Old hay rake works like a charm!

[Marveltone]

A short while back, I had bought a vintage John Deere side delivery rake, hoping it would do a satisfactory job raking my hay field. Short answer: I works great!

Now for the disclaimers:

1. This field is ROUGH! I imagine it was worked up many years ago but never planted. In other words, it was never meant to be used as a hay field. All the grass is volunteer, and I'm hoping to convince my renter to pull his big field roller over it after it rains sometime soon.

2. This field was cut with a rotary cutter instead of a sickle mower or other type of hay mower. I used the RC because I had absolutely no idea what to find in the field, and I could shave off some of the highest dirt mounds this way. (See no.1)

3. The "hay", if you can call it that, is pretty short and past its prime. I merely want to rake it off the field to help the grass grow back better and thicker next spring, and to chop out the weeds as part of my field renovation efforts. This is not being cut to feed to any animals, so quality is not a concern at this point. Just removal.

4. I experimented with going around two times counterclockwise and one clockwise to maximize my windrows for ease of removal. (See nos.2 & 3)

All things considered, I was very pleased with the results. By next year, I should be cutting and raking the "real" stuff!

Joe

 

[MIKE R]

Congradulations. Looks like everything worked out well. Do you plan on cutting with a real haymower in the future.

 

[Marveltone]

Congradulations. Looks like everything worked out well. Do you plan on cutting with a real haymower in the future.

I have an old Cockshutt PTO driven sickle that we're restoring. Got it from my uncle for scrap metal prices. Doesn't need much work, really. It should do a good job on the real hay.

Joe

 

[flusher]

Neat looking rake. Mine is a JD350 3pt/pto driven. Works fine.

 

[Knight9]

Looks good. What are you going to do with the hay if you remove it but don't use it for feed?

 

[Marveltone]

Looks good. What are you going to do with the hay if you remove it but don't use it for feed?

We've got a couple of options. We can still use it for mulch/compost, or bedding. We also have a friend who has goats, but not enough land for hay. He said he may be interested in buying some. Now I just have to find out how to price low quality, loose, wild hay.

Joe

 

[rankrank1]

Your rake is a John Deere 594LW. The LW stands for little wheel or low wheel. Rake was also made in the 594 model which has 36" tires on the front instead of 15" or 16" size like the LW model has. The LW model has jackshafts and chains to compensate for the height and gearing difference for the conversion of large diameter wheel of the 594 to the small diameter wheel of the 594LW. Otherwise most all other parts interchange.

These old rakes do a fine job of raking. Really the only thing that they do not do well is road transport behind a pick up truck - rear wheels will shimmy like crazey if you try to go too fast - may be fine at tractor road gear speeds though if caster brake pads are in good shape (most caster brake pads are either out of adjustment or worn/rusted away altogether). On hilly terrain these rakes can have a tendencey to crab steer down the side of a hill, but this can be easily overcome by altering your travel direction on the hill to up or down it - not accross the side of it.

Anyway, I use two of the 594 rakes on my hobby operation. I have refurb'd them both of them by custom making all new bushings where needed and replacing all bolts with grade 5 hex heads. One of my rakes is around a 1938 model and was in pretty good shape with minimal wear (bought it from the original owner who was in is 90's - he and is dad bought it brand new). My other one is about a 1948 model and it was in poor shape when I started, but is fine now after several custom bushings. Mine are on steel wheels and never leave the place. That old JD caste iron is quite weldable too if need be so if something breaks then do not automatically junk your rake - chances are it can be successfully welded with good results.

Loose hay is quite doable (and very economical) for a small time operator for their own personal use. However, if you want to sell it then it will almost certainly have to be baled unless you just get lucky and find that one person willing to buy it cheap. With it baled then your potential customer base is much larger. Of course owning and maintaining a contankerous baler is not always practical if you only have a few acres nor is it easey to find someone reliable to bale it for you if you only have a few acres.

 

[Marveltone]

rankrank1, Thanks for the info on the rake. I suspected it was a 594LW from doing a Google image search, but it's good to have confirmation. This will make getting parts (tines) easier when the time comes.

The hay I'm raking is mostly for my personal use, so it will be stacked loose, as it's the most economical way for me to go. The little bit I may sell to a friend is really more of a favor to him at the moment. If he wants to make it a more permanent arrangement, I may have to build a hand baler, but using one sounds like more work than I really care to do on a long term basis, so we'll have to see about that.

As for the transport, my hay field is just a few hundred yards away. Nice and close. :thumbsup:

Now all I have to do is build a buck rake to fit on my FEL, then I'll be set for next year's hay. :cool2:

Joe

 

[DT86]

It seems to work very well.

Honestly though I would think leaving the clippings wouldn't of hurt your future hay any as they would just rot back into the soil. Remember when you remove organic material you are also removing nutrients.

 

[Marveltone]

It seems to work very well.

Honestly though I would think leaving the clippings wouldn't of hurt your future hay any as they would just rot back into the soil. Remember when you remove organic material you are also removing nutrients.

The biggest reason to remove the clippings is I still don't know how I'm going to smooth out the field. If my renter can roll it, all is well. If not, I may need to use either a disk or a spike harrow to try knocking off the high spots. The grass would just plug things up if left in place.

Of course, I'm open to any suggestions out there for smoothing a terribly rough field without having to plow it up and start form scratch.

Joe