Which straw rake?

[martian]

Having fiddled about with a straw rake for two or three years, for me the question is not so much which, as: why straw rake? There are precious few windows for doing it at harvest time, good luck on a dewy morning with the student, it is going to make a mess. Goes best when the combine is flat out and tend to be a bit busy then. Got the odd bare patch in our crops behind where the combine stopped and straw/pea haulm etc heaped up, we call these sky lark nesting sites and move on.

Straw raking is a thankless job and borderline pointless most of the time. But if your idea of summer fun is trying to stay in your tractor seat hurtling up and down the field, then be my guest. I think because we've come out of a tillage culture, farmers feel they ought to be doing something at that time of year and it helps to justify holding onto lots of expensive tractor power.

 

[Brisel]

Having fiddled about with a straw rake for two or three years, for me the question is not so much which, as: why straw rake? There are precious few windows for doing it at harvest time, good luck on a dewy morning with the student, it is going to make a mess. Goes best when the combine is flat out and tend to be a bit busy then. Got the odd bare patch in our crops behind where the combine stopped and straw/pea haulm etc heaped up, we call these sky lark nesting sites and move on.

Straw raking is a thankless job and borderline pointless most of the time. But if your idea of summer fun is trying to stay in your tractor seat hurtling up and down the field, then be my guest. I think because we've come out of a tillage culture, farmers feel they ought to be doing something at that time of year and it helps to justify holding onto lots of expensive tractor power.

I see your point, but with a 35 ft combine header the straw spreading isn't perfect despite an all singing & dancing chopper with powered discs. I'd prefer to choose my own skylark plots, though it's a nice spin on a bare patch!

 

[Brisel]

You can get straw harrows for the front of a carrier
I have no idea what they are like or if they are effective.

I have seen these. My neighbour has them for their Carrier but they took them off for being "useless." I'll look into them & see if I could retrofit some to mine.

 

[nick channer]

For me stubble taking is the most important job there is
Tryin to pull the drill through wet straw left behind from baleing or on headlands where we've chopped the straw and baled the rest is no fun and makes what would be a good job look terrible
We spend hours then going over the drillin with rake tryin to sort the mess left by the drill!!
So just do it once and do it properly with the right bit kit is my advice!

 

[Niels]

@Rob Holmes: The T7.200 is about 160/170 hp unboosted as well. Can certainly have her grunt on the 7.5m Claydon. Also depends on the field as you say and conditions @Douglasmn mentions.

@average farmer We sometimes rake with a T7.200 and MF 6290. First has good suspension both cab and front axle. 650 tyres on a nice low pressure. Even when going 20 kph you don't notice a lot of the ruts. With the MF you will!

@martian I can understand your opinion about the straw harrow. I might help sell the Claydon harrow but, I think a straw harrow (in general) is a great tool for non-glyphosate farming. I'm not organic or into organic farming (find it a real eye opener sometimes though) but I DO believe there are strong possibilities glyphosate will be banned on the long term. With the 2 or 3 passes from the straw harrow you can harrow out volunteer rape and drill wheat into it. On some occasions have also seen stubble fields harrowed twice to kill weeds and then direct drilled with the Claydon. The following crop was relatively clean.

We now also use the harrow in the spring on winter wheat to incorporate muck and take out weeds. However, a proper weed harrow (Treffler) will do a better job as it has more tines to take small weeds out. Also use the rake to create tilth and cover seed post drilling when it's to wet for the rolls and use it for levelling potato 'stubble' and spread sugar beet leaf when wheat is direct drilled into it.

 

[RTK Farmer]

Sumo making a rake now, anyone tried it or did it miss last harvest.

 

[JACK F]

Not convinced by the rakes myself. Looked at a weaving one and had a demo from the sumo strake. Maybe just happened to be fields I tried but to me they did absolutely nothing worthwhile. Claydon drilled after and could see no difference in slug control, weed germination or crop establishment where we raked, sumo straked, sumo maxi disced or did a fast shallow scuffing with the power harrow or did nothing. Only doing part of farm with claydon at moment but will not be buying any rake type machine. Only time I would have really liked to try one would be to after the drill to helped close slots left by drill.

