Can you combine two alfalfa windrows when baling with a small baler?

[Trillium Farm]

I'll have to check that out. John Deere offers many of its manuals for free from their website but it looks like AGCO doesn't.

I'm thinking I shouldn't have any troubles with 2 windrows though.

Not in the least, it'll love those 2 windrows!

 

[svenlylethor]

I'm kinda digging up an old thread but I thought I'd give everyone some insight because this thread gets a lot of views.

my balers do take two windrows just fine - however for my first crop I had to go very slow (A1) on my tractor. That's about 1mph. My second and third crops were just fine, I did have the hairpin on one of the knotters fall off but other than that the baler worked fine. I just had to make sure (mainly on the first crop) that I wasn't going too fast on some of the spots so I wouldn't plug it.

I have an old NH 57 rake that I've been using and it was great - just had to adjust the 3 point hitch so it was parallel to the ground and didn't pick up rocks/dirt. I also decided that when working with small balers, I'm better off using a small rake to combine windrows instead of using a v-rake so I don't have to drive on top of my hay and shatter more leaves.

If you're raking alfalfa, make sure to rake it earlier on when you have at least 45% moisture so you don't shatter the leaves off. Also, raking early in the morning or at night time when you have dew reduces shattering as well.

 

[Trillium Farm]

I'm kinda digging up an old thread but I thought I'd give everyone some insight because this thread gets a lot of views.
my balers do take two windrows just fine - however for my first crop I had to go very slow (A1) on my tractor. That's about 1mph. My second and third crops were just fine, I did have the hairpin on one of the knotters fall off but other than that the baler worked fine. I just had to make sure (mainly on the first crop) that I wasn't going too fast on some of the spots so I wouldn't plug it.
I have an old NH 57 rake that I've been using and it was great - just had to adjust the 3 point hitch so it was parallel to the ground and didn't pick up rocks/dirt. I also decided that when working with small balers, I'm better off using a small rake to combine windrows instead of using a v-rake so I don't have to drive on top of my hay and shatter more leaves.
If you're raking alfalfa, make sure to rake it earlier on when you have at least 45% moisture so you don't shatter the leaves off. Also, raking early in the morning or at night time when you have dew reduces shattering as well.

The op has a rotary rake and a MF 1840 with these tools he'll be able to move along 5 times faster than you on 1st cut. The 1840 is a real mover!

 

[cat fever]

I cut with a 9' haybine and rake two rows together. The rows were a solid 4' wide and 18" tall. I did have to slow, low range 2nd gear. I bale with a NH 316 baler. Worked good, I had 90 pound bales. Don't want them that heavy again.

 

[svenlylethor]

The op has a rotary rake and a MF 1840 with these tools he'll be able to move along 5 times faster than you on 1st cut. The 1840 is a real mover!

Oopsy when I said rotor I meant rotor mower - it's 11.5 feet wide I think. I have a NH 57 bar rake that I use for my raking. The MF is my dad's and I never take it to my farm. He already lets me use his tractors so I don't want to push my luck with him. I have the old NH 570 but I go pretty slow on it - luckily I only have 20 acres to play with so I don't mind going a bit slower to make sure I don't get a breakdown.

To be honest, I can push the MF a little more but sometimes the swivels get all plugged up with hay and it ends up shattering more alfalfa leaves in the process. no idea why that happens. It does give a little more uniform bales than the NH though.