Hay rakes

Dakota Dave wrote: We use a veermer R2300. its a hydraulic driven twin rotary  bar rake. it makes wonderfull windrows, even in ditches and corn stover. you do need a good hydraulic supply to run the two hydraulic motors. and two more set of outlets to run the lift and fold. once you use a good rotary rake youll never go back to a ground driven rake of any kind. the twin rake makes such a nice square windrow that your bales always look good. We rake two 15' cuts from a New Holland 499 swingbine together. and bale with a Veemer 605M.  the baler can handle a large windrow easily.

Vermeer engineers and builds great equipment

We use a veermer R2300. its a hydraulic driven twin rotary  bar rake. it makes wonderfull windrows, even in ditches and corn stover. you do need a good hydraulic supply to run the two hydraulic motors. and two more set of outlets to run the lift and fold. once you use a good rotary rake youll never go back to a ground driven rake of any kind. the twin rake makes such a nice square windrow that your bales always look good. We rake two 15' cuts from a New Holland 499 swingbine together. and bale with a Veemer 605M.  the baler can handle a large windrow easily.

Edited by Dakota Dave - 21 Jul 2017 at 7:51am

I rake with an old NH-55 rake and my narrow-front WD with power steering.  Don't get much better than that for me.  A friend sold me the rake for $50 years ago, and the WD sings/purrs to me all day.  

darrel in ND wrote:

What does the term "bat rake" come from? Not trying to steal your thunder or anything, just wondering. Thanks, Darrel[/QUOTE]

Bat rakes have a cart in the middle of a v-rake which is not adjustable (the "v" doesn't change) and the rake wheels lift up on the sides usually in pairs.

Gary Burnett wrote: BigBadAllis wrote: New Holland 258 or equivalent with the dolly is a great rake combination.  The dolly keeps the rake more consistent on the adjustments so you don't have to constantly fidget with adjusting it from side to side and up and down.  The dolly also allows for tighter turns since it's further back from the rear wheels.  I also liked not having it so close to the tractor which makes it easier to see the rake. On a hillside the rake with a dolly is harder to keep it where you want it,on the flat they're fine,plus with the small front wheel on a dolly the rake bounces more than hooking to the tractor.I think its one of those things you either really like a dolly wheel or you don't like it at all.

We had the New Holland dolly with dual grippy tires.  Never had a problem with trailing on hilly ground.  No excessive bouncing since they were larger implement size tires.  15 or 16"

As Gary Burnett said   “I hate to bale after someone has done a sloppy rake job” reminded me of what an old timer told me years ago “No one should be allowed to rake hay until they have baled behind someone who didn’t give a crap how they raked!

New Holland 258 or equivalent with the dolly is a great rake combination.  The dolly keeps the rake more consistent on the adjustments so you don't have to constantly fidget with adjusting it from side to side and up and down.  The dolly also allows for tighter turns since it's further back from the rear wheels.  I also liked not having it so close to the tractor which makes it easier to see the rake.

I will say 1 bad thing about the 256, that I have.  I hadda order parts fer the gearbox, 2 gears plus the main output shaft, from CNH.  shaft wasn't machined right, was oval where the gear was sposed to press on, and it walked back off the shaft, on the test run, from the shop, to the hayfield.  Drove back up to the shop, yanked out the shaft and gear, cleaned them up, and mig welded the gear, to the mis-shapen shaft.  Man was I pissed, about 4 more hours of work, in hot hayin weather...

I did learn by experience that having the mower conditioner make the narrowest possible windrow delayed drying at least a couple days. So I learned to set the output chute as wide as possible and fortunately the baler intake chute was as wide. Cut at least two days off the drying even if it was so wide it had to be raked before baling. Around here the first cutting never got more than three days without rain it seemed like.

Gerald J.

Gerald J. wrote: My Hesston PT-10 mower conditioner left a nice windrow that the baler would pick up (when run in the same direction as the PT-10 that would pick up like a rope when cutting and baling alfalfa. Early on I had an IH #5 bar rake. It kicked the hay at about twice the ground speed so it wasn't good for the hay to pull more than 2 or 3 mph.  Then I got a Farmhand wheel rake and never had a problem with big windrows with it, though it could add some dust to the hay that horse owners didn't like. It could be pulled at 6 or 7 mph and still treated the hay gentler than the IH rake did. The rakes and baler are long gone, the PT-10 has been rotting outside for about 15 years, I don't know if it can be made to work again. I know the tires have rotted. Gerald J.

My Hesston PT-10 mower conditioner left a nice windrow that the baler would pick up (when run in the same direction as the PT-10 that would pick up like a rope when cutting and baling alfalfa.

Early on I had an IH #5 bar rake. It kicked the hay at about twice the ground speed so it wasn't good for the hay to pull more than 2 or 3 mph.  Then I got a Farmhand wheel rake and never had a problem with big windrows with it, though it could add some dust to the hay that horse owners didn't like. It could be pulled at 6 or 7 mph and still treated the hay gentler than the IH rake did.

The rakes and baler are long gone, the PT-10 has been rotting outside for about 15 years, I don't know if it can be made to work again. I know the tires have rotted.

Gerald J.

I pulled a New Holland rake once when I worked for a neighbor, but it was pretty worn out and beat up. I do know farmers out here with New Holland rakes, though. I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about them. Either a Deere or New Holland bar rake should provide you really good service if you get once that's in decent shape

I have a new idea and ,new holland bar rakes. I use a sitrex speed rake for all hay and does a great job as any high frame wheel rake does. When I bale square bale rye for straw its always the new Holland that gets used .if I was buying another bar rake I would only consider a hydraulic driven . I don't like the new idea but have a neighbor that has a hyd driven one with rubber mounted teeth that does a great job.

I've heard that inline balers make a bale of a more consistent size. I don't know how it would work with wrapped hay.  I wouldn't think it would be pulling a "rope" of hay into the chamber, though.

We use a NH rollar bar rake ,not sure of the model as dad painted 15 years ago and did not put new decals on it. Pull type. Has always done a good job. A friend of mine has 2 of them that he pulls in tandem. They have served him well as he bales 20-25k bales a year. He recently upgraded to a Krone basket rake. He purchased a Bale Barron that requires even length bales. The rollar bar rakes do tend to twist the hay together. Meaning when you are baling and come upon a a large clump of hay and stop the tractor to prevent a broken shear pin, the baler tends to continue to pull the hay in due to the twist created by the rake, resulting in longer bales. The Bale Barron has saved him a lot of labor and he his extremely happy with it. But for most of us that have small farms, the roller bar rakes do a fine job.