes, so I rake 2 inward, then spiral myself back outward to get the 3rd one rolled in. Much easier following the corners if you are raking outward.

Treat it like plowing, cut & rake with headlands and straight long rows of windrows.

--->Paul

 

[Ken Sweet]

We rake 1 windrow around the field and rake back and forth. Makes it a lot easier on the baler as it can come out of the end a windrow and not have to make those sharp corner turns. Ken Sweet

 

[Shetland Sheepdog]

Simple answer! --- 3 point hitch rake! Usta have a NH 57, now a Kuhn GM 300 GA
JMHO, Dave

 

[Tx Jim]

(quoted from post at 23:13:20 05/27/11) if you rake to the center rake the corners into a windrow like an X last then bale these first, also easier to turn when baling

I agree with dboll. I rake with a 14 wheel bi-fold rake and when finished just "X" the corners. I bale the corners first and then there is no hay on corners to bunch up under edge of baler pickup.

I will never understand why operators rake/bale back and forth. It appears to me that a 180 degree corner takes longer to complete than a 90 degree corner. Seems it would take longer to rake and bale going back & forth than round-n-round. Plus a 180 degree corner is much harder on pto & driveshaft

 

[495man]

I rake with a 256.

If I'm raking in a circle and don't want to drive out ruining the windrows, I unhitch the rake in the center of the field, there is usually enough room in the center that the rake is out of the way, then drive the tractor out over the windrows.

If I need to rake another field, then I just rake from the center to a corner, most times the baler will pick almost all of the broken windrow up anyways, if not, just pick up the remnants on the way out of the field with the baler (same path as rake)

 

[DeltaRed]

Around here we have to follow the water corrugates-kinda hard to bounce across watermarks.Everything we do here is dictated by the direction the water runs.That means cutting,rakeing,etc. up and down the field-not round and round.

 

[Farmallb]

When I farmed, and am getting ready to do so again I guess, I planted Haygrazer, If you tried to go round in retangles, as the field is laid out, it would bounce the heck outa me and my steel wheeled JD rake going across furrows, no matter that I had roller packed the field after sowing. So, I go round the field with the edge on my left side, then come back and lay another windrow tight against the first, Then, if need be, go over the 2 again bringing them up close to the edge, and farther away from the inside of the field, Then, I go back and forth, But, Ill devide the field up 12 acres in say 4 pieces, by makeing double windrows say 100ft apart, then rake out between those double windrows. Beats going from one end of the field to the other and working myself inward.
According to a book I have on Horses And Haying by LR Miller, your supposed to rake the same way you mowed, and ive always tried to do that. Cant always tho,

 

[sammydwm]

we double everything. so I follow a windrow out of the center. works like a charm.

 

[SouthernFarmall]

I rake with a Farmall 140 hooked to a side discharge JD rake. I start on the outside and make 2 or 3 rounds turning the hay inward. After this, I make 1 round pulling the windrow out. At this point, it depends on how thick the hay is. If the hay is very thin, I will continue turning the hay in 2 or 3 times before pulling the windrow out. If the hay is extremely thick, I may just make right turns continuously and just pull out windrows. Most of the time, however, I must make 1 round throwing hay inward, and then make 1 pass pulling the hay out.
Since we use a tedder, I only rake on the day we bale, so I haven't got to worry about how I am going to rake it again.

SF

 

[Anonymous-0]

Usually left the rake in the middle. But if necessary to get it out, we would drive over the windrows and manually run the basket backwards. Can be done by yourself but much better to have two with one turning the basket and the other slowly moving the tractor/rake forward.

 

[keh]

I don't have big and flat enought fiels to have those problems, but if it was i would start in the middle and work my way out.

KEH

 

[Randy-IA]

If you have a TPH just get yourself a hitch bar and use the TPH to raise the front of the rake and if needed you can wind up the basket too. It'll still catch some hay from the top of the windrow but not much. The downside is turning angle is reduced considerably. Or maybe that model has the dolly wheels? If so then never mind. On my 6 acres I've turned around and run the whole field backwards to get out. But now I use the hitch bar and I don't go round and round as much. Actually, I do the outer 4 or 5 swathes round and round then start back and forth going through the windrows on the ends. I make grass hay so I don't worry about how much I drive over it anymore.

 

[RodinNS]

When I raked with a NH 56... basically pick a path of least destruction from the center of the field to the outside and drive. Now... fully mounted Kuhn rotary. Pull the lever and lift the rake. Drive away. Probably one of the biggest advantages of mounted rotaries.

Rod

 

[Tx Jim]

Rod
What's the total transport height of your Kuhn rotary rake? I have a neighbor with a Krone rotary that must stick up 15 ft in the air. I know it's quite a bit higher than the cab on his 120hp tractor. The Krone has more lawnmower type tires and too many places to wear out for me. I also don't like the windrows it makes(which may be adjustable). They resemble a tepee and that causes the rd bales to resemble a whiskey barrel.

 

[RodinNS]

Height on this one is 10-12 feet... that's just a WAG. It's high enough but I've never had clearance issues with it. I generally run it on a Ford 3930 on 28" rubber tho... so it's starting pretty low anyhow. Weight is the bigger factor at ~1700#.

This one can also make the type of rows you describe... I find it worse by far in light crop... so in that situation I'll either pull the deflector in close to make a high narrow row or I'll just plain double the rows back to back if it's that poor. The worst part is probably the fact that the hay can sometimes get compressed in the row and a row that looks the same size can have a rather variable amount of hay in it... and that can be a challenge with a round baler at times.
Despite that... no way on earth I'd go back to a roll-a-bar or wheel rake.

This one has... I think either 16 or 20 arms with 4 double teeth on each arm. It rakes everything in it's path including the crap you don't want at times. Thus far it's given zero trouble in probably 5 seasons use though it is getting to need a new canvas crop deflector.

Rod

 

[Tx Jim]

I don't know if the Krone's windrow type is adjustable or not but if I was the operator of it I'd be adjusting the Krone

 

[Plowboy1]

I also use a 258. when i get to the middle, i head out in the opposite direction at about a 45 degree angle. This pushes the windrow back onto itself. It does leave a big "lump" of hay for the baler at that point, but i just slow down and let it in easy. It"s not perfect, does does work pretty well, especially on light hay.

 

[BobbyB]

My grandfather was a stickler about raking. We raked round and round. Nut there was always a little left on tye corners by both the rake and the baler.To properly finish, you either got off and moved any bales in the way or if you were lucky, the haulers were right behind the baler and there would only be a few to move.

After the bales were out of the way, we raked from one corner to the opposite making a windrow running catty cornered. then you went to the opposite corner and did it again. When the baler left, there was no hay left on the ground.

We also rebaled all broken bales on the ground.

Probably dont answer your question, but the way I was taught. My Grandpa would have a cow if he could see the way fields are left these days.

 

[jackinok]

I always raked the same way I mowed ,unless using a dump rake of course.with a v wheel rake i can pull enough together to bale.