- Location
- Shropshire
Anybody got one and care to share opinions on it?
Mzuri Rezult with discs
- Thread starter JD6920s
- Start date
- Location
- Shropshire
Obviously not sold any of those then!
I tried one. It's basically a Claydon with a row of discs for more soil disturbance. Not a bad bit of kit & you can adjust both elements separately.
My only criticism is that the discs ought to be at the back - the discs ride over straw lumps which wouldn't happen if they were behind the tines. I'm getting quotes for a 7.5m Claydon rake as well as a Rezult so it will be interesting to see what the discs cost extra. The tines are all bought in from Canada from a third party manufacturer for both machines.
My only criticism is that the discs ought to be at the back - the discs ride over straw lumps which wouldn't happen if they were behind the tines. I'm getting quotes for a 7.5m Claydon rake as well as a Rezult so it will be interesting to see what the discs cost extra. The tines are all bought in from Canada from a third party manufacturer for both machines.
- Location
- Shropshire
Did you buy a rake in the end, if so which one and why?
15m Claydon. I already have a Carrier for discing the top couple of inches. The wider rake was to get over the ground quicker, though the price was eye watering for something that doesn't do many hours each year. The ideal raking conditions are when it is hot and dry so the ability to do hundreds of acres/day for slug control, chitting the top 1/2 inch or spreading out straw lumps is worth a lot. I intend to hang onto it for a long time! I have a crap combine when it comes to even straw spreading so sometimes 2 passes are necessary 5-10 days apart to get something that will go through the drill.
- Location
- Shropshire
Excellent.
At least it will last a long time as there's nothing to go wrong with it and very little maintenance.
I suspect that in the future there will be lots of straw rakes parked in patches of nettles, along with tine weeders, paraploughs, rotavators etc. For now, it's a useful tool for residue management. My Carrier discs have been used regularly every year so the light disc + roller concept won't be considged to the scrapheap any time soon!
What is your conclusion based on what you've experienced so far? Will you splash out on one?
What is your conclusion based on what you've experienced so far? Will you splash out on one?
General-Lee
Member
- Location
- Devon
How many horses to pull that?!
depends how big the horses are ......
if anyones got a serviceable rotavator wasting in the nettles,......... im looking for one .......
- Location
- Shropshire
We actually have a 6m homemade one which we have been using since 2011, some years it's a job to fit raking in in the correct conditions but it is definitely a worthwhile job.
We also use an x press in certain situations but only very shallow, as in just the depth of the serrations to plug a bit of tilth out.
The rake is a must though for spreading and reducing the amount of straw, it's just that i need to be on that when I'm on the combine!!
200hp will be going pretty slowly on steep hills. Working speed is about 11-13 kph. Any faster than that and the frame starts to bounce and whip which soesn't bode well for the long term health of the metalwork IMO. The smaller mounted ones can go much faster. I don't know what Mzuri recommend for their Rezult. 200 - 400 acres/day is easy in big fields without deep ruts.
Width x speed /10 = spot rate. Multiply by field efficiency and you have a daily work rate A 6m rake @ 15 kph will do 6.3 ha/hr @ 70% field efficiency. A 7.5m rake will do 7.7 ha/hr at the same. A 15m one @ 13 kph will do 12.6 ha/hr.
12 m rake we consider >200hp the minimum, so 15m will be >250hp. If properly working it will "stall" a 300hp tractor.
frame bouncing: not only that but also how to keep the tines in working position when turning around? So all wider works better as trailed units.
rakes nettle parking: Yes, it's already beginning. A lot of 3-point are on the used market, never see a trailed unit on it hardly, at least over here.
York-Th.
frame bouncing: not only that but also how to keep the tines in working position when turning around? So all wider works better as trailed units.
rakes nettle parking: Yes, it's already beginning. A lot of 3-point are on the used market, never see a trailed unit on it hardly, at least over here.
York-Th.
SorenIlsoe
Member
- Location
- Fjenneslev, Denmark
300 HP!!! Now things goes crazy. I thought that Conservation Agriculture would mean smaller tractors and less machinery? What should that tractor do the rest of the year, when you can pull a 6m drill with 150hp. Maybe then a large tine cultivator working in 30cm depth will be needed to justify the investment in a 300 hp tractor
General-Lee
Member
- Location
- Devon
Fish
Member
- Location
- North yorkshire
On the subject of speed and straw rakes, we found last year using our home made rake, that the faster you went the better the job.
