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Implement Alley Discussion Forum

raking

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daddyj

06-17-2005 19:19:30




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Can you rake a field wrong? I started in the middle with the idea that when I got to the outside I would be finished and could go right out the gate. I heard at the filling station that they were making fun of me. Am I the first to think of this?




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wolfman

06-18-2005 17:30:43




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
Rakes tend to rake with less fuss if it follows the mower & catches the heads of the material first. This was especially true & necessary before tedders, discbines, etc, Let the rake grab the heads first & your windrows will have leaves in center & stems out for better drying. Rake won't have to be quite as low to catch heads first either which saves teeth. This being said, rake any way you want.

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BobMo

06-19-2005 05:22:24




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 Re: raking in reply to wolfman, 06-18-2005 17:30:43  
This is very true wolfman and is the very reason I don't use my tedder unless necessary. I never ted just to dry hay if rain isn't eminate. Leaves to much in the field and I don't care how good your rake is. Easiest & cleanest raked is sickle cut but thats history..



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jimont

06-18-2005 10:00:33




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
Around here,we usually "open" a field by cutting 6 rounds around the perimeter,letting it cure then baling it. The rest of the field is then cut length-ways (not round & round) which makes any needed raking much easier. We cut 6 rounds because we use a NH inverter which tends to lengthen the windrows as it empties. The resulting longer windrow makes turning with a thrower-equiped baler rather tight unless you have the extra room provided by the extra rounds. Hope I've made myself clear.

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KIrkMn

06-18-2005 06:56:18




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
My dad always did toward the center. Then usually left the rake there if there was no more hay to rake. If he had another field to do he would rake one windrow from the center to the gate figuring to bale that one as the baler leaves the field.



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KIrkMn

06-18-2005 06:55:21




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
My dad always did toward the center. Then usually left the rake there if there was no more hay to rake. If he had another field to do he would rake one windrow from the center to the gate figuring to bale that one as the baler leaves the field.



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BobMo

06-18-2005 06:21:09




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
I'll put in my 2 cents for what its worth. I think there are a number of variables that go into raking, such as the equipment you use, how heavy your crop is, the layout of the field and the fields topography.
Personally because of all these things and I use an accumulator I like to rake around the field, 1 in and 2 out which gives me turning room at the end of straight rows. Since my crop is heavy I can never get more then 2 cutter swaths into 1 windrow but I use a 12 ft. cutter. Then when baling I bale the outside 1st and then every 3rd windrow to keep from making short turns. That being said everyone should do what works best for them. Good Luck to all.

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Allan in NE

06-18-2005 06:10:17




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
Daddyj,

The most forward thinkers of our species have always listened to their own thoughts instead of the mob.

Sounds to me like you know exactly what you are doing.

Allan



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no.2

06-18-2005 06:07:09




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
Several years back I had my sisters son help me make hay. When he first started raking he managed to do some things I had never seen before or since. He seemed to know how to put the hay in the ditches and fence rows. He made some large duddles in the middle of a long straight windrow and could pile more hay in the corners than I had ever seen. He got really good at it after a few days and still to this day he says raking hay for me expanded his vocabulary!

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Loren

06-18-2005 09:01:52




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 That's a good one. in reply to no.2, 06-18-2005 06:07:09  
I have yet to achieve that level of raking expertise. I suprise myself once and a while and accomplish at best a couple of these feats in one session but mostly I finish with only one "extra" feature to a ride. :>)



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KEH

06-18-2005 05:21:34




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
I agree with Leland and bdpayne. I am amused by some of the posts from the areas that have nice flat retangular fields about how to rake. Here in upper SC the fields are very irregular with terraces left over from growing cotton with mules so we have to do the best we can. If I get into a retangular field I like to start at one side about a rake width from the side (10 wheel v rake) and rake parallel rows, then make 2 rows around the field to clean up the hay in the turns. Then bale the outside first and whichever windrows that the tractor and baler will turn easily into.
KEH

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paul

06-17-2005 23:57:47




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
Whatever works.

I spiral in, spiral back out. This is raking 3 passes together. Then the next day I spiral in again to roll the damp bottom to the top.

I have a hitch on my 3pt, so I can lift the rake pretty high & drive out a corner without messing up the windrows too much.

Of late I mostly cut & rake back & forth so it works out good.

--->Paul



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Leland

06-17-2005 21:48:12




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
As long as all the hay goes in the baler who gives a rats rump how you raked it al long as you like it.



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bdpayne

06-17-2005 20:28:04




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
What ever work so you can pick it up with the baler. It dosent mater how you rake just if you can pick it up after.
Brad



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msb

06-17-2005 20:20:42




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
So You think outside the box! Don't be to concerned as to what "the guys down at the filling station" say.I like your idea.It would keep from throwing the first windrow against the fence.Sounds like you just may be more intelligent that the sum total of those loafers. Sometimes I just unhook the rake in the middle of the field and leave it there so I don't mess up the windrows.



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txgrn

06-17-2005 19:53:04




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
I think about how I am going to bale when I rake since that is why you rake.

So I like to heap up my "windrows" as much as possible based upon whether I'm roundin or squarin, and I like to move them as far to the outside as I can since there is more room there. So I usually rake the way I cut which is also the way I bale. I may combine 2 or as many as 6 swath rows into one windrow before baling.

Once in the windrow, the dryness of the hay determines how many times I have to roll it over to get it dried before baling. But when I roll it over I roll it back and forth, not in one direction.

Mark

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Nebraska Cowman

06-17-2005 19:26:00




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 Re: raking in reply to daddyj, 06-17-2005 19:19:30  
No you are not the first. It has been done before, in fact some prefer to do it that way.



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