A week of warmer temperatures and no snow allowed farmer to continue harvesting, including baling hay, although this old dump rake wasn’t unlikely used in the haying process. The dump rake style is still being used in parts of the country and the new models go up to 42 feet wide.
Retired Dump Rack
Haying equipment could be seen in the fields today, but the hay rakes today have a different look than this old dump rake. The working era of the dump rake started in the 1840s but as side rakes and then wheel rakes were invented, the dump rake usefulness faded with time. But once in a while you might spot a bit of history in its sunset years.
An Old Hay Dump Rake
Yesterday I saw fields of hay being raked so it could be baled up. The rake had ten wheels to create windrows which is a lot different than the old dump rakes that were hard to make straight rows for a baler. The old dump rakes would drag and rake the hay and then the operator would ‘dump’ the clump of hay and then on the next pass, the goal was to drop the hay in the same line which wasn’t always easy to do.
An Old Dump Rake
Farmers in the area won’t need an old dump rake, or a new style rake, today as it is still raining and now dry hay to rake. And rained a lot overnight which has prompted a flash flood warning as some areas had seven inches of rain and rivers have raised five feet. Even my pond, which didn’t overflow this spring from the snow melt, is over its banks this morning.
Old Dump Rake
