An innovative take on the traditional wheel rake, designed in Italy and newly available in North America, was on display at the recent Ontario Forage Expo near St. Jacobs.
Santo Aguanno, working on behalf of Repossi to promote the company in Canada, explained the unique “co-axial” technology — with the progression of overlapping single ground-driven wheels replaced by a similar progression of double wheels operating a few inches apart on the same axle.
The outer (rear) wheels maintain contact with the ground and provide turning power. The hay is moved only by the inner wheels, which have a slightly smaller diameter and are less likely to contact the ground and pick up rocks or dirt.
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A study done at the University of Milan determined hay windrowed by this rake carried an average of 66 per cent less “ash” (non-forage content) than traditional wheel rake technology.
The family-owned Italian company’s Ra Rake — named after the Egyptian god of the sun — was operated at the Expo by a representative of O’Neil’s Farm Equipment at Binbrook, which is working with Repossi and Ontario-based Farmfleet to make it more widely available. Aguanno said there are a few Ra Rakes already in use in Wisconsin, and CCMP Equipment in Drummondville is the exclusive Quebec distributor.
Its maximum operation width is nine metres and it has hydraulic folding and unfolding. Transport width is 2.5 metres.
Typically, wheel rakes are effective on dry hay but have difficulty handling wetter forages. At the Forage Expo, the Ra Rake demonstration took place on dry hay and compared well with other demonstrated rakes.
One advantage of wheel rakes is lower operating and maintenance costs compared to other types of handling equipment. According to the Repossi website, citing another University of Milan study, this advantage holds true with the Ra Rake.
“Researchers compared the operating costs of the Ra Rake to other rakes,” the website notes. “In particular, they looked at fixed costs (initial purchase and machine lifespan) and variable costs (maintenance and repair costs, operating capacity and hours of labour arising from working speed). The cost per hectare of using the Ra Rake is 6.20 euros (C$8.18) less than in the case of rotary rakes.
“Over a working area of 275 hectares, this means a saving of about 1,700 euros (C$2,244).”
