direction

jaydee · Jul 26, 2012

I have always understood that you should mow, rake and bale in the same directioin. Now what about after useing a haybine should the rake travel in the same direction, I just thought the way the hay flew through the rollers it wouldn"t matter much. What do you guys think?

Old Iron · Jul 26, 2012

I haven't seen any difference when putting up alfalfa with a haybine, V-rake, and big roundbaler.

In fact, I swath my hay going in one direction to the end of the field,... then turn around and cut the next swath going in the opposite direction.

I have a H&S High Capacity rack, and it's impossible to rake 2 windrows together in the same direction they were cut (the way I cut in a "back and forth" pattern).

Maybe if you were cutting hay with a sickle mower, the direction of raking and baling would make some difference in how things work,... but not with the equipment I use.

IaGary · Jul 26, 2012

Clear back to the sickel mower days of the 60's we doubled up the windrows. We would go in a circle skipping a rake pass on every round. When we got to the center we would turn around and throw the skipped pass into the windrow going the opposite direction.

Always did it this way with the mower conditioner as well.

Guess we were wrong for 50 years . But it worked fine without leaving any hay.

Maybe if the rake is junk it helps to go the same direction but we went any way with the rake, or baler for that matter, and never thought about.

keh · Jul 26, 2012

I've never paid any attention to the direction of cut when raking, and I've used sickle bar mowers, mower conditioners, and disc mowers. I've used an old JD rake with the 2 wheels in front and swivel wheels behind, a NH 55, and now a Vermeer wheel rake. They all get the hay raked when in good condition and the cows don't turn it down when the hay is good.

KEH

rrlund · Jul 26, 2012

The only time it matters to me is if the hay is down so there's a lot of stubble laying down.

Brendon-KS · Jul 26, 2012

Virtually all the farmers I've worked with using self-propelled windrowers always cut back and forth then rake two windrows together for their big balers. So, when raking, you're always rolling one of them against the way it was cut but I've never seen a situation where one windrow raked noticably cleaner than the other. Likewise, I've never seen a situation where the baler operator paid any attention to the direction the rake traveled. As others have said, the conditioner kind of ties the windrow together so it is probably different than if you were raking behind an old sicklebar mower.

VicS · Jul 26, 2012

When I was raking the other day, and it was 114, and the wind was blowing my windrows apart, I did think about it. I even made sure I raked some windrows the way they were mown. The hay was mown with a 8 ft drum mower and I was raking 3 of them together not touching the middle mower pass at all. My son is the baler, and he has never bragged on my raking ever! and he never bragged on the raking job when I went exactly the way it was mowed. lol Vic

jaydee · Jul 26, 2012

OK thanks guys! I will rake however it"s convenient from now on.

Sid · Jul 26, 2012

I do all three in the same direction. Things just seem to go smoother and those annoying little things that sometimes happen do not seem to happen as often.
I will not claim my hay is any better because of it but things sure do seem to go smoother because of it.

jackinok · Jul 27, 2012

I,my opinion,always did it the same. mostly because it was the easiest way to.pull in the gate drop your mower, of whatever kind.make one pass around outside ,turn around and keep cutting.simply was the way i always did it ,i dont know that it made a lot of difference.

Larry NEIL · Jul 30, 2012

f you use a tedder, whats" the differance as the tedder tosses it in every direction anyway.

dansuper27 · Aug 8, 2012

The only machine that cares about the direction is the baler and that is ONLY when you don"t rake the windrow. The windrow feeds into the baler smoother when going the same way as cut with a machine that puts it in a swath like a swather.
If you rake it makes no difference the direction you bale after that.
If you are using a big rake that pulls two windrows together then one swath will be against the cut.
If you rake with single windrow rake then follow the way it"s cut if you can.
The biggest thing to really watch out for is don"t rake or bale without some dew on or you lose the leaves.
All this is in Alfalfa which is all I grow. Could be different for Grass.

direction

jaydee

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Old Iron

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IaGary

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keh

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rrlund

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Brendon-KS

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VicS

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jaydee

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Sid

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jackinok

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Larry NEIL

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dansuper27

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