Hay rake

A hay rake may be mechanized, drawn by a tractor or draft animals, or it may be a hand tool.

In some areas, a sweep rake, which could also be a horse-drawn or tractor-mounted implement, could then be used to pick up the windrowed hay and load it onto a wagon.

This usually had a gear-driven or chain-driven reel mounted roughly at a 45-degree angle to the windrow, so the hay was gathered and pushed to one side of the rake as it moved across the field.

Later versions of the side delivery rake used a more severe transverse angle and a higher frame system, but the basic principles of operation were the same.

Currently a newer design called the rotary rake is in common use in Europe, and less frequently seen in the United States and Canada.