A wheel rake is a haymaking machine that gathers cut forage into long, narrow rows called windrows. It matters because clean, even windrows help hay dry more uniformly and make baling faster and more efficient. Unlike powered rakes, most wheel rakes use ground contact to rotate their rake wheels, which keeps the machine simple and low in fuel demand.
Farmers use them for hay, straw, and other cut forage crops when speed and field coverage are important.
Key Facts
- A wheel rake gathers cut forage by using angled, spoked rake wheels with spring tines that roll across the field.
- Windrow width depends on rake wheel angle, working width, crop volume, and tractor speed.
- Field capacity can be estimated by C = Wv/10, where C is hectares per hour, W is working width in meters, and v is speed in kilometers per hour.
- Ground-driven rake wheels rotate because friction between the tines and the field surface produces torque.
- Too much tine pressure can drag soil and stones into the hay, lowering forage quality.
- A wider rake covers more area per pass, but it must be matched to crop density and baler pickup width.
Vocabulary
- Wheel rake
- A farm implement that uses angled rotating rake wheels to move cut forage into a windrow.
- Windrow
- A long row of cut crop material arranged for drying, baling, or pickup by another machine.
- Tine
- A flexible metal finger on a rake wheel that contacts and moves the forage.
- Working width
- The total width of field covered by a machine during one pass.
- Hydraulic arm
- A movable machine support controlled by hydraulic pressure to raise, lower, or adjust rake sections.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Setting the rake wheels too low, which is wrong because the tines can scrape soil into the hay and increase wear on the machine.
- Driving too fast for the crop conditions, which is wrong because the rake may leave forage behind or create uneven, twisted windrows.
- Ignoring windrow size, which is wrong because a windrow that is too wide or too dense may not fit the baler pickup or may dry unevenly.
- Assuming more tine pressure always improves raking, which is wrong because excessive pressure can damage leaves, especially in legumes like alfalfa.
Practice Questions
- 1 A wheel rake has a working width of 7.5 m and is pulled at 8 km/h. Using C = Wv/10, estimate its field capacity in hectares per hour.
- 2 A field is 18 hectares. If a wheel rake covers 6 hectares per hour, how many hours are needed to rake the field, not including turning time?
- 3 Explain why a farmer might reduce rake wheel pressure when raking dry alfalfa compared with raking heavier grass hay.