Seeking some hay harvesting advice (a little long)

I currently grow close to 20 acres of perennial peanut. I am located in North Florida, not far from the Ga. Border. I grew up working on a hay farm, but it was coastal bermuda and I didnt have much say so in the hows and whens of cutting.
You guys might not be familiar with this type of hay. It"s a great hay for this hot, sandy soiled area: no nitrogen input, drought resistant, no pests to speak of. It is thin stemmed and leafy, like alfalfa. It only grows 1-2 feet tall. The best part is it sells for $8-$12 a 60lb bale to horse and goat people (nutrient quality is like alfalfa, which doesnt grow here) Thanks to the storms Beryl and Debby, it"s had plenty of moisture, so ready to harvest.

I tested a few acres with my new to me NH 488: It didn"t cut as low as my old disc mower, even with the shoes all the way up. Weather has been in the 90"s and relatively low humidity for Fl. and a good breeze. I mowed Friday after the dew burned off and it was ready to bale late yesterday with my JD 436.

Here"s my questions / observations:

I think the higher cut let it sit on the stubble and dry faster, even though I may have lost some hay?

My JD side delivery rake leaves half the hay on the ground, it has all its teeth and set where it sweeps through the stubble, but not in the dirt. I have to rake it like 3 times to just get 80% of the hay. Would a v-type rake serve me better with thinner nature of my hay?

I can"t seem to get consistent bales, they are all the same size, but same are marshmallowS and some are bricks. Is this likely due to the windrow being inconsistent?

Sorry for the long post, just trying to learn as much as I can from all of y"all with so much experience. Any help or observations would be greatly appreciated.

John

Try to rake in the same direction as you have cut the hay, and see if your rake works better.

Your JD rake. Does it have four or five cross bars??? I have not had issues with a good five bar rake leaving much hay on the ground. If it only has four cross bars the end wheels have the holes to make it a five bar if it is not too old a model.

I am not sure a wheel rake would work that well in your area. They ride right on the ground. They also tend to twist the hay into a rope. In high humidity areas they do not work the best. In just grass or even grass mixed hay they work OK. In heavy alfalfa in areas with high humidity they make a mess.

The rotary rakes work well but they are more costly. In real thin hay they can leave a fair amount too.

Post us a picture of your rake maybe we can help you figure out what is the problem.

John,

I have seen the perinnial peanuts at the farm show at Moultrie, GA, but have no personal experience with it since it is not suited to upstate SC with our clay soils. I'm surprised the 488 dosen't cut it as close as you want it to, I used to run a 469 and it would cut close. If there is an adjustment to do it you might tilt the cutterbar a little more forward. If not, just plan on getting quicker plant growth to cut next time. If that hay dosen't have to be conditioned, I would prefer a disc mower.

I've used a NH side delivery rake and now have a 10 wheel v rake. The v rake gets more hay up but gets everything, trash and all which might not be a good idea for your horse customers. However, with a good clean crop of that peanut hay there shouldn't be much trash. Before you give up on the JD rake I would try setting it so the teeth are just tipping the ground. There also may be something out of adjustment with the rake, check the manual.

Not familiar with the JD baler you mentioned. Are you sure it's not a 346? Anyway, the misshapen bales sound like improper adjustment of the baler. Some of the older NH balers would not make good bales unless the windrow was big, I had a NH 67 that did that, but present day balers are supposed to make good, consistent bales regardless otf tthe size of the windrows, specially JD balers. I know someone with a JD 336 and it makes perfect bales. I would check the baler manual for adjustments and try bigger windrows.

KEH

I have never seen perennial peanut, but from the description of your crop and cut, I can picture your JD rake fighting six inch tall stubble for six inch long pieces of thin stems, and having a tough time of it. It would be like me trying to rake six inch long second cut pieces of grass through six inch first cut stubble with rake tines six inches apart. IT JUST AIN"T GONNA HAPPEN! I know that some of your tines are closer than six inches. My rake is probably the same as yours. My tines are in pairs, about three inches apart, with about six inches between pairs. My rake is a few miles away but I believe that it has holes which are not in use that allow for different spacing patterns. If it doesn't have more holes, if I were in your situation I would make some, or adjust the hitch on the tractor and or mower to get your header closer to the ground.

