I think you'll be happy with it for what you're doing, I have about the same acreage in hay and I have a five wheel 3 point rake find it useful. I also have the SFI drum mower and have been pretty happy with it.
My favorite thing is that it can be taken apart into pieces that I can lift by myself and will hang on a wall. I have a row of nails on the wall in my barn where it hangs the 360 or so days a year I'm not raking hay.
I find it very good for not leaving grass behind. However, since it's on the 3-point it hangs way out behind the tractor, and moving the front of the tractor by an inch moves the rake by a foot. That makes it hard to rake straight lines when it's time to windrow for baling. When the lines aren't straight it can be hard to pick up the whole windrow with the baler. It also leaves the bales in the field in a crooked line, and when I go to bale the next row I sometimes have to dodge the bales lying on the ground. I find it saves time in the long run to windrow at a slightly slower speed and keep the rows straight.
I really like the spreading feature, I open it up all the way and drive fast and can "fluff" a field in a few minutes. I do find that if I do it multiple times the hay starts getting tangled into lumps. A little bit of tangling is good, when the hay is slightly "roped" in a good straight windrow the baler picks it up quite smoothly, it's like pouring syrup in reverse.
When windrowing you want to avoid catching a windrow you've already made, you'll leave a big lump. If your rake is set up on your right you want to keep windrows that you've made on your left, driving on raked grass and with the rake in hay that hasn't seen the rake. That means starting in the middle and driving in a counter-clockwise widening spiral. My baler works better in straight lines so I don't do circles, more like ovals.
When the grass is heavy I find my 24T baler tends to jam if I rake a windrow from more than about 6' of field, so I set the rake at its narrowest setting (steepest angle).
Since it's ground-driven it tends to accumulate hay at the ends of rows. That isn't a huge problem, but it means that bales tend to accumulate at the ends of rows, where they're often in the way.
You'll need to lift the rake to back up or to go over a windrow. I wish my rake were better balanced, when I lift it there is always one wheel that touches the ground.
Always put it on something when you take it off the tractor. The stand that came with it is useless and broke off quickly. I welded it back on and it broke again. I usually grab some stones or firewood to hold it.
In summary, it gets the job done and is good value for the money. A more sophisticated rake is going to be easier to use but quite a bit more expensive. There is some learning curve.
) and he has a 10' 311 Cockshutt SD rake which I get the job of using and it works very well also. Being a pull type it's very easy to hook up which isn't a small consideration.
