How much hay left in the field after baling

Mtjohnso

Member
As I finished up the 8 acres that I cut, raked and baled and find some hay still on the ground from the haying process. Some hay is there from un eveness of the ground, some from the hoy not being raked well and some from the baler missing parts of the end of the row.
Now I am using a 1940 side delivery rake, 1950 mower and a 1952 baler.
Still I see a lot of hay in the field with individuals using the newer rotarty rakes and the newer balers.
We are baling grass hay here in western Washington.
So does much hay get left in your fields?
 

I get some left behind some because of depressions that neither the rake nor baler can pull it out of, some just because I get in a rush and rake and bale too fast. The biggest problem is wind. One time I had my wife bale while I raked fifteen feet in front of the baler tractor. I bought a two wheel windrow turner rake with the intent of mounting it on the front of the tractor but haven't gotten to it yet.
 
If you are concerned about it, get you an old dump rake. We used to "scatter rake" behind the sweeps, and when we dump raked in front of the round baler.
Since I have gone to my "V"rake, I don't scatter rake at all, plus I have to pick up all the IDIOT cubes first.
 
I have to sell almost 20 square bales to earn enough profit for 1 rake teeth on my rotary rake. I'd have to see 2500 or more to have profit enough to replace the cam track and followers.

I set my rake so it doesn't do tillage work and yes it leaves some hay in our rough fields. I think it leaves about 1-3 square bales per acre. The wheel rake guys don't leave much behind but our little fields don't have much for straightaways.
 
Any hay I leave behind in the field is 100% my fault and I rake with an ole 1937 JD 594 hay rake on steel wheels as well as a 1948 JD 594 hay rake on steel wheels.

Those JD 594's simply do not leave any hay behind. If I leave some hay behind it is because I mis-drove in a curve or something else my fault.

I will admit that back when I was using a bush hog as an improvised hay cutter that I would get some hay loss not at the rake but at the baler due to not having the super-sweep pick up design on the baler.The bushog would cut some shorter pieces that would get missed by a standard baler pick-up that likely would have been baled had the baler had the super sweep.
 
Back in the dark ages, when gas was thirty cents, and you could find a kid to run the tractor for small money, or because Dad said he had to, we used to rake over everything with a dump rake. I used to expect ten percent of whatever the field yielded on the initial baling.

Also used to hand mow and rake the edges of the fields,and around all the obstructions. I don't remember what that amounted to, it depended on the shape of the field, and the straightness of the borders.
 

i don't think there's enough hay left in my fields to sustain a rabbit when i am done baling.
I don't use a rake but i do have a mega wide pickup(home build) on my 605 D Vermeer baler.
Some time a dust devil comes trough and scatters a bit hay but that does not amount to much.

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I grow oat hay. I am finding I get a better crop volunteer
than if I buy seed due to higher quality 2 nd gen seed.
So when I leave hay on the ground I am leaving a lot of
seed and returning organic matter to the soil.
 
Usually not took much left in our fields either but this year there seems to be a bit more than usual left. It's been a long year here and the hay is very thick. Combine that with a rookie driver and a little is missed here & there. But overall the new driver wasn't too bad.

Got more hay laying and now we might finally get a bagger to chop what's left. Only about 1/3 through our 1st crop.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
When we got done with a 20 acre field you could not get enough to make 1 or 2 little bales.

We used a NH bar rake and later a wheel rake. Both did a good job.

Gary
 
Bison, could you explain your comment that you don't rake? And possible share a pic of pickup? It is a weather thing that allows you to bale without raking? Tnks.
 
(quoted from post at 18:38:34 07/11/14) Bison, could you explain your comment that you don't rake? And possible share a pic of pickup? It is a weather thing that allows you to bale without raking? Tnks.
I cut with a 14' feet haybine,the windrows it leaves are 5 1/2' wide and perfect for my 6' wide pickup baler.My hay is alfalfa/grass mix and straight meadow brome.
If it stays dry I can usually bale the alfalfa/grass up in 3 to 5 days right out of the swath, the meadow brome often on the second day after cutting.I am all by myself putting up 300 acre/year. I like it simple, i ain't looking for extra work.

All my neighbors use V wheel rakes and roll 2 or 3 swaths together. They can bale a day sooner than me but the extra cost and losses aren't worth it in my opinion.
When we get rain on it before baling the hay they have a 'ell of a time getting it dry whereas i go in with the combine pickup and just fluff it up in the morning and often go bale in the afternoon, i find it dries just as fast as with raking and i can do it more than once if need be. I never lost a hay crop yet even after repeated rain.Last year was a bad year for making hay, the quality was not that great but it was still decent hay.
The neighbors lost a couple fields though.
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I use a couple different types of rakes, but I have to say the best one of them, as far as getting every last bit of hay, is the old IH 4 bar rake.

It's slow of course, but I love using it in small fields when time isn't a big factor. It's also finicky, you've got to keep all those stripper bars aligned. But when it's set up right, it runs so quietly and does a great job.

It scours the ground.

I'd have to think just because your rake is old doesn't mean it can't work well. Might just need to be adjusted properly - and used properly. A lot of those old rakes were designed to be pulled by horses, and some had an optional gear to use when pulled by a tractor.

You don't mention the type of rake.
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Honestly, when I try to get every last stick of hay off the ground is when I break stuff, turn too sharp, get too close to whatever.

So I just let a little bit go and call it an offering to the machinery gods.
 
Both. There aren't any Chinese teeth for my rake and hay prices here aren't like what you guys get. I'm on the very high end at 3.50-4$ per bale. Still lots selling at 2.25
 

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