Neighbors Combined Their Hay Rakes

Neighbors Combined Their Hay Rakes RAKES Rakes (31l) 31-3-10 Dale Widdison wanted a larger hay rake to make a bigger windrow in one pass because the hay on his Hooper, Utah, farm is usually not very heavy. Widdison looked at buying a new rake but he couldn't justify the price. However, he liked his Tonutti three-wheel rake and noticed that his neighbor had a similar model. "I asked him if we could be partners," Widdison explains. The two agreed to combine their rakes to make a double rake. Widdison removed the center frame from one rake and cut about 1 ft. off each rake's square tubing to make them fit inside the center frame tubing. He drilled holes and used pins to join the rakes together. Since one set of tines faced the wrong direction, he unbolted one set of rake wheels and turned them around. "We've been using it for five or six years," Widdison says. "It's a wonderful time saver. It cuts baling time in half and I can rake 15 acres an hour." If the hay is heavy, he takes one pin out of the rake, and slips off one side of it. He leans it against a fence so it's easy to hook up again. Widdison puts up a few hundred acres of hay each year, and his neighbor puts up 50 to 100 acres. Their time schedules coordinate well. Widdison likes to start raking at 5 a.m. When he's finished, he leaves the rake on his older Ford tractor, and his neighbor, who lives about 1/4 mile away, picks it up when he's ready. The partnership works well and other neighbors have made similar rakes. One connected two rakes using U-bolts. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dale Widdison, 6071 W. 4600 S., Hooper, Utah 84315 (ph 801 985-1729; dwiddison @west landford.com).

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