Grass Harrow Palatine vs Rakeman

tpharte

Hello all. Looking to purchase a tine Harrow. Narrowed down to the Rakeman 3000 vs Palatine GH. Both are 3 meter. Any ideas which would be the better purchase? Price wise they are similar.

nhg

tpharte wrote: »

Hello all. Looking to purchase a tine Harrow. Narrowed down to the Rakeman 3000 vs Palatine GH. Both are 3 meter. Any ideas which would be the better purchase? Price wise they are similar.

We bought a Rakeman 3000 3 years ago and are very pleased with it, added a APV seeder to it a few weeks ago.
OH has already been out a few weeks ago with the rakeman but will go again now after the bad weather. Will throw out a few grass seeds with the APV seeder attached to the grazed silage ground (leased so won't be reseeding unless we get a longer term lease when renewing at end of year).

Have to thank Reggie for the recommendation at the time of purchase.

blue5000

Can you hang on until grass and muck in gurteen next month? You should be able to compare side by side?

tpharte

I won't be able to make it but would welcome views if anyone else makes the day. Thanks.

tpharte

Took the plunge and bought the Palatine GH120. Delighted with it. To be fair the Rakeman does a similar job, the quality of the Palatine's engineering/ workmanship swung it for me in the end.

timmiekp

sorry for bring up an oul thread interested in getting a harrow undecided on weather to get a 3 or 6 metre.i heard somewere the 6 metre 1s with a seedbox don't spread the seed well.dunno weather to go with 40hp 2wd 3 metre or 100hp 4wd 6 metre. any1 doing a bite of hire work with theirs

Reggie.

timmiekp wrote: »

sorry for bring up an oul thread interested in getting a harrow undecided on weather to get a 3 or 6 metre.i heard somewere the 6 metre 1s with a seedbox don't spread the seed well.dunno weather to go with 40hp 2wd 3 metre or 100hp 4wd 6 metre. any1 doing a bite of hire work with theirs

Doing work here with one. 4.5m would be the max width I'd go for as 6m is very wide in tight corners. Broadcaster for 3m and airseeder needed for anything wider. Wouldn't fancy pulling a 6m with 100hp tho

timmiekp

some of my ground is wet too so maybe better off sticking to the 4.5m

Reggie.

timmiekp wrote: »

some of my ground is wet too so maybe better off sticking to the 4.5m

You won't get a taken an at 4.5m they only come in 3 or 6m unfortunately. A proper setup at 4.5m is in the region of 10k

Robson99

Do they work successfully when you would be doing a new reseed. I.e. plough 2x powerharrow then rakeman with broadcaster to put in seed then roll?

Reggie.

Robson99 wrote: »

Do they work successfully when you would be doing a new reseed. I.e. plough 2x powerharrow then rakeman with broadcaster to put in seed then roll?

It will work fine but broadcasters are not very accurate and mostly throw more seed on side than the other. For people who want it exact then an airseeder is the only job.

If using a harrow have the tines set lightly

alps

Robson99 wrote: »

Do they work successfully when you would be doing a new reseed. I.e. plough 2x powerharrow then rakeman with broadcaster to put in seed then roll?

Set 30 acres with one this Autumn into burned off ground.

Difficult to get the seed to spread evenly with the APV but set on 2 runs which were slightly offset, and worked perfect.

Gave 2 runs to clear any thatch and 2 runs seeding, and a nice slow roll....condituons were good, there being a nice bit of moisture in the ground, but aur conditions dry and calm...

Reggie.

alps wrote: »

Set 30 acres with one this Autumn into burned off ground.

Difficult to get the seed to spread evenly with the APV but set on 2 runs which were slightly offset, and worked perfect.

Gave 2 runs to clear any thatch and 2 runs seeding, and a nice slow roll....condituons were good, there being a nice bit of moisture in the ground, but aur conditions dry and calm...

The broadcaster has a habit of throwing a bit more to the right due to the spinner

MfMan

alps wrote: »

Set 30 acres with one this Autumn into burned off ground.

