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| More rain this summer then last year, so I have been turning over quite a bit of swathed hay to dry after rain, or hurry it up drying before rain.
What I have to use is an Allis Chalmers 5-bar side rake; written on the owner's manual is the purchase date in 1961. Our farm used to be 100% A/C ( except for the Oliver potato digger) in the 1950's, 60's., this is the last orange piece of equipment from that era that still gets regular use. The downside of the side rake is that to merely flip over a swath from a moco, your left hand tractor tires are driving directly over the swath all the time.
I thought the this year would be the year to modernize this operation. My uncle has a "tedder", with fingers to fluff up the hay and fling it backward, does it result in a swath of hay too wide for a 5' baler pickup, meaning I would have to side rake it anyways to gather it?
How about rotary rakes (single rotor), just for turning over a swath? Effective?
There are several of the New Holland swath flippers around, with the pickup and conveyor belt. But dad tried one years ago and found that it "bunged up" on the heaviest hay,, wouldn't move the hay to the belt.
Suggestions? Are there YouTube videos of rotary rakes in action, just flipping over (not gathering) swaths?
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Tell me about hay Tedders and Rotary Rakes
