Rotary rakes

[SaddleSore]

Anyone use one? Would like to know how well they work. Youtube has some vids of them in action, but they're always on ground as smooth & level as a pool table and being in Ky. there's very little ground here that compares. Tell me how they perform on hillsides and rolling ground, advantages & disadvantages, what you like and dislike, what brand you have and what brand you'd buy if you were trading. Thanks!!!!!

 

[dun]

On rough ground they break "tines" a lot and you have to travel a lot faster then I like to over rough ground.

 

[Suzie Q]

I have a SIP rotary rake. It has 4 tyres. 2 that it uses most of the time and the other 2 come into action if you go into a dip on the ground.

It is much better than the older rake that we used to have. Longer tines so the windrows don't get caught on the PTO. 2 extra tines, so the tractor can travel faster but the rake is still gentle.

It is better than our side delivery rake. Our side delivery rake puts the windrows in a 'rope', which means that it doesn't dry as fast. It also makes it a bit harder on the baler if you have to rake for a lot of days in a row because of the weather in winter. It still keeps it together enough to bale with which is better than the old rotary rake.

I can lift the canopy if I don't want to use it. You mightn't be able to buy one that can do that any more as the OH&S say it is too dangerous. But I love that part and that I can do it if I want to.

 

[Angus Cowman]

On rough ground they break "tines" a lot and you have to travel a lot faster then I like to over rough ground.

If you are talking about the rotary bar rakes, Why do you have to go faster they aren't ran off ground speed they are ran off hydraulics

I don't Like them on uneven ground I had a 28 ft JD which is the same as a Vermeer and they are great on open semi flat ground but I got rid of mine and went back to Wheel rakes as they like to skip on uneven ground especially if you have terraces or undulatuing terrain

 

[shorty]

I have a Miller pro rotary rake and my ground is mostly hilly , mine has tandem axles (4 wheels) I do a pretty good job with it , once you've used a rotary rake you'll never want to go back to a bar rake.

 

[alabama]

Too many moving parts for me. I like a V rake.

 

[EAT BEEF]

I have a Miller pro rotary rake and my ground is mostly hilly , mine has tandem axles (4 wheels) I do a pretty good job with it , once you've used a rotary rake you'll never want to go back to a bar rake.

I also had a miller when I lived in Ohio and really liked it,but our land was flat.I don't think it would do well rakeing in the crap holes I rake in Oklahoma.

 

[lavacarancher]

Bunch of new terms in here for me. Could one of you explain the differences between the types you're talking about? Thanks.

i have an old JD PTO driven side delivery rake that has served me well for many years but I'm thinking about buyin' one of them ground driven rakes ? where the hay actually turns the tine wheels. Don't know the actual name for the contraption. Problem with the JD side delivery is that it takes longer to rake the field than it does to cut and bale. I would like to speed up that operation a little.

Sorry about stealin' the thread.

 

[EAT BEEF]

Your talking about a wheel rake.Rotary rakes go around in a circle like a big tedder w/more arms,but a cam lifts the tines up as it goes around so that the hay gets left in a windrow.

 

[lavacarancher]

Your talking about a wheel rake.Rotary rakes go around in a circle like a big tedder w/more arms,but a cam lifts the tines up as it goes around so that the hay gets left in a windrow.

Thanks, Beef. I think I know what you're talkin' about. I know what a tedder is and what it looks like but don't think I've ever seen one in operation. We don't have a lot of call for usin' those kinds of implements in S. Texas. It's usually very dry and the hay will typically be one of the bermudas which dry pretty fast without using a tedder. I see a lot of wheel rakes (I think) here and I guess that's what I'll get.

 

[Suzie Q]

I don't have a tedder either as we are pretty dry here.

I have a rotary rake and a side delivery rake in the shed. The rotary rake wins hands down. The tractor goes faster. The windrow airs better as the windrow is not in a rope. The baler can bale quicker as the hay is not in a rope. The rotary rake picks up every bit of hay as it rakes. The side delivery rake does not if the field is not 100% flat and even.

There is no contest. I wouldn't buy a side delivery rake ever again. We only still have it as it is not really worth selling and if hubby is home it means we can both rake at the same time.

 

[1982vett]

Wheel rakes don't like tall grass hay that hasn't been conditioned, especially if it is thick or stemy. Our sticky black dirt likes to stick to the tines if the ground is the least bit damp and I find that a baler without gathering wheels does a better job of picking up a "rope" windrow than a "fluffy edged" windrow. It lets less slip by the edge of the pickup because it is all "tied together" instead of lumpy and loose. As far as a windrow airing better....I'll have to give you that, but we rake directly in front of the baler so airing the hay is a non-issue for us.

All going to boil down to your locale, what you are baling and personal preference.

 

[dun]

When I had to do it all I used a wheel rake, din;t really like it but it was faster. Now that the wife rakes ahead of me I prefer the side delivery. Works good with the Kubota (no spare hydralics on the Kubota) and it's manueverable enough that she feels comfortable with it 99% of the time. With some of our odd corners trying to get a wheel rake into them takes longer then the cutting/baling combined.

 

[lavacarancher]

When I had to do it all I used a wheel rake, din;t really like it but it was faster. Now that the wife rakes ahead of me I prefer the side delivery. Works good with the Kubota (no spare hydralics on the Kubota) and it's manueverable enough that she feels comfortable with it 99% of the time. With some of our odd corners trying to get a wheel rake into them takes longer then the cutting/baling combined.

Rakin' directly in front of the baler is my goal. I believe it is much faster across the field. Maybe I've been doin' it wrong all these years but with the side delivery it seems you need to rake in one direction, turn around and rake another swath of cut hay into a windrow. That's twice and depending on the density, maybe three or four times across the same area to form the windrow. That's what takes me the time. With a twenty foot wheel rake? I should be able to form the windrow in one pass - just ahead of the baler. At least that's what I'm thinking but maybe that's wrong.

Dun, how do you get your wife on the tractor? Mine won't even get close to it. I have to hire someone to rake for me. Maybe if I paid her ....... Naw, that wouldn't do it.

 

[dun]

Dun, how do you get your wife on the tractor? Mine won't even get close to it. I have to hire someone to rake for me. Maybe if I paid her ....... Naw, that wouldn't do it.

She's game to try about anything, part of the resons she's stayed with me for almost 40 years

 

[larryshoat]

A rotary rake is the only thing we've found that will rake 100 bales to the acre wheat straw behind a 25 ft head. Not that that information adds anything to this conversation, but I thought I'd post it anyway. When those big windrows get wet it's quite a problem and a side delivery rake won't even think about raking it.

Larry