© 2022 Staheli West
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Raking
Raking
Proper
raking is one of the most critical elements in maintaining the value of your harvested hay crop. Poor
raking practices can cause substantial crop loss.
Timing
□
Hay should be double raked when it has enough moisture to hold the leaves during the raking
process, but not so much moisture that the double
windrow is too dense to allow airflow through
the windrow.
•
In
dry climates or conditions when rapid dry-down conditions exist and natural dew is scarce
or non-existent, you should consider raking your hay while there is still a little green stem
moisture. The evaporative effect of a
windrow with some stem moisture will cool the air and
raise the humidity level in the
windrow, and will create a natural dew effect within the
windrow
for raking, even when the ambient air in the field is too dry to form natural dew.
•
In
humid climates or conditions you should avoid double raking hay too early, perhaps even
waiting until the morning you bale. Double raking a day or two ahead of baling in high
humidity conditions when there are heavy dews at night causes the dew moisture to sink
to the bottom of the windrow after sunrise. This moisture is very slow to migrate out of the
windrow and sometimes makes it necessary to “flip” the double windrow to get sufficient dry-
down for baling.
□
Double
raking hay that is too dry will result in excessive leaf loss during the raking process, resulting
in crop loss.
□
Double raking hay that is too green will cause serious increases in
dry-down time and inconsistent
dry-down characteristics in the
windrow.
Soil Moisture
□ Some hay producers cut their hay too soon after the irrigation water is turned off.
□
Double
raking on ground with excessive soil moisture will cause an increase in dry-down time and
inconsistent dry-down characteristics in the
windrow.
•
Moisture from the soil will percolate up into the bottom of a double windrow, particularly when
yields are heavy.
•
In this case, it may be necessary to “flip” the double windrow to get sufficient dry-down for
baling.