 

[SilliamWhale]

I do bale my straw so i may have a different perspective but don't need one.

After chopped beans and rape no need. Fr spring crops no need.

 

[Brisel]

@Niels - what you are referring to is taking broad leafed plants out of what will be or is a cereal. Mechanical tined weeders do something similar. Do you find that the rake pulls grasses/cereal volunteers out?

 

[tw15]

Personally i think rakes have a place in dd but the real problem is the fact that combine straw choppers and chaff spreaders are crap and i don't care what they claim it is almost impossible to throw straw and chaff up to 20 ft either side of a combine with a side wind. What is needed is a system to carry the chaff and straw out about 10 ft each side and then spread it, so you have say three spreaders each cover about 4 mtrs .
We could use trailed chaff carts and dump it in piles on the headland but then in a way that defeats the object of trying to put more organic matter back in.

 

[Green oak]

I think the rake was designed as a get out for poor combining. Then the sales pitch was slug control micro climate for blackgrass germination. I think there was a plot were they dyed 20sq metres and raked it and dyed area didn't move a great deal. Cheap simba x-press would be my choice, adjustable discs and go like the wind.

 

[Niels]

@Niels - what you are referring to is taking broad leafed plants out of what will be or is a cereal. Mechanical tined weeders do something similar. Do you find that the rake pulls grasses/cereal volunteers out?

No it won't touch them Brisel. Maybe a few but mainly broad leafed plants. If you have small volunteers (from a first chit with the rake) and the top inch is loose enough you can pull them out. A Carrier or Strake etc.. something a bit more aggressive would do a better job here but with all disc harrows so far I found they don't cut the ground 100% and can't take all weeds out. if you want a short disc harrow (Carrier type) to fully cultivate it needs to run at a depth of 5-7cm. I don't want that, as said previously, when you get a bit of rain it will turn into porridge and slow to dry out.

 

[SilliamWhale]

I think the rake was designed as a get out for poor combining. Then the sales pitch was slug control micro climate for blackgrass germination. I think there was a plot were they dyed 20sq metres and raked it and dyed area didn't move a great deal. Cheap simba x-press would be my choice, adjustable discs and go like the wind.

Or just get a drill to drill through it

 

[Brisel]

Such as?


Is that a really really stupid question??

 

[beardface]

I think the rake was designed as a get out for poor combining. Then the sales pitch was slug control micro climate for blackgrass germination. I think there was a plot were they dyed 20sq metres and raked it and dyed area didn't move a great deal. Cheap simba x-press would be my choice, adjustable discs and go like the wind.

Having been to North America where rakes come from most are used to help even out poor chaff spread mainly by John Deere combines to reduce chemical affects on emerging seedlings, to get a chit of weeds prior to winter frost kill and also mainly to create surface filth during wet times when soils surfaces are tight to help get better seed cover with direct drills and to dry the surface to allow seeding to be done a lot sooner (warming soils etc.). I'd say the biggest problem with the UK use is a lot of no till converts buy them and use on ex full cultivation land which in summer resembles concrete and moan that it didn't make a mark also the build of them is based around them being lighter and duly mounted to reduce cost and tractor requirement when most popular overseas rake brands are trailed and based around a solid box section frame to put more weight on the tines which helps penetration and to drag loose chaff and chopped straw along

 

[SilliamWhale]

Such as?


Is that a really really stupid question??

Cross slot!

 

[Dockers]

We really like our 15mt. Claydon rake, but it does need to be used in combining weather. We rake at an angle to combine to even out straw spread, etc. JD 690s with 35ft header and the power spreader. On a still day it will do it, not many of those though!! Pulled with 210hp, can cover 400 acres a day in good size fields.
Very good build quality.

 

[Brisel]

Thank you. Is your ground steep @Dockers ?

Are you going to the TAG field day this week? If so, I'll try & catch up with you there.

 

[Niels]

Cross slot!

Is it possible to have at least a single topic in the DD section that does not mention the C word? I think not!

 

[Rob Holmes]

Is that C word Claydon or Cross slot?