Our $60 DIY Hay Rake "Implement" for Quad/Four Wheeler

[@PrattFamilyHomestead]

LOVE IT! And you have inspired me. I have been thinking and thinking of building a hay "fluffer"/tedder. And you have given me an idea. I could do something similar here but put the tines on all 4 sides of the 4x4. And have the 4x4 (or whatever) turn with the wheels. So when drove over my thick hay, with would fluff it and probably throw it up in the air. Hmmmm....... - Mike

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Thanks! Sounds like a great idea. They have a lot of different tines at TSC, we just got the cheapest ones. Seems like given all the options of tines you could make something fairly cheap and easy and experiment until it works correctly. It's just hard to accept how much implements cost. Well, if you get it made, we'd love to see the video!

[@Jkevinking3]

Perfect. Thank you for sharing!

[@tvs3497]

That's just what I've been looking for. I'll have to substitute a bag of cement for the kid, though. I don't have any laying around anywhere.

[@SouthWestIron]

Well done! I like it alot.

[@irmalerma559]

Love it!!!

[@farm_in_themiddleofthewood3339]

Great job!!! Make sure you thank your helpers!!! Living/working on the farm makes us all "engineers"!!!

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Indeed, I am always happy to share my gratitude with the helpers! And amen about the farm making everyone engineers! God bless!

[@iamorganicgardening]

That is a great Homestead solving and build...easy and fun at the same time.. THANKS.

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Thanks, Mark. We had a great time trying to solve this little problem and in the end it is a fun way to gather up the cut grasses. We ended up with four huge pickup truck loads which will be great chicken manure infused compost for the garden.

[@scottclausen4406]

Remarkable. Well done. Love this kind of innovative thinking.

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Thanks, Scott! God bless!

[@nancybnice]

THANK YOU for explaining the socks :)

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Haha! Someone noticed. I now have a full assortment of socks with images by famous artists. Hopefully, the masters aren't too offended that their great works now adorn my feet.

[@robertlivingston1634]

Hmmm I think if you used heavier wheels clamped to the side of your tractor bucket and use float mode it would work the same way yet be super easy to unload

[@gregoryb7485]

great family fun great video good sound

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Gregory, thanks for the comment and feedback - especially about the sound, given that some folks have had issues with it on other videos.

[@CodyAllen-b7f]

What size tire did you use ?

[@ThatCompostGuy]

If you could figure out how to make the cross bar pivot for emptying and lock in place for raking, it would make unloading it easier. Just drive and drag. Move the seat forward onto the tow bar. I used a full size 5 wheel hay rake I found cheap on Craig's List years ago to do windrows. Then took an old aluminum pasture gate and chained it to a tractor bucket and used it to push the windrows into piles. Worked well until the gate bent. Hay is heavier than you'd think once you get a good pile going. I did that one season and quit. A landscape rake will fill and then just skid over the clippings laying there. Tried that. Lawn sweepers won't work with longer clippings and taller stalks left by bush hogging. Tried that.

[@trod9524]

Very innovative! Be careful with the exhaust from the quad. Thanks for sharing your experiences with homesteading. Be safe, God bless.

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Good call on the exhaust, but thankfully it wasn't too bad. I rode on the rake about as much as the boys. Dust was probably the bigger issue. We'll wear dust masks next time for sure. Blessings to you as well!

[@fyanezc]

St. Isidore's Farm This was awesome! I had a smallish 0,5 acre alfalfa hay field growing up and always had to rake it by hand, luv your ingenuity! I too thought about the fumes might of been a problem, good to know that the distance was enough and masks would be better. Well done, gave me some cool ideas

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Yes, my wife would get out there with the boys and hand rake it the past few years. Had been eyeing implements, but even used they seemed outrageously expensive for how little we would use them. As to the exhaust, it really wasn't an issue at all.

[@ColinMill1]

Very interesting. As you say, there is nothing out there that is cheap and designed specifically to do this job. Over here in the UK old horse hay rakes go for silly money as lawn ornaments so zero chance of getting one in working condition for a price worth paying. I'm encouraged by your experience with short spring tines to try a spring tine harrow attached to the 3-point linkage of my old Massey Ferguson. These are common and fairly cheap here in the UK (we just don't get pine straw rakes over here and I'm tired of getting funny looks off suppliers when I ask if they sell them).

[@wolfsam393]

Colin, this is exactly the dilemma I am currently going through. Did you ever try the spring tine harrow? If so what was your opinion of it for the job?

