Haying Equipment needs 101

[Keith_B]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The newer kickers (like the NH 72) will allow you to throw the hay into the wagons on any slope or turn you can encounter. I know the older kickers were a little hard to use but the newer ones allow 30 degrees of turn on the thrower itself both directions. You also have the thrower speed control mounted on the operator platform so in a tight turn you can slow the speed down so it will land in the wagon and not go over the side. I baled a lot of hay this year on some steep hills and the only time I missed with a bale was when I had a lapse in concentration or if I put too much speed on the bale trying to fill a hole in the back of the rack.

Very few people use wheel rakes here anymore. All the big farms have gone to Kuhn Rotary rakes. The smaller farms use the side delivery rakes. Some guys do have big wheel rakes but they are few and far between. I have tried a 5 wheel rake as well as a 8 wheel v-rake and did not like either very much. I think wheel rakes would do a lot better if they had a power drive system. )</font>

Interesting stuff on that NH kicker. Sounds like it solves the problems that kept kickers from taking off here. They just didn't make a lot of sense when a large percentage of the bales didn't make the wagon.

IMO, the best characteristic of a wheel rake is its initial cost. Other than that there are a lot better systems out there.

 

[cowboydoc]

I agree with you Keith that the inline wheel rakes are a good rake and certainly a viable option. The inlines are usually a little more money and a few more things to go wrong with them but certainly a good rake.

 

[cowboydoc]

Robert,

The 8 and 10 wheel rakes are great if you are using a big round baler. You can put one side up and use it as a side delivery rake too. With the v-rakes they are a bear to get set up right. You have to make about 10 different adjustments on them to get them to do a good job raking. Once they are set-up right they are a very good rake. Depending on your windrows and setting you can take three rows into one. If we have good drying we'll usually do that as it cuts our baling time down and we have less tractor driving in the fields.

 

[HayDR]

Rotary rakes usually have their foothold in areas alfalfa hay. Rotary rakes make a nice fluffy window and is easy to bale. $3,500- 20,000

The Hydraulic driven twin rakes that rake up to 30' are the most durable on the market. The are expensive but will last for 20 years of commercial hay production $9000- 30,000

Wheel rake if set properly will do a good job. What sells wheel rakes is the cost and time saving capacity. V Wheel rakes start at $2,000 and up. You can easily rake 10-20 acres an hour. The V-Wheel rake is a great time saver to the part-time farmer.

Roller Bar Rakes like a NH 256 are very durable but new they are $3,500+ and will only rake 8'. It takes half day to rake 10 acres.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I have no doubts they are good rakes but they will not work good in all conditions like a rotary or side delivery rake. I tried the 5 wheel inline and it worked fine in lighter swaths but it had trouble in heavier swaths. The rake was older but was in good working condition as it was a friends who no longer baled. The V-rake was the v-8 H&S and was brand new. It took a long time to get it set up right as I was the first person to even put grease in the thing and it had sat on the dealers lot since last winter. I got it freed up but the field I was working in had been rained on and the grass was starting to grow up thru it. I wanted to combine the windrows into 4' windrows for the round baler to get it all picked up but the rake would not pull the hay out of the grass. So I go back to what I said, they are good rakes for the right application but they are not the all around rake like the rotary or side delivery. More or less they are fair weather rakes (of course these are just my opionions). I was hoping they would work better for the same reason you stated, less trips across the field. In the end I don't think they are financially viable as what good is a $2k rake if you can't use it all the time. A rotary will do every thing a wheel rake will and do it better plus work in any condition so while it cost more you have a financially viable machine that pays for itself by eliminating the need for multiple rakes for differing conditions.

Have you looked into the rotary rakes yet? Kuhn has one that you can rake two 9'8" swaths at a time or you can flip a hydraulic lever and the rake adjust to rake a 10- 17' into one windrow. It is the 6002 and is a great rake for most operations.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I agree, the rollabar rakes are expensive and slow which is why most farmers are changing to rotarys that have a large enough operation to justify it. Same with commercial hay growers, time is money and a good rotary rake will pay for itself.

 

[HayDR]

Robert_in_NY,
CCM has been in development of a rotary rake for 2 years and they have been tested in France & Greece. We have the single rotary rake in production now and is being sold in Europe. The double rake is soon to follow. Our design is similar to Fella. In our region of the USA few rotary rakes are sold since V-Rakes have become popular. This year we will have some single rotary rakes available in 11'. Our target price is $2,500-3,000 but with the weaker US$ we may have to increase that price.

 

[Keith_B]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Roller Bar Rakes like a NH 256 are very durable but new they are $3,500+ and will only rake 8'. It takes half day to rake 10 acres. )</font>

We make better time than that with the NH. It is ground driven, so the faster the tractor moves the faster the rake goes.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I think you will sell a lot of them in a few years as more people realize the advantages of them. How do the tine arms lock for transport on the CCM? If I recall the Fella has the arms that pop out and you store them in the carrier during transport.

 

[HayDR]

If you use a single roller bar rake on hay fields of 3 acres or more you are exposing you hay unnecessarily to rain. You could have had the hay raked and in the bale with the capacity of the larger rakes.

Many of the part-time farmers work another job and will get off early at noon to 2:00 and go home and rake hay all afternoon and bale well into the evening. With a V-Rake or larger capacity rake you can let the hay cure longer if needed because you can rake it 3-5 times quicker with a larger rake. If it takes you a day to rake your hay then you have added that time period as extra time you have exposure of rain damage. A large rake and large tedder is a must for the part-time grassland farmer.

NH256 rakes still have their place.