# Hay Rake Information



## DC Cattle (Jun 27, 2012)

Does anyone make a rake that allows you to rake two parallel rows at one time (heavy first cuttings) then adjust to rake two rows into one (2nd & 3rd cuttings).


----------



## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

I think Kuhn makes them, something like this?


----------



## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

A Vermeer R2800 will do it.


----------



## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Kuhn rotary rake will do it


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

New Holland had something like that over thirty years ago. Tandem hitch for bar rakes, use it one way to rake single rows, flip it over to rake tandem. But it was for bar rakes, I baled some for a guy the other day that was raked with a bar rake, I still stand behind my opinion bar rakes should be cut up just like a moldboard plow and sold for scrap, said money should be used to buy beer and never look back.

If you want to stick to bar rakes NH offers a hydraulic bridge hitch that will do the same. Use two of the same hand rake and you can rake single or double, or use a left and a right to make a v-rake.

Like the others said the proper model rotary will do the job.

I have a New Holland HT154 v wheel rake and have opened the back up all the way then drove slow and placed the rows next to one another but with enough room to sneak a square baler down.


----------



## Iowa hay guy (Jul 29, 2010)

i use the hew holland bar rakes and if they are adjusted right then they will out rake a wheel rake any which way except for in light second or third cutting hay
i have raked stuff that would choke a wheel rake with them and they dont rope tangle or have any problems that i have ever noticed in 20 years


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Iowa hay guy said:


> i use the hew holland bar rakes and if they are adjusted right then they will out rake a wheel rake any which way except for in light second or third cutting hay
> i have raked stuff that would choke a wheel rake with them and they dont rope tangle or have any problems that i have ever noticed in 20 years


You need a better wheel rake then, _here_ if you want the hay to take longer to dry, take longer to rake it and have more maintenance then by all means stick with a bar rake. This is from experience, _here_ I spent the first 20-25 years of my haymaking experience using New Holland bar rakes with the twin hitch, if you gave me two new bar rakes and the hydraulic bridge hitch, I'd promptly post em on Tractorhouse.


----------



## covenanthay (Oct 2, 2009)

Miller Pro 2250


----------



## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

mlappin said:


> You need a better wheel rake then, _here_ if you want the hay to take longer to dry, take longer to rake it and have more maintenance then by all means stick with a bar rake. This is from experience, _here_ I spent the first 20-25 years of my haymaking experience using New Holland bar rakes with the twin hitch, if you gave me two new bar rakes and the hydraulic bridge hitch, I'd promptly post em on Tractorhouse.


........and If you gave me your wheel rake, I'd tender it for scrap at the salvage yard. Nothing is quicker and nothing is gentler on leafy legumes than a rotary, IMO. I have 2, a Giehl and a Kuhn.

I too started with a NH Roll-a-bar roper. I admire NH haytools and use them almost exclusively but I haven't any love for their rakes.


----------



## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

I have a JD 700 Twin rake. I would love to have a Rotary, but no one down here has one. I bale coastal and occassionally haygrazer. Haygrazer can be up the 8 ft tall if you end up and have to cut when it is matured. Best time is in the flag stage 4-5 feet. Can a rotary handle that? My 700 has a tough time. So do wheel rakes.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Rotary rakes are nice and I would like one, but my Kuhn wheel rake does a nice job and I can go a little faster then with a Kuhn rotary. There also is a huge price difference.


----------



## stickney farm (Jan 17, 2011)

gradyjohn said:


> I have a JD 700 Twin rake. I would love to have a Rotary, but no one down here has one. I bale coastal and occassionally haygrazer. Haygrazer can be up the 8 ft tall if you end up and have to cut when it is matured. Best time is in the flag stage 4-5 feet. Can a rotary handle that? My 700 has a tough time. So do wheel rakes.


A decent sized rotary rake(not the smallest size there is) will handle anything because they are pto driven and the bigger ones are geared to spin the rotor faster than the smaller ones. You just match the crop with your ground and pto speed. I don't know of anyone around here who went to a rotary and then switched back. there is also a lot of haylage in these parts and a rotary is deffinitely nicer for that other than a merger


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

ARD Farm said:


> ........and If you gave me your wheel rake, I'd tender it for scrap at the salvage yard. Nothing is quicker and nothing is gentler on leafy legumes than a rotary, IMO. I have 2, a Giehl and a Kuhn.
> 
> I too started with a NH Roll-a-bar roper. I admire NH haytools and use them almost exclusively but I haven't any love for their rakes.


Well I'd love to try a rotary rake, but I see several roadblocks. Unless the average speed with a rotary is 10-11 mph it's going to take me longer to rake with a rotary, more time raking equals less time to move hay home, mow more, or any number of other things. I'm a one man show here so taking longer to do something is not an option.

I have a few VERY rolling fields, even with my HT154 I have to go back in some places and make a second pass to get it all.