Difficult to get the seed to spread evenly with the APV but set on 2 runs which were slightly offset, and worked perfect.

Gave 2 runs to clear any thatch and 2 runs seeding, and a nice slow roll....condituons were good, there being a nice bit of moisture in the ground, but aur conditions dry and calm...

Did the pasture establish satisfactorily? Had you limed and fertilised before seeding?

alps

MfMan wrote: »

Did the pasture establish satisfactorily? Had you limed and fertilised before seeding?

Yep..perfect. Set the Sunday of the camogie final, and half grazed this week, the other half sprayed..
The half grazed down to a hybrid with red clover, and very little weed showing, will spray at next opportunity, just couldn't resist a grazing this week.

2 tonnes of lime per acre straight away after cutting, and a little over 3 bags 10.10.20...would love to give more N now, but it will have to wait..

Reggie.

alps wrote: »

Yep..perfect. Set the Sunday of the camogie final, and half grazed this week, the other half sprayed..
The half grazed down to a hybrid with red clover, and very little weed showing, will spray at next opportunity, just couldn't resist a grazing this week.

2 tonnes of lime per acre straight away after cutting, and a little over 3 bags 10.10.20...would love to give more N now, but it will have to wait..

Far simpler way of sowing grass I believe. No disturbance to the ground only exposing the minimum of soil that's required

MfMan

Reggie. wrote: »

Far simpler way of sowing grass I believe. No disturbance to the ground only exposing the minimum of soil that's required

Does the grass establish/flourish as well though, compared to a more 'tilling' method? More/less susceptible to weed infestation?
Haven't yet reseeded using this method.

Reggie.

MfMan wrote: »

Does the grass establish/flourish as well though, compared to a more 'tilling' method? More/less susceptible to weed infestation?
Haven't yet reseeded using this method.

If grass is burned off and given a few runs there is no difference. You just need to lime. I oversowed here this year and it worked well. No better or worse for weeds than any other method in my experience.

Bo dearg

Reggie. wrote: »

If grass is burned off and given a few runs there is no difference. You just need to lime. I oversowed here this year and it worked well. No better or worse for weeds than any other method in my experience.

Oversowed here with moore drill after silage on rented ground. Granlime and slurry. Worked very well.

alps

MfMan wrote: »

Does the grass establish/flourish as well though, compared to a more 'tilling' method? More/less susceptible to weed infestation?
Haven't yet reseeded using this method.

I think timing is far more important with this system....its important that the ground is relatively moist and that the weather is not too dry after sowing. Rolling is vital, slow and even a second time, as this is what gives the seed contact with the soil. The timing is not that easy if you are reliant on contractors.

Slug pellets are also advised, although we have got by without them at times. These need to be put on top of ground, so we would have spread them with the fertiliser after sowing and rolling.

We have always been advised to put slug pellets on the whole field, however I'm not convinced, and feel we might do better by applying a little heavier and just to the headland.

The machinery savings are obvious, but there are a couple of extra costs like the slug pellets, and possibly extra seed. We go with 15kg/acre with conventional seed and went at 18kg/acre with hybrids.

Reggie.

alps wrote: »

I think timing is far more important with this system....its important that the ground is relatively moist and that the weather is not too dry after sowing. Rolling is vital, slow and even a second time, as this is what gives the seed contact with the soil. The timing is not that easy if you are reliant on contractors.

Slug pellets are also advised, although we have got by without them at times. These need to be put on top of ground, so we would have spread them with the fertiliser after sowing and rolling.

We have always been advised to put slug pellets on the whole field, however I'm not convinced, and feel we might do better by applying a little heavier and just to the headland.

The machinery savings are obvious, but there are a couple of extra costs like the slug pellets, and possibly extra seed. We go with 15kg/acre with conventional seed and went at 18kg/acre with hybrids.

You shouldn't need slug pellets after ya roll as slugs can't get at the seed

It can be dry when applied but ideal to have rain the following day tho