Did a little hay last week ...

bigbull338 · Jul 2, 2012

blueriver said:
How many total did you end up with? Always nice to have it done!!

ended up with 212 bales,an thats real good.that will be some to sell.an the rest will get us through the winter.the baler man is going to take the 2nd cutting an possably square bale it.hope he dont talk me into helping him haul it lolol,but i would.

blueriver · Jul 3, 2012

Thats good ... always nice to sell some and have that cash income ... sell it and buy you an accumulator and grapple for the square bales!!

slowzuki · Jul 5, 2012

blueriver said:
1 an 1/2 cutter swaths together the windrow was still so big to feed into the square baler ... set the back of the rake as narrow as possible just so it wouldn't plug and man it was something

I don't really understand, the windrow in the picture would be normal to smallish for us and I'm only raking 10 ft of mower swath into a windrow. Many guy with round balers double rake here but it can be very hard to get over the windrow. How thin are your normal windrows? I had been eyeballing v-rakes but if they don't like that I don't think its going to work here!

blueriver · Jul 5, 2012

The ten wheel v-rake is excellent for a large windrow row for a round baler ... and we set it at 4' at the "v" for a round baler ... now the JD 336 square baler has a smaller pick up and have to get the windrows tight or the hay escapes the side of the pickup.

Thats why the windrow looks normal to smallish because in this case we held over and only took a swath and a half and set the "v" narrow to keep it together.... tighter to feed into the baler better... I believe my rake covers 27 feet with both sides down and that simply made the windrow tooooo big.

My rake will let one or both sides down ... I started the field with just 1 down and baled the sides and the ends off ... then dropped the second and walked across the field... taking a swath and a half .... hope I cleared that up.

BTW ... your 10' mower swath with a 10 wheel rake you could rake almost 3 of your swaths together.

pacerron · Jul 5, 2012

blueriver said:
The ten wheel v-rake is excellent for a large windrow row for a round baler ... and we set it at 4' at the "v" for a round baler ... now the JD 336 square baler has a smaller pick up and have to get the windrows tight or the hay escapes the side of the pickup.

Thats why the windrow looks normal to smallish because in this case we held over and only took a swath and a half and set the "v" narrow to keep it together.... tighter to feed into the baler better... I believe my rake covers 27 feet with both sides down and that simply made the windrow tooooo big.

My rake will let one or both sides down ... I started the field with just 1 down and baled the sides and the ends off ... then dropped the second and walked across the field... taking a swath and a half .... hope I cleared that up.

BTW ... your 10' mower swath with a 10 wheel rake you could rake almost 3 of your swaths together.

We have been w/o power for 5 days so I'm behind on your interesting hay thread.
Slowzuki from Canada raised questions that prompted a couple more from me.
It may be the kind of grasses you are baling and your environment versus what is done up north here and further north in Canada, but am I understanding correctly that you raked hay to be done with a square baler with a high speed V wheel rake and at the same moisture content as what you roll baled?
I'm not sure but part of Slowzuki's question appeared to me to be related to the shape and evenness of the windrow.
I'm no fan of square baling but always thought a big part of the higher quality and price differential in square bales versus round
began at the drying stage on the ground and particularly with making roped, even windrows that dried much more uniformly before pick up by the square baler. Roping can be done very well with a side delivery parallel bar rake, even when double raking windrows together if you pay attention to direction when doubling.
Rotary rakes (designed like a tedder running in reverse rotation), and vertical V wheel rakes like you have appear to be more like
accumulators but I don't think they have much if any ability to make an even roped windrow for quality square baling. They are great for bringing a lot of hay together in a somewhat jumbled uneven row to be as wide as any size roll baler inlet, so you don't have to be doing the wiggle-waggle all the time to get an even roll, and low enough to not be torn apart by the tractor undercarriage or the attachment of the roll baler to the tractor bar.
I'm sure you can straighten out my conclusions above that are wrong:confused3:
Ron

blueriver · Jul 6, 2012

pacerron said:
We have been w/o power for 5 days so I'm behind on your interesting hay thread.
Slowzuki from Canada raised questions that prompted a couple more from me.
It may be the kind of grasses you are baling and your environment versus what is done up north here and further north in Canada, but am I understanding correctly that you raked hay to be done with a square baler with a high speed V wheel rake and at the same moisture content as what you roll baled?
I'm not sure but part of Slowzuki's question appeared to me to be related to the shape and evenness of the windrow.
I'm no fan of square baling but always thought a big part of the higher quality and price differential in square bales versus round
began at the drying stage on the ground and particularly with making roped, even windrows that dried much more uniformly before pick up by the square baler. Roping can be done very well with a side delivery parallel bar rake, even when double raking windrows together if you pay attention to direction when doubling.
Rotary rakes (designed like a tedder running in reverse rotation), and vertical V wheel rakes like you have appear to be more like
accumulators but I don't think they have much if any ability to make an even roped windrow for quality square baling. They are great for bringing a lot of hay together in a somewhat jumbled uneven row to be as wide as any size roll baler inlet, so you don't have to be doing the wiggle-waggle all the time to get an even roll, and low enough to not be torn apart by the tractor undercarriage or the attachment of the roll baler to the tractor bar.
I'm sure you can straighten out my conclusions above that are wrong:confused3:
Ron

