Never seen one before

BIG RUH · Mar 18, 2013

I was at a farm consignment auction Saturday and there were 2 of these there. They called it a windrow inverter. All these years we've been using a side delivery rake to invert the windrows.

BIG RUH · Mar 18, 2013

OK we'll try posting the photo again

Fordfarmer · Mar 18, 2013

Those are popular around here, but I just use my rake too. Inverters do a better job of getting the wet side up though. That one has the extension so it can be used as a merger, too.

Dick2 · Mar 18, 2013

Never seen one of those in ND; didn't know that they existed.

John_PA · Mar 18, 2013

Side delivery rakes have a tendency to roll the hay over unpredictably, or rope twist the windrow. This type of inverter will invert an unraked windrow that was rained on, or to speed drying. It will also invert a raked windrow precisely so that it truly gets turned upside down. It dries the hay very nicely, but, it is a specialty item for farmers that have drying problems, especially in areas like mine where the dew at night is so heavy it is just as bad as a rain. We had a windrow inverter mounted on the front axle of our Allis Chalmers 190. It was just a 2 wheel rake that would flip the hay over a half turn, from in front of the front tire, to just outside of the rear tire. It worked decently, but no where near as good as the new Holland ones.

Traditional Farmer · Mar 18, 2013

Also can be used to windrow weedy oats or wheat that have been cut and dried and then combined with a pickup header.

paul · Mar 18, 2013

They were super popular around here 15+ or so years ago. Handle alfalfa leaves more gentle, and place the wet side up, dry side down without creating a rope.

Don't see as many as I used to, dairy is 200 to 4000 cows now and silage bags or bunkers, not much baled alfalfa, and small non dairy folk use grass hay and cornstalks for hay any more....

Paul

gtractorfan · Mar 18, 2013

Used to turn the windrows over with just enough of the end of the hay rake to flip it over.

John B. · Mar 18, 2013

I've seen them here in Illinois. My dad had a 5 wheel rake. When he wanted to turn the windrow over half way he would just let the last wheel of the rake hit the windrow. That did a nice job.

Bob Bancroft · Mar 18, 2013

We used to pull and rake red kidney beans. The rake would twist everything up- beans, weeds, dirt, stones, etc. It was a great day when we finally got a couple Innes bean windrowers. Which were basically what this machine is. Pickup with a cross conveyor. They would pick the vines out of the dirt and stones, and set them gently over to a different spot.
Then with the weather, soil, and market, we quit!

rrlund · Mar 18, 2013

Same here. The big guys use mergers now to put up to 5 windrows in to one.

DoubleR · Mar 18, 2013

They are popular around my area in Mi. The guys like them as they don't seem to knock the leafs off the alfalfa as much as a rake turning the windrow over. They seem to bring a good price at the auctions where I have seen them sell. More popular with the smaller operators.

Ken Macfarlane · Mar 18, 2013

They sell for near scrap around here. Just never worked out right to get things dry enough in our humidity. All the dairies run silage/balage.

Never seen one before

BIG RUH

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Fordfarmer

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Dick2

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paul

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