[@ColinMill1]

@@wolfsam393 Thanks for the reply. Yes, I bought a 6ft wide double row spring tine harrow. It has 35 double sprung tines arranged in two rows that are about 12 inches apart. The frame is just angle iron with a frame for the tractor's 3-point hitch and the tines are about 11 inches long in total from the locating bolt to the tips. I found it needed weighting down to stop it lifting up over the straw that had been collected. Four concrete blocks roped onto the top of the frame works fine though if the straw isn't totally dry it can still ride up. An extra couple of blocks would help I think. You need to be careful going backwards as, for some reason, probably the slope of the tractor lower links, it digs in going backwards unless you lift it slightly on the hydraulics. It also scarifies the ground nicely and I can see the wildflower seeds (and most importantly the yellow rattle seeds) sitting on the bare patches. The harrow I bought is still advertised online and now costs £320.

[@wolfsam393]

@@ColinMill1 Many thanks for getting back to me. Sounds like something I need to investigate then. Comments on wildflower seed were particularly appreciated as it seems we are on the same page on this too! Cheers Sam

[@ColinMill1]

@@wolfsam393 Good luck with it. It's been a long project for us (24 years and counting) partly because we only introduced a few new wildflower seeds and relied on the low density of existing plants spreading with only the aid of yellow rattle to hold the grasses back a bit. It's working - we have gone from seeing the odd orchid every year or so to picking our way across the field to avoid walking on them.

[@kitasuhill9667]

Mona Lisa socks ??? Very cultured 😊

[@yankey4]

So smart brother. God Bless

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Thanks, and blessings to you and yours!

[@SasquatchBioacoustic]

Have you thought about a landscape rake pulled behind your tractor? A bit more expensive, but not dramatically so. I tried one this summer and it did a fair job of raking up the hay I bush hogged off my meadow.

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Funny you mention that - long story. We had one that we borrowed from my brother and hoped to use it for that purpose, but never got around to it. Then he had to recall the implements from our place back to his place because they technically belonged to his ex-wife. Still wonder how it would have worked. My fear is that given the unevenness of our fields, it would torn things up a LOT. That is the advantage of having spring tines. What kills me now is driving around and seeing old horse drawn hay rakes (beautiful implements) sitting out as decorations on several farms around us.

[@SasquatchBioacoustic]

I've thought the same, that it would be nice to repurpose an old horse drawn rake... My neighbor used their landscape rake to do exactly what you fear, and aggressively reshaped their meadow. The want to put horses in there, so they used their rake as if it were a box scraper, and pulled out rocks, roots, and leveled out the divots. It's very smooth now, and they reseeded the sod, but the rake itself needs to have some tines replaced. As long as I don't work as aggressively as he does, I've found it does a fair job on the hay.

[@Aussiehomestead1965]

The ".Chayriot",,,,love it..:)

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Thanks - we've since realized it's great for gathering pine straw as well - but haven't figured a catchy word rhyming with pine yet.

[@simonhep]

c'hay'riot - hahahaha lol. Local farmer flailed our paddock and left the off cut. Our ride on tractor mower can't cope with attempting to do an over cut so I started hand raking. Complete waste of a couple of hours and only scarped the surface of the acres of paddock. You've inspired me to knock up a drag along rake!!

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Great! Glad the video could be of help. It sure worked great for us. Thanks for taking the time to write!

[@smurfmiller1942]

Simon Heptonstall m99)i

[@randy1ization]

nice.. where did you buy the tines?

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Tractor Supply Co. Blessings to you and yours!

[@Carskinify]

If the boy fell off, the rake would tear him up. I would just mount a weight on the thing.

[@schizy]

I'd try selling rides to local kids on the hay rake. A few balloons and streamers might help. $.10 cents per unload and dump.

[@pwkeely]

Turn the chair around so nobody gets run over

[@redneckavenue3875]

Love your nc state shirt go wolfpack

[@TwoFamilyHomestead]

Hubby is also a tinker I can do it myself sorta guy :) Oh - we're new subscribers !!!

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Welcome! Just saw you in the comments over at Pratt Family Homestead!

[@dmsentra]

$150 you'd have an old dump rake made for the job.

[@StIsidoresFarm]

dmsentra Oh how I wish. We were looking and couldn’t find any rake implements for less than $500 at the time we needed it. The upside of the rake we made is that it’s also good this time of year for getting up leaves and pine straw.

[@Pflap64]

thats how its done.

[@StIsidoresFarm]

Ha! Or it's at least one way it's done. Thanks!

[@kennethwestervelt2843]

Call me a coward but having your son sit on that is a hard pass. If he falls off the seat and those rakes get his foot/legs/arms or head you will have extreme injuries. Use a couple cinder blocks! Accidents happen fast and I had a friend in elementary school that lost a leg to a farm accident. You don’t get a second chance all too often!