# "Learn" me on V Rakes please...



## Motor7 (May 13, 2010)

My neighbor and I are haying about 45ac of bottomland pasture. We currently have a older wheel rake(we call them "Turkey Tail Rakes"). I am considering a V Rake so can y'all give me the pro's and con's? I found a used 16' V Rake, twin hyd cylinder in good shape for $1600 obo. The brand name appeared to be Carmmond, or Gammond(tag was hard to read) but I can't find any info on it via google.

Any advise is appreciated.


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## Toyes Hill Angus (Dec 21, 2010)

After hay is raked with a v rake it is very difficult to get dry. It seems to roll and wrap the hay twisting it all together making it nearly impossible to dry. They are also not the best mahine in corners, the inside of the corner does not get raked very well... But they are alot cheaper than a double rotor rake making it a economical choice for many. These rakes will also allow for fast travel speeds whuch is a plus.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I haven't really noticed the "roll and wrap the hay twisting it all together making it nearly impossible to dry" like was mentioned in the previous post, of course I also replaced my rolabar rakes with a v wheel rake so anything other than a rolabar rake is a vast improvement. I baled some for a lady last night, raked with a NH269 rolabar, I'd stop to wrap the bale and all the row under the tractor and then some would get sucked right into the round baler. She thought it was ready Thursday at noon but my moisture moniter still found wet spots Friday after noon at 5 pm. Have never had the hay pulled out from under the tractor when round baling after raking it with my v rake.


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## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

I find this " v rake vs rollabar " alot like " jd vs case ". I've owned 3 v rakes and at the moment 3 rollabar rakes. I didn't care much for the light duty sitrex but the 2 degelman/baleking rakes did a fine job. I hay anything from little fields to large ones. The only reason i run rollabars is the job they do on corners and when i meet headlands, i can slow down and they keep raking keeping things nice an tidy. I haven't run a v that works well on tight corners. If the hay is not too wet to rake, and (this is most important) the rake is set properly neither will rope or do a crappy job. Mlappin i can't help but think if you raked the hay when you thought it was ready you wouldn't had a problem with whatever you used. I honestly think most inexperienced operators rake too soon. Lets hear other opinions on this topic guys!


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## Iowa hay guy (Jul 29, 2010)

I have noticed this roping behind a wheel rake and the same field our nh 258 and 260 in a trailed pair did not rope
But I will admit that WHO does the raking job makes a world of difference

I've also had to bale messes that were sickle or disc cut not conditioned then wheel raked now that's a mess if I ever saw one


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

carcajou said:


> If the hay is not too wet to rake, and (this is most important) the rake is set properly neither will rope or do a crappy job. Mlappin i can't help but think if you raked the hay when you thought it was ready you wouldn't had a problem with whatever you used. I honestly think most inexperienced operators rake too soon. Lets hear other opinions on this topic guys!


Didn't say I raked the hay. The lady I baled for raked her own, my cousin is also notorious for raking too soon and making a rope out of it with his rolabar rakes. His has been so bad once a person starts the row, they could probably stop ten foot in and get the whole row without driving across the field.

I'm sure it also depends on the brand of rake, a premium wheel v rake will certainly do better than a off brand one most of the time.


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## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

Mlappin i realize you didn't rake the hay, what i ment was , if you had raked the hay in question there likely would not have been a problem. Also if your cousin tips his baskets back it will rope less. Ray


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Yeah, I don't know why they ever made those rakes so you could drop the baskets. Ours stayed up in the up position so long the bolt was froze.


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## wirong hay (Mar 12, 2011)

we use both v roller bar and wheeled v rakes .the rollar bar i prefere in lucerne and the wheeled rake in oaten and rye type hay,we evan use a old bamford 7 wheeled rake on weather damaged hay when the hay is glued to the ground. the bamford gently picks the hay up and gently rolls with out roping it tony


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I found a rollabar or single line wheel rake makes a better windrow for square baling while v-rake without kicker wheel, makes a better windrow for a round baler.

A v-rake, set up properly, makes two windrows lying side-by-side like two Twinkies in the package. This causes more hay to be feed into the outside edges of the big round bale so you don't have to weave back and forth to get a well formed bale. But this makes it tougher to feed a small square baler to get nice, even flakes.

But, it all depends on the operator raking. I tell my guys to just do down-and-back trips. picking up the wheels when turning around, then come back and do two trips around the outside to clean up the ends. I can then bale the two outside windrows first, then do down-and-backs myself.

I've found that turning a v-rake with the wheels down makes for sloppy windrows in the corners AND, more importantly, tears up the tines on the rake with the stress on the wheel!

I have not found any difference in drying between rake types. A v-rake will make a bigger windrow than a rollabar which means that wet hay will stay wet longer, but it does dry.

Hope this helps.

Ralph


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## Toyes Hill Angus (Dec 21, 2010)

I have found thhat the best way for me to use my HT-10 wheel Sitrex rake is to leave it in the shed until just before the baler comes out. If the hay is ready to bale I love the rake, especially this year with infrequent rainfal and otherwise very light windrows. I just need to tread it differently than the rotary rake, but both have their places. I do not think that if you were to own only one rake that it would be a wise choice to get a v rake, at least not in my neck of the woods.
If money were no object the only rake to buy would be a double rotor, they rake single or double windrows but carry a big $ price tag


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## mshayfarm (Jul 17, 2011)

The V-rake will do a better job if you rake 90 degrees or on an angle from which it was cut. For the price, maintenence and ease of use they are hard to beat.


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## Motor7 (May 13, 2010)

Hey guys thanks for the responses. We use a drum cutter and since that makes two thick piles it gets teddered right away or it won't dry easy. I only rake totally dry hay into windrows since the Hesston 530 does not like any green hay at all. 
I am going to call the owner and make an offer on the V rake and see where it goes from there.


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## maknhay (Jan 6, 2010)

If you are serious about a hay rake, Darf is the way to go. The full electric over hydraulic makes for infinite settings and adjustments. No problems in corners, just hit the switch to swing the outside gang out during a turn to reach out and get the whole windrow. We rake the headlands last, putting outer two together and turning the inner two out seperatly. This way we don't make big bucker piles while straightening out whats been stirred up by coming into the ends and going out. It don't rope either (we don't rake wet swaths......I seriously beleive anyone who rakes wet hay has no where near enough acres to deal with, because apparently they have time to stare out into the feild and wish it dry) because of the angle of the wheels. Every other rake out there has the wheels setting exactly 90 degrees to the ground. They don't lift the hay at all but rather force it towards the ground. The Darf wheels lift the crop as it moves it sideways. We can narrow the main frame on the go to put lighter windrows right close together or widen it to prevent putting heavy swaths on top of each other. This is especially handy in rolling terrain with varying crop size.


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