We now pull ours at 22/27 kph with a 300 hp tractor, not because we need the power, although the tractor knows it's there, it's because the tractor has an air suspension cab and double wishbone front suspension which allows the pilot to travel at these speeds with out being pitch about in the cab.
We tried the rake on a 125 hp tractor, which could only make 10-12 kph and IMO that is just not fast enough.
We now pull ours at 22/27 kph with a 300 hp tractor, not because we need the power, although the tractor knows it's there, it's because the tractor has an air suspension cab and double wishbone front suspension which allows the pilot to travel at these speeds with out being pitch about in the cab.
We tried the rake on a 125 hp tractor, which could only make 10-12 kph and IMO that is just not fast enough.
I agree about the speed improving the quality of the job - the boiling effect of the straw is much better but you're limited by how smooth your fields are & how deep the tramlines are. For a mounted machine without land wheels the tines are good suspension but on a trailed it's much more sensitive to bouncing.
You need to look at this in context. 300 hp doing 200ha/day on a 15m wide rake drinking 38 litres/hour of fuel is very different to 300 hp doing 20 ha/day pulling a 5m tillage train drinking 68 litres/hour. If you're pulling a 6m strip till drill (or Cross Slot) then you'll need all those horses later on.
My current establishment system is rake twice then drill with a 6m Claydon Hybrid on 370 hp. Approx time 24 minutes/ha including rolling. Before, it was a 5m Topdown at 35 ha/day pulled by 370 hp, 8.2m Carrier pulled by 200 hp at 60 ha/day then 6m Rapid easily pulled by the 370 hp tractor. Approximate time 43 minutes/ha including rolling. Savings? 1 less tractor, 425 hours per machine. I haven't fully worked out the actual cost saving/ha achieved yet but as you say, cost per hour worked has gone up. Total cost has gone down, so I'm happy enough. Swap the strip till drill for an ultra low disturbance drill like the 750A and less hp is required.
There aren't many true no tillers using a straw rake, preferring minimal disturbance but using cover crops and very good straw choppers, so although the energy and time input is much reduced they are drilling the farm twice/year plus the cover crop seed costs, for improved soil biology worked harder to replace what you'd spend in steel and carbon.
The question was 15m straw ake, not which size I can pull with a 150hp tractor.
It's always the direction of perspective.....
Our experience with a >dozen of straw rakes, 9 & 12m & all trailed just resulted in what I shared. Min. speed is >15km/h to make a straw rake work properly. All other is "recreational tractor moving" & not working.
Straw distribution: you can only distribute straw when you fill the rake up & keep it full. Like with a grader. For this you have to keep the rake down from entering the field to finishing it. Will see if I find a picture of a, according to our experience, propperly working rake.
If in doubt, just use some flurosensing liquid, spray it on the stubble on a stri, rake & see how far it was moved. You will be surprised of how little distance you where able to move the straw.
this could be a project for a student's home work or a BASE meeting. Can be done with little investment involved. If you need co funding of industry I doubt you will get some......
York-Th.
It's always the direction of perspective.....
Our experience with a >dozen of straw rakes, 9 & 12m & all trailed just resulted in what I shared. Min. speed is >15km/h to make a straw rake work properly. All other is "recreational tractor moving" & not working.
Straw distribution: you can only distribute straw when you fill the rake up & keep it full. Like with a grader. For this you have to keep the rake down from entering the field to finishing it. Will see if I find a picture of a, according to our experience, propperly working rake.
If in doubt, just use some flurosensing liquid, spray it on the stubble on a stri, rake & see how far it was moved. You will be surprised of how little distance you where able to move the straw.
this could be a project for a student's home work or a BASE meeting. Can be done with little investment involved. If you need co funding of industry I doubt you will get some......
York-Th.
You can pull a decent sized lump of unchopped straw a long way after a careless baler driver has left some. You're right - most chopped straw doesn't go far but as long as it is far enough so tines can work freely afterwards and residues are spread evenly that's what the rake is for really, with side benefits of slug egg and small weed destruction.