Ron ... I believe your right. I also believe most round bales can be baled with a little higher moisture than squares and a round baler seems to eat up any amount of hay in any form of windrow. It seems that a square baler is "touchy" ... in regards to hay moisture, windrow size, direction of travel, amount of hay being fed into the machine. It will talk to you so to speak ... I don't own a side delivery rake and yes the V-rake is not the most practical for the square baler.

The other thing I've found is the Bermuda seems to be different, the length varies and the fine stem wants to escape the process ... sometimes it almost rolls in front of the baler pick up. I recall as a kid good old alfalfa seemed to ... as you called it "rope" in the windrow and feed into the baler easier and on a consistant bases ... I'm not saying the Bermuda doesn't ... but it doesn't like alfalfa.

My neighbor has a John Deere side delivery rake and I believe I'll inquire about using it on the next cut. The Heat, wind, humidy this time of year makes the square baling a whole new challenge ... seems like in the blink of an eye it changes and your done baling for the day and have to return late in the evening or early morning. I'm by no means a "master" and keep learning something everytime I'm in the hay field ... I do like to try and put up great hay in the right condition. I like the "smeller" method ... you know when you walk into the barn and that fresh baled hay smell fills the air ... I say to myself ... now thats good hay!!

pacerron · Jul 6, 2012

blueriver said:
Ron ... I believe your right. I also believe most round bales can be baled with a little higher moisture than squares and a round baler seems to eat up any amount of hay in any form of windrow. It seems that a square baler is "touchy" ... in regards to hay moisture, windrow size, direction of travel, amount of hay being fed into the machine. It will talk to you so to speak ... I don't own a side delivery rake and yes the V-rake is not the most practical for the square baler.

The other thing I've found is the Bermuda seems to be different, the length varies and the fine stem wants to escape the process ... sometimes it almost rolls in front of the baler pick up. I recall as a kid good old alfalfa seemed to ... as you called it "rope" in the windrow and feed into the baler easier and on a consistant bases ... I'm not saying the Bermuda doesn't ... but it doesn't like alfalfa.

My neighbor has a John Deere side delivery rake and I believe I'll inquire about using it on the next cut. The Heat, wind, humidy this time of year makes the square baling a whole new challenge ... seems like in the blink of an eye it changes and your done baling for the day and have to return late in the evening or early morning. I'm by no means a "master" and keep learning something everytime I'm in the hay field ... I do like to try and put up great hay in the right condition. I like the "smeller" method ... you know when you walk into the barn and that fresh baled hay smell fills the air ... I say to myself ... now thats good hay!!

Yes sir, that smell of fresh curing hay almost makes all the sweat, scratchy eyes, and bug bites worth the effort.

Like going to a bakery and smelling fresh bread in the oven.:licking:

I have always been amazed at how a good roped windrow and a guy that is good with a square baler can keep the rope coming into the baler, almost suspended in the air, with little or no action of the baler pick up tines..
If you haven't used a side rake for a while, since it is powered by either the PTO or a hydraulic motor, an important adjustment
is the height and angle of the height from outside to inside. I don't leave hay scraps in the field but I do not believe in baling "dirt" either, even in rolls. I have seen some beautiful hay that would otherwise be considered great quality ruined by guys who hired a kid with no experience or training to rake the hay.
Ron

slowzuki · Jul 6, 2012

My concern is the bunching or plugging of the rake, it sounded like it was a problem with your lighter yields. Our grasses growth pattern seems to be different, we get heavier yields per cut but at most only 2 cuts. I think thats why there are very few trailed v-rakes here but there is no owners here to ask about it.

The round baler actually requires drier hay to produce a quality bale, about 1-2%. The square bales can sweat out a tiny about of the moisture, the high density of round bales prevents that.

blueriver · Jul 6, 2012

slowzuki said:
My concern is the bunching or plugging of the rake, it sounded like it was a problem with your lighter yields. Our grasses growth pattern seems to be different, we get heavier yields per cut but at most only 2 cuts. I think thats why there are very few trailed v-rakes here but there is no owners here to ask about it.

The round baler actually requires drier hay to produce a quality bale, about 1-2%. The square bales can sweat out a tiny about of the moisture, the high density of round bales prevents that.

I only have problems bunching or plugging if I close the rake too much for a narrow windrow ... in thick yields, Open the "throat and it will pass threw.