# square bale raking basics



## Hay Joe (Jul 20, 2011)

I've read that you spiral inward when raking. But how does the baler make those increasingly tight turns? thanks


----------



## koskovichi (Jul 18, 2011)

Well when i rake and everyone i have baled for goes around the fields 3 times then once you have gone around the field a few times just go back and forth picking the rake up when you meet the end rows turning around and dropping the rake back to the ground when you reach unraked hay... this way there is no tight corners and when you rake (depends on the rake of course) turning all the time can cause bunching


----------



## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I use a NH 256 that I can't lift to cross windrows. So I do my lengthwise windrows first and then go around the field a couple of times to pickup the windrow ends and the outside edge of the field. Baling is reverse, get the outside windrows around the field and then the lengthwise windrows. I bale every other windrow so I'm always turning right, into the baler.


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

When we used to use rolabar rakes we'd rake the outside rows out, then make one more pass on the ends to kick the inside row as far out next to the other as possible then rake the lengthwise rows.

Even though some people still do, the only reason hay used to be mowed in a circle (round and round) was because the old horse drawn and early tractor sickle bar mowers didn't have hydraulic lifts. So rather than fight a manual lift every pass, folks mowed in a circle to avoid having to lift the bar.

Even though we've had some spirited debates in the forums on mowing in a circle versus mowing 4-6 out side rows then mowing back and forth, there is no real reason to mow in a circle anymore under normal conditions. Corn, beans and other row crops aren't planted in a circle, you don't plow in a circle, and certainly wouldn't try to pick corn in a spiral. Only exception to this I can see would be under very large (300 acre +) center pivots in areas of the country where the only thing that grows is what the pivot covers.


----------



## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Thirty years ago I used a NH roll bar rake with some modifications.

First I put a hydraulic cylinder in place of the screw adjustment for the basket.

Then I put a bar on the three point lift arms, which lifted the basket even more.

When raking I used the three point control to make fine adjustments to the height of the teeth.

When I changed to a rotory rake I got rid of the roping of the windrow and reduced the wet slugs. 
It is a pleasure baling hay raked with a rotory rake. when I stop the tractor the hay stops feeding into the pickup.

A number of problems I encountered with that roll bar rake can be addressed by leaving the hay out flat, and raking it the day before it is baled. 
We learn in increments. More accurately I am a slow learner but make up for by forgetting quickly.


----------



## Greyhorse (Jun 22, 2009)

I rake like Mike120 does, works pretty well for rounds, don't drop the first outside rounds at the end of your rows. You'll need to move some bales most likely at the ends doing squares.


----------



## tnwalkingred (Jun 8, 2010)

I use a NH 256 rake as well and I agree with Mike as well. We normally rake and bale at the same time with two different tractors and will sometimes bale right behind the rake on the outside edges so that you can then go back and forth without having to cross the other windrows. I too skip every other row so that I'm not turning as sharp. Old rule of thumb is to always turn left with the rake and always turn right with the baler.

Kyle


----------



## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Here is one universal truth for hay.

Relative Humidity 
*90% RH the hay will have no lower than 40% Moisture. 
The magic moisture for raking. 
70% RH the hay will be no lower than 18 to 20% Moisture 
The magic moisture for small square baling.
65% RH the hay will be no lower than 16 to 18% Moisture. 
The magic moisture for large bales. 
55% RH the hay in the 12% moisture range where leaf shattering becomes a major concern*.

The humidity we are talking about is down close to the hay, not free air humidity, not on TV and not at the Airport.

The devil is in the details and there are a number of details. 

Not saying raking in front of the baler is wrong or always wrong but when close to baling moisture & raking there will be more leaves shattered from the plant.

Usually I rake at first light and will stop around 8 or 9 am, Here. 
Usually I rake the day before baling.
With more hay on the ground than can be baled before significant leaf shatter, Then I will also rake some of the hay the day of baling. This gives me an extra hour of baling with minimum leaf shatter. 
Here I seldom have more than 3 hours to bale before major leaf shatter.

I can only speak of alfalfa and of bermudagrass baling, and bermudagrass has more leaves shatter off then alfalfa. Bermudagrass with a third of the leaves gone will still look good while alfalfa with a fourth of the leaves gone will look like a bundle of sticks. True but stretched truth for emphases.


----------



## Hay Joe (Jul 20, 2011)

Hay Joe said:


> I've read that you spiral inward when raking. But how does the baler make those increasingly tight turns? thanks


First thanks for the answers. As I understand it, I'm to rake up and down the field and then when the long rows are raked, windrow the ends. I hope that's what the advice is. But the replies lead to a second question: if all goes well (no rain), do most of you rake once or twice? The second time being more or less immediately before baling?


----------



## sedurbin (May 30, 2009)

Hay Wilson, Around here, with grass, we rake just ahead of the baler and try to never leave raked hay sit overnight. The ground is usually damp and any windrow that sits for more than an hour or two will need to be flipped. Shatter isn't much of a problem with our grass and it's barely dry enough to begin with. First cut is lucky to be 18% rarely has it been too dry for the last four years. I'm sure that will change.

Alfalfa I rake when the dew is still on and try to be finished by !0:00 at the latest. If I'm lucky I can start baling at noon, otherwise I wait til it's dry enough and hope I don't get caught with an afternoon shower. I mowed third cutting Alf on Wed morning and it looks like I will be able to bale tomorrow, a rare event around here. The ground is dry, for a change, and we have 100 degree heat and some breeze.