Is there an adjustment to tilt the rake teeth forward, to have it lift the hay better..??

Must be some pretty high stubble...

Ron..

I would suggest that your rake needs adjusting; is there a local farmer who could look at what you're doing/advise you? In addition to lots of other kinds of hay, I grew about 100 acres of sudex (sorghum/sudan grass hybrid) per year for a lot of years. The first cutting (or two), it was always cut about 6 inches high, so it would come back quicker. At one time or another, I used 5 different rakes of 4 different types. Sudex is much 'slicker/more stemmy' than peanut hay and I never had a minutes trouble raking it. Can you ask a local 'expert' to advise you?

I have a John Deere pto rake that started life as a 4 bar and I made a 5 bar out of it. I make a lot of grass hay and it was leaving a fair amount of the fine grass. I was noticing that it was trying to push the grass through the stubble, the cure was to put all new teeth on it, most of the curve on the end of the teeth was wore off, after that I noticed right away it had the hay up off the stubble and in the air, it's a hay raking SOB now!!

If you have a leafy crop you sure don't want to be raking it multiple times. Once and once only.
36 hours drying time for leafy hay is too little. Do you have a moisturs tester? If not, get one. One that you can test bales and windrows.
When did you rake the hay. Rule of thumb is to rake when it is damp, early am or late pm, when top half is cured and bottom half is some green. Was it conditioned?
Getting light and heavy bales is bad. The heavy ones will mold. Tell your buyers to feeed those right away.
Your windrows have some hay that is ready to bale and some that is not.
Adjust that rake down so that it will throw rocks off a gravel road and then up three turns of the crank.

I would guess it wasnt all dry enough to bale after only 1 day and thats why you had bricks some of the time. You need a consistent windrow carefully raked so the side that was down is on top after rakeing. Wish we would have gotten some rain from debby in so. Wisconsin.

As others have said angle the teeth so they get under the hay better. Look at the teeth and see if they still have the "hook" on the end. A lot of older rekes have worn the teeth so they are straight and will not pick up the hay but push it along the ground. They will work alright in good conditions but will leave stems if the conditions are right. As said before some rakes have extra holes for tooth spacing. I have seen customers put teeth in every hole. It costs more for teeth but nothing gets left behind. As to bale density it sounds like the heavier hay isn't ready to bale yet. Give it another day and see if it's better.

We cut our Coastal Bermuda hay field with a <a href="http://youtu.be/0k4WKe-FaEE">JD 350 sickle mower</a> and let it "cure out" at least three days.

Both the inner shoe and outer shoe are set to the highest position with about a 6 inch cut.



We use a <a href="http://youtu.be/PlcFC8Di37s">JD 640 side delivery hay rake</a> with four bars and all available rake teeth.

The teeth are set about 2 inches off the ground; just enough room to slide my hand between them and the ground.

We only rake once in the direction the grass was cut and it will put 99% of the hay into the windrow.

We use a <a href="http://youtu.be/04ZryimcOHY">KRONE 125 4x4 baler</a> only on the Coastal Bermuda hay field; Nancy can "handle" the smaller bales much easier.

Bale density is a primary key to consistent bale weight.

Check your operator's manual for setting the bale density on your JD 346 baler.

Adjust the settings as necessary until you get the bale weight you want.

Weave back and forth across the windrow to get consistent shaped bales.

Thanks to all on the advice. I have replaced all the teeth on my rake, a 5-bar JD very similar or identical to James Howell"s. I will check that it is adjusted to lift the hay as much as possible. I will focus on making the rake work, as I"ve put a lot of money into bearings and teeth!

I think you guys are right on the money about inconsistent moisture levels when I rake it. I may borrow a neighbors tedder and experiment on a small piece with tedding after a day. Even when dry, the leaves really resist being pulled off the stem, so I think it is resistant to shattering. When I go to rake, the top of the field is crispy brown with varying moisture levels as you go down in the cut hay. The conditioner has made a huge difference in drying. It may need to sit in windrows for a little longer, so the stuff raked to the top has a chance to dry.

Thanks again for all your help, I will heed your advice.

JB check your book on the 488. I have to raise my shoes behind the cutter head to lower the front of cutter bar to the ground. If you lower them it lets the head tip back and raizes the front of cutter bar, at least on mine that happens. I know this doesnot sound right but that is what happens.