# Opinion on rotary rakes



## Will 400m (Aug 1, 2011)

Ok so I need a new rake and have settled on two options. I can either get a used center delivery 2 rotor rake or a new single rotor rake. Used will be a Niemeyer 745VS or a Niemeyer RS620. New either a krone or a kuhn. Both dealers are close by but the New Holland dealer has the Kuhn and thats the one I'm at most of the time and there realy good to me. The Krone dealer is fairly new to the krone line they also sell Massey but I have delt little with them but there on my way home. Any thoughts would be great.


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

We switched from a Miller pro 2250 to a Kuhn 7922 two years ago and have been very happy with the Kuhn. Ours is a twin rotor that you can make two singles or one double with. I wouldn't want a center delivery rotary rake if you ted your hay. The hay in the center where the windrow ends up will never be flipped over.


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## Will 400m (Aug 1, 2011)

On both of the twins you can use just one of the rotors at a time or both. Also what difference would it make for tedding? We tedd all the hay at least twice befor its dry and only rake when the hay is ready to bale. So maby an few hours befor the baler comes out the rake starts. My only concern would be that with first crop I would make a realy heavy windrow or would have only one rake on the ground and the other up and not raking any hay but wasting time and fuel. I supose I can take the shaft off of it when I'm in heavy first and not using the other rotor at all.


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## MikeRF (Dec 21, 2009)

In first cutting we use the same hay making routine as you, Will. Ted for the second time early in the morning of baling day when the dew is just coming off to lift it up off the ground. 
Then rake just ahead of the baler with a Claas 2800 central delivery rake. This rake makes a smooth, even 23ft into 5ft windrow that maximises the capacity of our small baler driving at about 3mph. We have been able to do this in yields up to around 7500lbs per cut. 
The only time we will use just one rotor is in a heavy alfalfa 2nd cutting (which we dont ted) when we dont want to put 2 into one. This is thankfully rare as I would agree it is a pain in the butt. The majority of the time the rake can be set to put 2 windrows beside each other close enough to bale and that will dry just fine.
Mike


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## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

When I rake, I like all the hay to get flipped over. If you don't ted and rake two windrows together on the space that isn't covered with hay, then all the hay gets flipped over and put on the space where there isn't any hay with a center delivery twin rotor rake. If you ted the hay, all the ground is covered with hay. Then with the center rotaries that I have seen, each rotor piles hay together, but never flips the hay in the center. In a year like we had in Ohio this year with all the rain and wet ground, the bottom of the windrow would never be dry. That is why we use the rotaries that rake to one side. I don't know if that makes sense, it is hard to explain on the computer.


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## MikeRF (Dec 21, 2009)

I know what you mean but lifting all the tedded hay on baling morning to allow air flow is the crucial thing. As you rightly point out if the hay is not moved that day underneath the windrow of a centre delivery rake is still sitting tight to the ground and in damp conditions could easily cause problems.


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## Will 400m (Aug 1, 2011)

I get what your saying the hay in the center where the rakes are piling the hay never gets moved. It makes sense but up here if it ain't dry before you rake it it's not from the ground it's just too humid and you need to tedd it again. When the rake comes out the hay should be nice and fluffy dry so you could almost fallow the rake with the baler. I watched a few of the guys who make dry hay around here and they all do the same thing because most of the smaller fields where corn silage wont fit is where we get the pleasure of making hay and most of those fields are lined with tree's or wood's and dont get too much sun or wind.


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## hay rake (Dec 31, 2011)

we use a double rotor left delivery kune for this reason. we are in maine about the same distance from the atlantic humidifier as you are in ct. we also have to get hay dry before raking but find if we don't turn the whole windrow we are asking for trouble. that is why we did not go with the center discharge. but i will tell you how a gentleman from alabama told me to overcome this. you rake one windrow then you rake another that is within the rake width. then you rake them together this will turn all hay. now you have to understand that you now have about 36 feet of hay in this windrow so if the timothy heads are over the hood when you mowed this probably won't work. but that's what he told me


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## jenkinsfarmsinc (Dec 8, 2011)

For all its worth, I have had a few Kuhn GA300's. They work ok for a single windrow, and work half ok for raking two together. My biggest complaint was on one of my older ones, the main drive sprocket, inside the rotor head, kept getting stripped out and had to be completely replaced. Not an easy or cheap task. Maybe the bigger ones or newer ones are better, anyhow, good luck to ya!


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## Dolphin (May 21, 2010)

Krone single rotor trailed rake here, it's built really well and works great.


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## NEHerdsman (Sep 23, 2009)

Kuhn single rotor here. We rake twice, so all hay is picked and moved at least once. Before going to the rotary rake (using a side delivery) we had a hard time making sure all the hay was dry before raking, but with the rotary, raking is now the last step in drying.


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## Will 400m (Aug 1, 2011)

Ok so I spent some more time looking at rakes and came across this a front mounted twin rotary rake with a round baler behind. AG DOPPIO FRONTALE GALFRE - YouTube Well it's a great idea but I think the guy running it neets to take a few turns to shorten up the top link so it dosen't dig into the ground so much.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Will 400m said:


> Well it's a great idea but I think the guy running it neets to take a few turns to shorten up the top link so it dosen't dig into the ground so much.


