Baffles Help Get More Raking Done HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Rakes 44 Father and son hay harvesters Harold and Dale Scherer like their power rakes The two men bale 20 000 to 30 000 square bales and several hundred large round bales each year However at high speed windrow shapes suffer Adding a baffle to the end of the rake forms up perfect windrows even when raking at high speed “We harvest 500 acres of hay a year most of it from a lot of small undeveloped fields or partially developed lots in an industrial park ” says Harold Scherer “Companies will buy 10 acres and develop three Instead of maintaining them they let us plant and harvest hay sometimes at no cost We keep them neat and clean Sometimes we even do the road ditches and boulevard medians ” The small fields eliminate the potential use of large rakes so raking needs to be fast to be efficient The Scherers opted for two hydraulic-powered side rakes from New Holland “You can adjust the speed to match the tractor and by adding extra teeth on the bars I don’t leave enough hay for a mouse to nest ” says Harold “However if you go too fast the windrow spreads out ” The Scherers had an idea for a baffle to stop the hay and drop it in the windrow When they found rolls of rubber belting along the side of the interstate they had what they needed “We have a local welder Steve Paarmann who can fabricate just about anything you want ” says Harold “We sketched out a frame the belting could hang from that could be folded up out of the way when it wasn’t needed ” The baffle frame is made from 1 1/4-in steel tubing and pins to end of the rake frame Strips of angle iron are attached to the top and bottom of the 20 by 30-in sheets of belting When unfolded for raking thumb screws make it easy to adjust the baffle angle “Before we added the baffles we could only rake about 4 to 5 acres per hour ” says Harold “With them in place we are above 10 acres an hour when conditions are right ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Harold Scherer 2312 W Locust St Davenport Iowa 52804 ph 563 320-6665 or 563 322-0824; schererfarmsllc@aol com

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