Hay Rakes

I am looking at a 8 wheel hay rake with kicker Deere 702 who made this rake and what models are same (manufacturer ?)
Thanks

I'm not sure who made it but Vermeer had one identical to it. I bought a JD 702 (8) wheel rake back in 2008. It was one year old and off lease from university of KY. Since I'm by myself I thought it would be a real timesaver vs. my old NH rake. I raked about 4 acres with it and unhooked it and vowed to never use it again and I have not. I was raking tall orchard grass and fescue mix and it made the worst,sloppiest windrow you can imagine. It was a nightmare baling it. I eventually sold it to a neighbor and he hates it too but still uses it. Newer wheel rakes are much better but with with the small amount of hay I have I will just stick to my old NH. With it I can make the kind of windrow I want instead of what the rake wants.

I started making hay with an IH #5 or #15. The rotating rake drum kicked the hay about three times the ground speed. Really good at shaking the alfalfa leaves off the stems unless pulled very slowly. I made as good windrows with my later Farm Hand wheel rake and could pull it a lot faster without destroying the hay. By then I was cutting with a Hesston PT-10 mower conditioner but I found if I dropped the hay from it as wide as it was mowed, it dried two days faster, so I had to rake to bale it. The hay from the PT-10 was laid like a thatched roof and did not get damaged when rained on, though it did take several days to dry for baling. If I baled in the same direction the baler picked up that narrow windrow like it was a big wide rope.

Gerald J.

I find that long stemmed grass hay that has not been conditioned will not rake very well with a wheel rake as from a sickle bar or disc mower without a conditioner. In fact it really makes kind of a mess. It is just is very stiff and slick all laying one direction and kind of slides across the ground and it will even miss a good bit of that kind of hay. Don't recall using wheel rake on non conditioned hay that had been tedded but tedding might help on the slick and stiff part.

What type of bsiler do you use??

We had a Deere 605, same as Vermeer R23. Great rake. Just traded it on an R2300 hydra fold. Twin side deliveries just like your new holland. Check them out. You will be very happy with the windrows. They can be a little pricy though.

If you're running an older square baler you might have a bit of a time with a v rake as the pickups on the older square balers are pretty narrow for the windrow made by the v rakes. I'm guessing you can adjust the width but it's something to keep in mind.