Kuhn Rotary rake 3 point hitch Vs. trailed model

[North Georgia]

Consideering buying a Kuhn rotary rake (for use in hybrid bermuda to eliminate clumps and irregular windrows) .What are advantages or disadvantages of 3 point hitch hook up vs. trailed model? Tractor HP is not an issue. Thanks..

 

[Tx Jim]

My neighbor has a Krone rotary rake and if Kuhn makes the same type peaked( V shaped) windrow I wouldn't have one. I take my H&S hi-capacity 14 wheel rake any day. My rake has no clumps/irregular windrows similar to the fold in the air(butterfly) wheel rakes that the hay must go under the frame to reach the raking wheels. My rake windrows required very little weaving of baler to make a level rd bale.

 

[MFRED]

To each his own. Only place I would take a wheel rake over a rotary is the scrap yard. Your neighbor needs to read his owners manual or ask for help if he can't make a good windrow.

Three point is going to take a bigger tractor, not for horsepower, but because it's heavier hanging off the back so a light front end may come into play. I like the 3pt for showing inexperienced operators that want to help (the wife) how to rake. If they get screwed up while doubling or something, just pick it up & turn around or backup. Not as easy with a trailed. Actually caught the wife making trips around the field once cause she missed the row with a pull type. That said, I think it's easier to setup the pull type to follow the ground for different tractors if you switch at all. No that the 3pt can't, just a tad easier on the pull type.

 

[Tx Jim]

MFRED
Can your Kuhn rake build a 4ft wide flat windrow? What width will your rake cover in one pass?

 

[R W]

Pull type is more convenient to hook up and is much better to use.

 

[MFRED]

I don't have a Kuhn. I have a Krone 46t. They call it 15ft working width, if I spread the curtain it'll do more if the bottom hay and ground is dry so i can pile it on top. With the curtain spread I have no problem filling the width of the pickup on my round baler in silage hay. For dry, first cut, I can't put much more than that in a windrow and put it through a small square anyway. Doubling second cut rows is about perfect too. I think I'm going to get a double rotor trailed next year. The kind you can do 2 single or one big double in one pass. I've been doing more late third cut and a doubled swath with that would save fuel and time. I tried one last year and it was a big time saver.

Up here a flat windrow isn't always realistic. Our baling window is generally shorter. We generally tighten up the curtain and stack the hay high so the wind can get through it to finish drying. Allows us to start raking a few hours earlier without another pass from the Tedder.

I know wheel rakes are popular out west. They're cheap and wide. Cover a lot of ground without the input costs, but around here you couldn't give one away. Silage rounds are taking over for those that don't put it through a harvester. Those boys don't like dirt and rocks going through their half million dollar machines.

 

[Tx Jim]

The Krone that my neighbor raked with had 8 or 10 thin looking lawnmower type tires that I sure wouldn't care try to keep aired up. Down here in the Texas desert Mesquite sprouts pop up in hay fields regularly. Evidently he doesn't know how to adjust this rake because the windrows peaked up similar to a tepee and his rd bales resembled the shape of a whiskey barrel. I heard this Krone rake cost $30K which takes a lot of baling to justify. My rake cost $9K back in 2001 but it's now raked 1000's of acres.

 

[MFRED]

Tx Jim, I think you need to go give your neighbor some haying lessons. Even with a small or tepee windrows one should be able to make good bales. I would be curious to watch him bale. Probably an arrow chaser. Egg shaped and Whiskey barrell bales are made by the operator not the machine.

He must have a double rotor rake? The 710T double I tried was 25K so it must be the bigger 810T? The little wheels are tubed so it isn't as bad as a lawnmower. I check mine in the spring and that's the only time I ever have to adjust pressures. All the wheels help it follow the ground and keep up with uneven spots better.

How wide is your wheel rake? Do you do just dry rounds? Any Small Squares? Do you guys have to ted your hay or just rake it over? I hear that folks south of the mason Dixon don't know what a tedder is where up here everyone has one.

 

[Tx Jim]

I agree hay baler operator error is the cause of ill shaped bales BUT windrow shapes sometimes can't be over come very easy. A wider flat windrow is easier to bale a good bale than a narrow/peaked windrow. This is coming from someone that sold/delivered/demonstrated rd balers since there introduction to also include custom baling way over 100,000 bales. I have to watch my 79 yr old rake tractor driver so he doesn't rake more than 3 cutter widths. If he rakes 3.5 cutter widths it near impossible to get rd bales 100% level. I know what a tedder is and it's use but normally not required where I live although tedders are used 100 miles east of me. I normally cut Coastal then let it lay the next day then rake & bale the following day weather permitting. My rake will rake close to 28 ft wide(14 wheel). I normally bale mostly rds but have done as many as 5000 sq's in a yr. It just depends on my customers needs. Plus with my growing older and being disabled I mostly now just bale my neighbors. Tubed tires and Mesquite thorns don't get along. On the part about instructing my neighbor some "greenhorns" think they know more than I know so I don't waste my time.

 

[corl]

I like and have always used the pull type rake. It fits on just about any size tractor and is easy on/off and easily moved from place to place. I always used my pickup truck to move it from farm to farm on the open road @ 30-35mph. Lots faster than dragging it with a tractor. Farms are about 10 miles apart. The round baler gets dragged by the tractor. Have mower/conditioners on both farms. The hay is so heavy here that you only double rake late in the season.