Wheel rake vs rotary rake?

[AKfish]

Seems like there's wheel rakes comin' out everywhere..! And Kuhn is out with a bigger and (maybe) better rotary rake.

Any opinions on what's a better rake?

Thanks in advance.

AKfish

 

[Farmwithjunk]

If you have rocks anywhere, a wheel rake will find them. (and relocate them to the first available hay bale)

Prefer roll-A-bar rakes myself.

 

[cowski]

wheel rake is the best for me.cheaper to operate and does a good job.before i got my 8 wheel rake i was always waiting on the rake,now i can not keep up with it.

 

[slowzuki]

Neighbour has wheel rake, with the right person driving it does a great job in a hurry. Wrong driver and its a pain. No troubles with rocks despite our fields being full of them.

 

[art]

A rotary rake will give you a faster drying time! Without the roping effect given from the wheel rake as well as a roll-a-bar rake you could gain up to 4 hours faster drying time according to our customers!! As well as no stones in the windrow.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

I think what works best is a local thing and depends upon weather and crop. When I was haying, there was a lot of clover and alfalfa being grown and with the wet cool springs these crops would be very leggy with about half the crop laying on the ground come time to cut. No wheel rakes in the area at the time and convientional parallel bar rakes would just rope the crop and it would never dry. I found a very unique imported rake from Demark which used 2 belts with articulated fingers and the belts traveled side to side. As the fingers reached the end of their travel, just as they were moving around the drum, they give the hay a little kick. Never any roping and could take a heavy rained on, flat as a pancake row and fluff it up close to 2 ft in height. Haven't seen a rake like this in yrs and don't know it they are made or imported any longer.

If roping and drying are issues you have, need to find something that doesn't rope the hay.

Here's a pic of a rake like the one I had (this one not mine)

 

[slowzuki]

Yup still make them. I've got one, two neighbours have them. Slow as the dickens to rake with but reliable and good windrow.

There are about a dozen manufacturers, generally called a belt rake.

 

[Barry Bowen]

The problem with wheel rakes, at least around here in MD, is that they pick up green material and mix it in with the dried hay. This is a recipe for moldy hay around here. If you are using a V wheel rake, all the material in the middle of the V is not raked. Okay when you are in an alfalfa field where the irrigation is turned off days before you bale, and there is nothing wet on the ground to begin with. I have been using a rotary rake now for 6 years and would not have any other kind. They are fast, clean, and efficient. They really fluff the row up and get the stuff off the ground. I have saved many rained on fields with mine (MillerPro 1100) Second choice to a rotary rake would be a PTO or hydraulicly driven rollbar, not as fast, but can do a pretty fair job.

 

[Grateful11]

If you have rocks anywhere, a wheel rake will find them. (and relocate them to the first available hay bale)

Prefer roll-A-bar rakes myself.

Exactly what I was going to say. We have too many rocks, just took delivery of a new NH 256 with Dolly wheels last month, replaced a 25-30 year old 256. It's not as fast as a wheel rake but my wife doesn't like to find rocks in her hay. If moneys no object a Krone Rotary is an awesome rake, my neighbor has a twin rotor Krone, it's very nice but about $19K.

 

[bill in ny]

i like my kuhn rotary rake. it is fast and also speeds up the drying time. hardley any hay left in the field.