30 Mar Raking Lucerne
Our track record is uncontestable in the pros and cons of front raking and not driving over the crop when raking, which is especially important for delicate crop types. We’ve spent 2 years working with our customers directly, and have been a part of many more front rake sales and demonstrations than anyone else in NZ.
Agronic rakes have a unique difference because they lift and sweep the crop rather than sweep then lift. This gives them a unique edge in the following crops:
Lucerne:
Less energy is needed when you first lift the crop then sweep it into a row. Plus the leaf isn’t dragged over the coarse stubble.
Oaten Hay:
Because there are very low levels of moisture in the lower stem of oats, it isn’t until the greenness goes out of each stem that oats can be baled with a big square baler. With moisture down at approximately 10%, and sometimes lower, the crop is then at a very delicate stage for raking ahead of baling, its only at these moisture levels that a large square baler will bale the crop.
Any driving over the crop or rowing up with a rotary steel tine rake will cause crushing and disintegration of the crop.
So how do we get around this, front raking comes into its own even if not using the baler in combination. By the time the headlands have been driven over by a tractor in front of a rake the damage is done, after 10 days of crop on the ground (depending where in NZ or Australia you farm) you’ve already invested 80% of costs, sowing, fertilising, spraying and mowing. In some cases a further pass through an accelerator.
How do you do the 2 final things that are critical in baling oaten hay?
The Agronic WRT 900 has a unique design
- Each rake is designed with a vertical center-pivot pin in the middle section of the frame just in front of where the rotors fold and unfold. Best practice in oats baled for hay is to move 2 rows together to form a row which is then baled. In New Zealand common practice for silage and baleage is 3 rows, which turns the outer 2 rows onto the center row and doesn’t actually shift the center mower swath.
- This pivot hydraulically operated allows the operator to sit the tractor wheels clean over the front disc mower row TO THE LEFT OR RIGHT and pick up the next row through offsetting the rake beam and running the rake in a crab steer mode, rather than sitting on top of 2 bar mower rows and crushing the stems as the tractor drives over them.
Another benefit is that these 2 mower rows are gently shifted across onto clear ground, inverting the crop and getting it onto open and warm ground for the final drying stage, this is very effective if raking in stony soils and proven & tested on farms in the south island growing oaten hay for the export market.
If you want to know more, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0800 894 171 or click here to email us.