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SW Montana | Just curious what everyone likes or uses when they have double raked a field for dry baling and then get it rained on. Have tried an H&S fluffer/turner but it struggles a little with the big rows. Not many turners I know of for that big of a row either. Any ideas? |
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ok | I've used a single rake just the rear section and flipped it up on its side. Just enough to get wind to blow under it. Around here its been a long time since we've had big heavy rained on rows to worry about tho. |
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SW Montana | yeah we have some 3 ton alfalfa hay with two 16' rows raked together and had a good rain overnight |
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Northern CA | I have been in this situation many times. One of the best tools is not made anymore, a Harrell inverter. It has a baler pickup on it and then the hay lands on a bed with three chains and teeth that move it over and flop it upside down. Second, choice is getting harder to come by also, an older smaller tractor with a two or three wheel rake, usually a Darf, mounted on the front of the tractor offset to the right. When neither of those options are available, a hydraulic driven basket rake where one uses just one side of it opened up to flip the doubled row. This is usually what we use now. I have tried demoing / borrowing the H&S Hay Machine. I have not been impressed. |
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| Ouch! |
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SW Montana | yeah we have used our r2800 with one side turning it, it works ok. I see they sell a kit to leave one side folded in. I thought the H&S hay machine actually did a little better. |
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Eastern Colorado | We tried a new holland hay inverter and it was a waste of time on big windrows. We just use one side of our darf rake and roll it over. It's a pain either way with double raked windrows that get rained on. |
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| We just use are Tedder and throw them back out seems to dry faster that way. I hate when this happens |
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SW Ohio | X100 on tedder, that is what they are for. nother option would be a rotary rake. |
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North Central IN | Yep, I can't get my finger/wheel rake to turn it if it's wet. Ted it out or rake with a rotary. |
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Pasco WA. | The hydraulic drive basket rake is the best option. They handle large windrows a lot better than the 3 wheel darf turners. I had a couple od H & S turner fluffers. Traded them for another rake one year when I discovered that the hay dried lots faster behind the rake than behind the H&S. What you want to do is let the row dry as much as possible, then turn it over so the bottom can finish drying. |
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| Used a round baler many times. Open the gate half way and run through it. Fluffs things up good so it can dry out. |
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se wi | 4 rotor tedder. Drive down the middle, the inner rotors divide it in half and the outer rotors spread it out. |
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Elmira, Ontario | Hurricane - 7/13/2014 09:12 Used a round baler many times. Open the gate half way and run through it. Fluffs things up good so it can dry out. I was going to suggest "forage harvester" but your method might obtain better results! |
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| Tedder works well, I've had to use it in the past. Neighbor used a flail mower, he said it worked fine. This year I had 75 feet first cutting in a row waiting for the chopper. Got 11 inches on it in 5 days. I used our rotary rake and peeled half one way and half the other way. |
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Davison, Michigan | Happened to us before like others said we just spread out again with Tedder. |
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Eastern Colorado | I forgot about that. I know a guy that had a old 530 JD baler and he took the gate off and used it just for that purpose. Looked like it worked good. |
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Chilliwack, British Columbia | Had this happen a few year ago to a neighbour, he ran his discmower over it, the flail conditioner fluffed it up good, also stayed in a row for a chopper to pickup.
GLenn |
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Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot | 3 wheel Darf turning rakes work well, but usually we just use one side of the hydraulic basket rakes since they do a fine job and are already there in the field, ready to go. I've never been impressed with the HS hay machine fluffers. Like was mentioned above, the key is waiting until the top is well dried before flipping them over. Either an Allen or Twinstar, they both work the same and work well, even in big windrows.
I've got a Kuhn SR112, and you can use one side of it to flip as well. It won't double or flip well in heavier hay though, get much over two ton and the windrows are just too big to manage well with it. It does a great job on lighter hay though. |
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Alberta, Canada | Well much depends on climate conditions. Currently in the heat wave were in and low humidity probably just the old NH roller bar rake and give it a good flip and sort of throw it apart. I find on the big double raked swaths the wheel rakes roll it some. If its poor drying condtions and really soggy like was mentioned ... get the tedder out and throw it a part as the quicker it drys out the less it deteriorates. We had great haying weather this month compared to some years when you can onlly bale .... 2hrs one day week!!! |
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Northern CA | If it is rained on alfalfa, there won't be a leaf left on it if you use a tedder |
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West Central Alberta Coldest, wettest edge | "here" a rained on double swath is almost a write off. Best success I've had is to fluff them up first to get air into the swath. We built a fluffer out of an old combine pickup. Baler usually just makes piles or plugs while trying to run very wet hay through while fluffing. Once they are drier, I attempt to separate them with a wheel rake, which usually creates big piles and a big mess, if that won't work, then I'll try turning them over together, but 6 feet of swath will not roll over without turning some wet side down again. I have added a batter board to the back of the rake to throw the windrow against so that it doesn't curl under again, if that makes any sense. Even if they roll over nicely, The edges of the swaths are inevitably still wet side down.
I expect you get somewhat warmer drier haying weather in Montana though. |
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central NM | Here's what we use other than some Twinstar basket rakes. Must be BIG windrows as the incoming hay pushes the outgoing hay. Kind of hard to get ground speed, pickup speed, coordinated, but does a good job of turning a big double raked windrow. AGLAND 7900 matador windrow turner. |
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Leesburg, Ohio | +1 |
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central NM | Here's pics of what we use besides Twinstar basket rakes. Works best on BIG windrows. Kind of hard to get groundspeed, and pickup tine speed coordinated. The incoming hay is what moves the outgoing hay so a constant speed helps prevent plugging.
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North Liberty and South Bend, Indiana | Round baler and an inline wrapper or a forage harvester. |
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SW Montana | That looks like a nice invertor, do they work well for you? A little sticker shock when I saw one on tractorhouse, 14,000. We have a forage harvestor but want the hay dry baled, in Montana we have no humidity and will be able to get it dry eventually. |
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central NM | Bought this one about 8 yrs ago. Around$6K I think. Thought it was too high then! Last three years here in NM had no dew for first and second cuts. Invested in Stahalie hay steamer. Does what they say it does but jury still out on cost vs. benefit. |
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West River, SD | I had this problem a couple weeks ago. I used one of our New Holland side delivery rakes to flip the windrows. It seemed to put the windrow on the same side, no matter what position the rake was in, BUT it did get the windrow off the ground and fluffed. Years like this, I wish I could find a used tedder somewhere somewhat close to here! |
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Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot | I used to fight flipping windrows (esp of heavy hay, like 4 ton) with an Allen rake until I figured out it is best to run it 'high', about halfway to the transport position. Won't tangle, just rolls over that way. Generally I drop it, and then as I'm starting out I'll keep raising it until it leaves a little hay, and then go back down. Makes a huge difference. |
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Best tool for rained on doubled hay windrows?
