# Wheel vs Rotary Hay Rake



## JDusteater09

As a new hay producer, I am trying to decide between the most effective and economical hay rake to purchase. I am cutting hay on approximately 50 acres, but may do some custom work later. Custom work will not exceed 300 acres per year. I am currently looking at a John Deere 704 (10 wheel) rake and the Kuhn 4120. At this point, I am not married either or any brand. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## mlappin

Having never used a rotary rake before I can't comment on that, but I can say I'll NEVER go back to using bar rakes after using my V wheel rake.


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## Production Acres

Any rake that operates on the ground will put dirt, manure, etc in your hay. Beef cattle type hay, that is not a problem, horse quality hay where people will examine with their hands every flake of hay, this becomes a concern. We actually had a problem with some meadow hay out of CO last year for this very reason with elk droppings being raked into the hay. Looks very bad to the consumer! For top quality hay, you need to rake the hay off the stubble, not off the ground!


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## hayray

As far as economical and effectiveness and practical, the wheel rake usually is the easiest and fastest and cost effective. Rotary rakes will make a much nicer windrow and are better for re-raking rows, but are alot more expensive and have more breakdowns. I have a Gehl bi-fold wheel rake that I have had for 17 years and the only thing I have done with it is finally staring last year putting new teeth on it. I rake two rows at a time and there is no way I would ever go back to bar rakes or consider buying a rotary rake.


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## mlappin

Production Acres said:


> Any rake that operates on the ground will put dirt, manure, etc in your hay.......................... For top quality hay, you need to rake the hay off the stubble, not off the ground!


Depends on the wheel rake. A friend of mine has a bifold trailer type rake. The raking wheels carry the weight of the frame and dig in horribly. I have the New Holland wheel rake where each wheel is spring loaded and if the rake is adjusted for each field and the conditions, its possible to get 99% of the hay with out any dirt. On a really smooth and level field its possible to get it adjusted so the teeth barely graze the ground and the stubble actually turns the wheels.

On the other hand I also have some really rolling fields that regardless of the rake whether its my wheel rake or Dads old bar rakes, you can either leave some hay and not dig in, or try to get all the hay and run the teeth in the ground here and there. These are rolling enough that the same holds true while tedding.

I must admit I've always wanted to try a rotary rake, but wonder about how much ground I can cover with one of those compared to my wheel rake. Also got away from the bar rakes as I was tired of messing with u-joints and gearboxes.


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## rank

We have Kuhn single basket rotary rake that mounts on a 3 point hitch. We use it to fluff up hay that has been rained on after it was windrowed. We don't use it much.

We also have a CaseIH 14 wheel V-rake and a H&S 18 wheel V-rake. We use these almost exclusively.

We have tried a Kverneland twin basket rotary rake (looks an awful lot like a Krone) but it seemed to leave hay on the ground and they didn't seem to rake as much hay as the V-rakes. I want to use a rotary rake because I believe they fluff the hay up which increases the drying rate. I just can't find one that gives me capacity without losing yield.


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## JDusteater09

Thank you hayray. Since you have had such good success with the Gehl, I will include it with the John Deere wheel rake for comparison. Your response is appreciated.


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## hayray

One note about Gehl, they no longer manufacture agricultural equipment. But I have seen the newer Khun wheel rakes and they have made a lot of improvements as far as frame design. The Khun and some other newer models have change the frame design that allows more hay to slide underneath the frame which can be a problem in real thick hay depending on your pitch you are raking at. I saw a Frontier rake that John Deere sells and it looks exactly like my old Gehl for the most part. I paid $2600 new for my 8 wheel Gehl but I see that the new Khuns 10 Wheel rakes are around $7000.


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