If I was to buy a rotary it would have to be a twin basket center delivery, I cover 25' with my v rake now, no way could I remain efficient with a single rotor rake while driving slower. After using the v rake for so long, going back to the headaches of a side delivery unit would not be something I'd be willing to settle for.

If it was a center delivery twin rotor rake how does the hay in the center dry out on tedded hay if the row is formed on top of it?


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Teslan said:


> Rotary rakes are nice and I would like one, but my Kuhn wheel rake does a nice job and I can go a little faster then with a Kuhn rotary. There also is a huge price difference.


Teslan, there are times and places for both a rotary and a wheel rake....I have both and I like both. I can run just about as fast with my rotary as I can with my wheel...but you can run too fast for either and get sloppy results. I have found no downside to a rotary yet....this is my first year for a rotary rake. With the floating "bogey" type axles the rotary is surprisingly smooth over uneven ground. I loved it from the first 5 minutes of use and the learning curve was all of a pass or two around the field. They are pricey, but not too much considering the advantages they offer. And hay will "finish" drying quicker with a rotary rake better than any other rake out there that I am aware of.

Regards, Mike


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Yes I do like the Rotary a lot. Especially at the end of a windrow where you have to lift up to avoid the end windrows. It works much much better then a wheeled v-rake for that. I only tried the Kuhn Rotary (my cousin's) on alfalfa and was comparing it to my Kuhn 12 wheel rake for alfalfa. Someday I'll get a Kuhn Rotary rake. I had the option last year to buy a nice used Kuhn Rotary for $17k or a nice used Kuhn Wheel rake for $5k. I chose the wheel rake just as it was cheaper as we had bought a new 3x3 baler and didn't need to spend that much more money. I haven't tried the Rotary on grass hay. I'm assuming it will do well. I do have a single Kuhn rotary rake and it's good. I wouldn't want anything else. Also my cousin said his Kuhn Rotary rake when raking alfalfa lost a lot less leaves then a custom operator he had helping him did with NH bar rakes.


----------



## Starvation Plantaton (May 16, 2011)

The only problem I've seen with wheel rakes is they leave to much crop in the field. I've raked for years with an old "New Idea" bar rake and found it cleans up like a hoover. Maybe operator error on the wheel rakes but I've seen it in alot of fields. I guess I'm greedy, I want all the crop possible in the bale. Just my .02.


----------



## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I want a rotary, but I want a lot of things I can't afford....have to stick with the wheel rake for now, cheap, works purty good for the $


----------



## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

Starvation Plantaton said:


> The only problem I've seen with wheel rakes is they leave to much crop in the field. I've raked for years with an old "New Idea" bar rake and found it cleans up like a hoover. Maybe operator error on the wheel rakes but I've seen it in alot of fields. I guess I'm greedy, I want all the crop possible in the bale. Just my .02.


A few months ago I borrowed a neighbors 8-wheel JD, it cleaned up anything it went over. He did say it took him a while to get it set just right. I now own the same model in 10-wheel I'm hoping I can get set as good as his is.


----------



## steve in IN (Sep 30, 2009)

I have had single bar rakes then tandem bar rakes then a 10 wheel carted rake then went to a 16 wheel v-rake and also had a single Miller rotary rake. I now have a tandem Kuhn rotary rake and love the versatility. By varying speed and rpm I can do magic with a windrow. In my experience I found the bar rakes slow, destructive on leaves and they roped the hay to stop it from drying. The wheel rakes were high maintainence and put alot of dirt in row. The rotary is a little slower but I will not go back. If I win the lottery I would have one of every one but not yet.


----------



## urednecku (Oct 18, 2010)

"The wheel rakes were high maintainence and put alot of dirt in row."
If they are putting any dirt in the row the are not adjusted right. Possible exception in real rough ground. His did not touch the ground, if I remember right the teeth went about 1/2 way the length of stubble....and turned real easy.
I've not had it long enough to know about maintenance yet, but all I can see is regular grease, not much mechanical to go wrong.
I was almost to buy a rotary, but this wheel rake came along just in [email protected] $1300 instead of about $5500.


----------



## stickney farm (Jan 17, 2011)

mlappin said:


> If it was a center delivery twin rotor rake how does the hay in the center dry out on tedded hay if the row is formed on top of it?


Center delivery double rakes are very rare in this area because they limit you to the width of the rake only. with a double side delivery you can double or triple or more with your rake utilizing it more and saving time on your baler/chopper. you can also flip the windrow you started with the side delivery if your doubling


----------



## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

We have a stirex wheel rake and it picks up to much trash. Ive raked with a speed take and it picks up a little. But for all my custom jobs I have a hit that rakes with a R2300 and it's just unbelievable! 
No trash and pretty windrows. Love it. I plan on upgrading to a JD 705 or a Vermeer R23A. Wish I could get a 2300..


----------