To the original question, I like to rake like Mike described. This time of year you may consider raking several windrows together to make the baler operator happy. Since I usually do both, there ain't much arguing about it. The only time I rake twice is if I had to ted it out or if it has to be flipped to get the bottom dry.

Remember, a mowed hayfield is to a rain storm as a trailer park is to a tornado.


----------



## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

No you should not have to rake twice unless it rains. The point of the rake is to get the hay into a windrow or to combine windrows inorder to make less trips and wider turns for the bailer. It also gathers the hay off the ground so that the pickup on the bailer is more effective.


----------



## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

let me correct myself you could make wider turns without raking but you would be making alot more of them...very time consuming


----------



## Hay Joe (Jul 20, 2011)

Sometimes I just get it wrong. Thanks Nitram I'd assumed raking aimed at drying the underside of the hay in addition to lining it out for the baler. Your onto sure clarifies the matter.


----------



## CantonHayGuy (Sep 25, 2008)

Hey Joe...

When I first started, raking used to drive me crazy because I know I was spending too much time raking. I have a very old IH, 4 bar, ground-driven rake and it doesn't have a tight turn radius at all so the ends of my windrows were spread out....drove me crazy! Now I do like others have suggested; I make a couple of passes around the perimeter, then start my windrows. Once my rows are done I go back across the ends of the rows to clean them up which gives me windrows perpendicular to my long windrows.


----------



## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

As they say in Congress, I will revise and extend my original posting. 
The reason for the delay was to keep from appearing defensive.

grass, we rake just ahead of the baler and try to never leave raked hay sit overnight. The ground is usually damp and any windrow that sits for more than an hour or two will need to be flipped. Shatter isn't much of a problem with our grass and it's barely dry enough to begin with.

As strange as it may appear but our first two cuttings have much the same challenges as you mention. Here we can start cutting alfalfa at early bud stage the last week of March. The second cuttings of alfalfa usually start in mid May. My market is for ¼ bloom alfalfa, but the first cutting will be from bud stage to full bloom, with the delays caused by rain events. Except for our shorter day length our weather is much the same as it is for Kentucky through mid to late June. 
A lot of my haying operations are borrowed from Virginia, Kentucky, and Wisconsin.
July & August are usually like New Mexico, only with out irrigation. Currently my some of my alfalfa is in full bloom, some has put on seed pods, and none are over 10" tall. This being a drought year, we are standing at 44% of average total rainfall for the year, to date.

As an added bonus the soil here is a heavy clay, that does not take up water quickly. With much of a rain we are kept off the ground for 3 or 4 days until the ground is dry enough to run on with out picking up mud on the tires, plus cutting ruts. This means, HERE, hay that is rained before baling will mold.

For day time baling we have at best a 3 hour window between too tough to bale and too dry to bale. Most days baling has to be done by our 2 pm CDT. Probably the same as 1:30 pm CDT in Missouri. It usually takes 4 hours to get the bales in the barn. 
I can widen the baling window, if I hold off raking a third of the hay until first light the day of baling. This has me done baling about an hour later. 
Several fields this year only had an hour between too tough to bale and too dry to bale and it was not a problem to avoid leaf shattering.

*grass, * 
The only grass baling The only grass I make it a habit to bale is bermudagrass. Bermudagrass is usually about 60% or 70% leaf, mostly small leaves. Bermudagrass is very prone to leaf shattering but in a bale it looks good, where alfalfa with more retained leaves will look like a bundle of sticks.

Our University Friends may putout a bunch of bovine scat, but I believe them when they say using a tedder when the hay has some time to dry, and the air down next to the windrow is below 95% RH hay moisture will be no lower than 45% & the leaf shatter starts up. The same can be said for raking but the it is 90% RH the where the hay moisture will be no lower than 40%. Today at first light, when I started raking, the RH at ground level was 87%.

All that stuff about humidity is presupposing that the stem moisture is within bounds.

We have in common a *NH 315 Square Baler*. Mine was purchased new & has served me well. For a number of years we used a NH 1010 and a NH 1002 stack wagon. Currently I use a NH 1003 stack wagon to put the hay in the barn. As long as the equipment holds up I can cut, rake, bale, & stack in the barn with zero outside help. When we had the two smaller stack wagons the wife would run one & I would run the other.

On the Here There thing. Some years ago at Michigan was a DR Rotz who did a lot of work with hay preservatives, and baling damp hay. As did John Arlich, a Researcher at NM research center. Back to back articles would be in the Hay & Forage Grower, each with widely differing findings. When you stopped to consider, you should conclude that both findings were valid for their climate. 
I find it most interesting to learn what is working for people in different climates with different soils find works for them.


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

hay wilson in TX said:


> As an added bonus the soil here is a heavy clay, that does not take up water quickly. With much of a rain we are kept off the ground for 3 or 4 days until the ground is dry enough to run on with out picking up mud on the tires, plus cutting ruts. This means, HERE, hay that is rained before baling will mold.


Same here, even though I had windows here and their and I could have finished first cutting sooner, the ground was way too wet to drive on. If a person does push it a little sooner and the ground is still quite wet, plan on adding several days to the drying time.


----------

