What kind of rake - bar vs. wheel

[rtimgray]

HOLY COW! That's all I can say about using my new rake (who thought someone could be excited about using a rake?). Anyway, I got the two dolly tires fixed (figured go ahead and get 'em both done now and be done with it) and raked some hay last night. I have never raked with a dolly wheel rake before - man, what a difference in handling! We raked about 5 acres with it pulled by my Yanmar F16d, and it did really well. It was also SOOOOO much quieter than the older rattle trap rake that we've used for years. It did a really good job picking up the hay, at least as good as it could, because it was the second cutting, pretty short hay, and it got rain on, so that really hurt.

Anyway, I'm going to be cutting some more next week and hope to get it picked up without rain - It's also taller, so I'll be curious to see how it does then.

And for the previous poster - the land in your pics look similar to mine - I don't have too many flat spots, but a lot of rolling hills. I'll probably keep an eye out for a V rake, but it's something that I can wait on a little while now.

Thanks. Good luck and take care.

 

[art]

We really like the rotary rakes for faster drying here in central NY. They don't rope the hay so it not only tends to dry about 3 to 4 hours faster then the wheel rakes and bar rakes but when you need to stop the in feed it doesn't keep pulling it in to the baler or chopper.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

We really like the rotary rakes for faster drying here in central NY. They don't rope the hay so it not only tends to dry about 3 to 4 hours faster then the wheel rakes and bar rakes but when you need to stop the in feed it doesn't keep pulling it in to the baler or chopper.

Exactly what was on my mind. If you have to deal with long, leggy crops like alfalfa or clover, you don't want to use a rake that will rope the crop as you will never get it dry on those damp, cool first cuttings in the spring.

I dumped my old IH side delivery rake after using it a month or so the first season. Bought a model that was somewhat like a conveyor belt, it swept the crop to the side and gave it a flip at the end. Made big fluffy rows.

As for needing to double up rows when using a bar rake, all depends upon density of the crop. Here, spring cutting will yield ~4T/A. Since I've not ever used a round baler, row width may be an issue I've not ever had to deal with.

 

[flusher]

Hello, "roller bar " is obviously a us-of-a term .Can some one please explain what they look like? I am from new zealand. Around here (waikato) we use single, twin or 4 rotor rakes and very few v rakes as they are more a hay tool then dual purpose hay and silage.Also v rakes are said to do a poor job on hills and uneven ground. This part is all hills, and some is quite rough.

Here are a few photos of my restored John Deere 350 side delivery rake (aka rolabar rake). It's a PTO-driven rake that's carried on the 3pt hitch. More often rakes like this are towed and the raking mechanism is ground-driven by the two support wheels.



This rake, like most side delivery rakes, has 5 bars that carry the raking tines.

 

[farmall 55a case]

What are the advantages of a right hand rake instead of the common left hand? Found two at a dealer today just alike and the price of the the right side deliver rake was a thousand dollars more??

 

[aczlan]

Right side rake + left side rake on a double rake hitch lets you rake one windrow from each side into the center. Here is a page with an example of one: NH 256 7 258 rakes - Yesterday's Tractor Co. (#96704-1)

Aaron Z

 

[farmall 55a case]

So other than that tete is nothing really special about it!

 

[aczlan]

So other than that tete is nothing really special about it!

As far as I know, that is correct.

Aaron Z

 

[MHarryE]

Was at a forage conference this winter and one presentation by a university extension service was testing using various types of rakes. One column on each CFO was "ash" which is their term for dirt picked up while raking. Surprising to me that the Rolabar rake had the highest ash content, wheel rakes next, and the rotary rake Kuhn is the only manufacturer I know) had the least. This was not a Kuhn presentation either. Most of our raking is with wheel rakes but we have 2 New Holland Rolabar rakes and a tandem hitch. They work as a spare and sometimes they come in handy. I really like the Kuhn but it is $$$ and there are more pressing needs.

 

[redman135]

Hello, flusher, rtimgray and aczlan. Thank you for explaining what a rollabar is. I haven't seen one before. Excuse the slow reply , I have been away for several days.