I agree Will.....you could see the dirt stirring into the hay......maybe their feeding groundhogs ;0) .

Regards, Mike


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

That sure is an interesting idea. For you tedder folks (I'm not entirely sure how a tedder works exactly as I haven't seen one in action) or folks who spread the hay out all over the field at least you wouldn't be running over the hay before raking it. And if you could rake like that as you were baling would save an extra tractor. However I always rake about 2-3 hours ahead of baling and in my area no way would that work with raking alfalfa right before baling. Those rakes also don't require all that much power. And yes that person needs to lift it up a bit. I could hear it scraping the dirt on youtube so it must have been really scraping.


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## nwks baler (Jul 18, 2008)

Does anyone know how the Krone Swadro 1010 hold up? We are thinking about buying one this year and there are no rotary rakes in our area at all.


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## FCF (Apr 23, 2010)

Vol said:


> I agree Will.....you could see the dirt stirring into the hay......maybe their feeding groundhogs ;0) .
> 
> Regards, Mike


Things I noticed besides the amount of dirt going into the hay.
(1.) In the first and last part of the video; part of the hay was raked ahead of the tractor doing the raking and/or raking and baling. Is it possible this rake can run in reverse and rake to the outside as well as the center? Then come back and rake toward the center to get about 4 rotor widths in one windrow?
(2.) It looks like the rotors mesh with each other and all of the hay is moved. This would be necessary to rake to the outside.
(3.) Did you notice the large counterweight on the back of the tractor when they weren't baling?


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## hay rake (Dec 31, 2011)

fcf i can't say for sure because i have never seen that specific rake but after having kuhn's and watching other rotaries work these would be my assumptions. i don't think you can rake in reverse, the teeth are bent to go one way. also the cams that the arms follow would make the tines lift the hay instead of dumping it in the windrow. i don't think the rotors mesh they are just coming close together and the hay in the middle is not being turned just having hay piled on top of it. if you look at the top of the rake frame i believe you can see where the heads can be moved in and out. if you look at most manufacturers specs you will see that they have variable widths for operation. i believe the raked windrows were raked with the rake at max width leaving that dead space between the rows. when they were baling they had it closed up to make a windrow that fit between the wheels. never have run one but after being around big mounted tedders and owning rotary rakes i think that monster would be heavy on the front but not heavy enough to need that counter weight. but you know i have been wrong before, could be all wet now. gary


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## rhodesvt (Feb 19, 2012)

I have some experience with the Pequea HR 1140 rotary rake, and have nothing but good things to say about it. It is American made as well compared to all of the other rotary rakes being imported. You should check it out before you decide for sure.


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## Dolphin (May 21, 2010)

nwks baler said:


> Does anyone know how the Krone Swadro 1010 hold up? We are thinking about buying one this year and there are no rotary rakes in our area at all.


I can only assure you the Krone rake I have is very well engineered and built with quality materials. It is very solid, quiet while working and makes a nice fluffy windrow.


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## baler (Jun 15, 2010)

Will 400m said:


> Ok so I spent some more time looking at rakes and came across this a front mounted twin rotary rake with a round baler behind. AG DOPPIO FRONTALE GALFRE - YouTube Well it's a great idea but I think the guy running it neets to take a few turns to shorten up the top link so it dosen't dig into the ground so much.


Here is another (not rotary though) rake to be used in front of baler tractor:

http://www.elho.fi/WebRoot/1000211/...5&MainCategory=7&SubCategory=22&ItemIndex=199

And they also have a single, side-delivery model that would work with side pick-up small square balers:

Tuotteet

These are built in Finland, and I don't know if they have a dealer in the U.S.?

Actually, they seem to have a dealer in Massachusetts:
http://www.jswoodhouse.com/default.asp

I am a Kuhn 7301 user myself. We are tedding 2-3 times with Kuhn 8501 and then raking with the 7301 for a NH small square baler. Personally I like the Kuhn hay tools, so far they've proven to be a high quality products.


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## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

nwks baler said:


> Does anyone know how the Krone Swadro 1010 hold up? We are thinking about buying one this year and there are no rotary rakes in our area at all.


We just bought an Krone 810 swadro, we still have our miller pro but the Krone is MUCH heavier-built, runs nice and smooth. The we're have problems with gearboxes but have since improved the design. My girlfriends parents run Claas center delivery and side delivery twin rotor rakes and they love them. Krone and Claas...almost the exact same with a different paint scheme.


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## wylde77 (Sep 29, 2011)

I would go KUHN all the way. I have had really good luck. Used to have a center delivery twin rotor KUHN before switching to one of the new GA7932 swing frame side delivery twin rotor rakes. I had no complaints with my center delivery, like mentioned earlier, if you tedd out your crop then you will not be able to turn all of it over. I bought the new side delivery because it is a bit more versatile and fits my operation better than the center delivery did. ALl in all, my vote is for the KUHN.


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