Raking After a Sickle Mower. (small scale)

[Hiawatha22]

I have read others but did not want to hijack them with my questions. I am looking to put up hay on about 80 acres alfalfa with some grass mix. I will be getting a 9ft pull behind sickle mower. I am looking for a rake that will sweep all of the alfalfa into a windrow/swath. Also a rake where I can turn the swath if it happen to get rained on. Will be mostly alfalfa so it will be pretty heavy in places. What is the best style of rake for this style of cutting without breaking the bank? Concerned about time, leaf loss, price and overall bang for my buck.
Size of the windrow I have a bit of flexibilty as I have not purchased a baler yet. Any opinions or suggestions?

 

[flusher]

I have read others but did not want to hijack them with my questions. I am looking to put up hay on about 80 acres alfalfa with some grass mix. I will be getting a 9ft pull behind sickle mower. I am looking for a rake that will sweep all of the alfalfa into a windrow/swath. Also a rake where I can turn the swath if it happen to get rained on. Will be mostly alfalfa so it will be pretty heavy in places. What is the best style of rake for this style of cutting without breaking the bank? Concerned about time, leaf loss, price and overall bang for my buck.
Size of the windrow I have a bit of flexibilty as I have not purchased a baler yet. Any opinions or suggestions?

My neighbor does 30 acres of alfalfa. He mows with a self-propelled Hesston swather with a 14 ft wide head. He uses dual 10-ft wide 5-bar side delivery rakes to combine the windrows. Apparently these rakes work OK as for as leaf loss goes.

 

[rambler]

8 acres is small scale. 80 acres is not! Tho that far north you are looking at 1 cutting, not the 3-4 down here I supoose?

The modern wheel rakes in a V shape are popular for speed, the roll-a-bar rakes from NH 7 some from JD are the old standbys, and the rotory rakes with the sweeping arms are liked by those that have the, kinda more fussy machines tho.

The inverters are really liked by alfalfa growers, spendy but will merge windrows, need to atch up sized to merge windrows.

All that is no real help to you, but maybe helps others form an answer.

--->Paul

 

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

I've never been to your place so I'll just say how I do it it in Ky for what ever that's worth. You didn't mention having or using a tedder which to me makes drying about a day or more faster especially with sickle or disc mower cut hay (not conditioned) It also makes for a better raking job, fluffier windrows with less roping of hay. But anyway, if you don't have a tedder or don't plan to get one get a V-rake that will take in at least two mower swaths. You said that your mower was 9 ft o get one that will cover 18 ft. The swathboard on your mower should have pulled it in a little so it's likely less than 18. All the v-rakes I've used work well going with the mower swath but are tempermental going across the swath. All or them I've used had a valve to lock one side up if you needed to roll over a wet windrow.

 

[raasd]

80 acres is a big chunk to cut with a 9ft sickle but it can be done. I hay about 45 acres total between grass and alfalfa. I have a JD 640 5 bar rake. It does well on the leaf loss and doesnt seem to care which way I rake it. The wheel rakes are faster but some people shy away from them because they can rake dirt and rocks into the windrow. If you are feeding stock cows its not a big deal. If you are selling to horse owners they can be a little picky. The bar rakes seem to be in high demand around here. I have seen some in excellent condition sell for as much as $3,500.00. If you look hard and wait for the right deal you can find good functional rakes in the $800 to $1,500 range.

 

[Hiawatha22]

Will be a second cut actually more intrested in the second cut as that is what seems to be in demand.
Land is not rocky at all. I have farmed around these little strips my whole life and I would have to BS a bit to even say I picked a tractor bucket full of stones off the 1/4 in 20 years. Although this hay would mostley be for horse people and deer outfitters who buy the bales to bait deer with. They pay good money for nice 2nd cut with no rain.
My plan was to cut only what I thought I could bale/haul in a day. The 80 is split up into 4 fields, actually the neighbors own 2 of them but cannot get at them just the way the land is positioned with creeks and bush. I am paying them a bit of rent but they are just happy someone is farming those fields so they don't grow in.
Cut about 30- 40 acres, wait and start raking it, go cut the rest, go bale, go rake the next stuff I cut, go haul bales, go bale and haul the last stuff. I jumped the gun and bought a 1033 bale wagon the other day, was in great shape and for the right price.
In theory it will work as long as the weather cooperates. We used to put up hay for 150 head of cattle with a 13ft moco so not losing a bunch of footage with a 9ft mower. I am a teacher so I have the summer off to make hay and my dad who retired from farming last year and sold most of his equipment is just itching to get back out there. If it takes me a bit longer so be it but I can't dish out 10k for a good used mower for 80 acres, I would have to do some custom work and not interested in that.

 

[bulldog69]

The best thing I bought so far was a V-rake. It makes raking about as painless as it can be. Although I went for serveral yrs without one a tedder is something I won't be without ever again. The combination of these will cut lots of time off your haying.

 

[bucktaker]

Time is of essence in hay business. Instead of a sickle I would recommend a Disc mower. Faster mowing, and will work if its a little damp like starting early before the dew drys off. Dont get more hay down than you can handle, the weather can change fast and you can ruin a whole crop by getting it wet.

 

[LastSTRAW]

Time is of essence in hay business. Instead of a sickle I would recommend a Disc mower. Faster mowing, and will work if its a little damp like starting early before the dew drys off. Dont get more hay down than you can handle, the weather can change fast and you can ruin a whole crop by getting it wet.

Agree totally. I also hay about 80 acres but it takes me 3 to 4 weeks to get it done with the weather in Cape Breton. A drum or disc mower is what you need to save time. I love to mow as it is fast and clean with very little frustration. I do not have experience with alfalfa but with hay you don't want to be without a tedder especially if you are pressed for time. Mine is a combo which saves me time changing equipment. It is nice to be able to ted the hay and then being able to rake without changing back and forth.

Around here I can get about 1000 bales off of 8 acres if it is a good field. That is a lot of work if you have to bale it all and get it off the field on the same day. It usually takes three good days to get it dried when we ted the hay. Without a tedder I wouldn't be in the hay business. I have done it in two days on occasion but only with a good wind and very low humidity. Given where you live humidity might not be a problem.

Good luck

 

[Hiawatha22]

Can one of you explain what exactly a tedder does? I was under the impression that it just spreads the hay out again so it can dry better.