Recently the Irish Farmers Journal got a chance to ask Michael Malone about the motivation behind building the Shake N Rake.

Michael said the design was developed over a few years after listening to the needs of farmers who needed to carry out both raking and tedding away from their yard base during the day.

This machine allows them to rake in one field, and then carry out tedding on the neighbouring farm without having to head home to change machines.

After several designs and prototypes, the Shake N Rake has arrived on the market. Michael is quite confident that this machine will be a hit with farmers and contractors, here and internationally.

The machine itself features a 6.2m rake combined with a four-rotor tedder attached to the rake’s rear chassis.

All controls are electro-hydraulic, except for one rope for the safety transport latch. The tedder is operated by changing the PTO drive attachment on the rear of the rake to the tedder.

The changing of the drive is not cumbersome – just drop the existing shaft on to the nine-splice shaft to drive the tedder. The tedder when not in use has a 600mm clearance over the swaths. Driving the machine is a swivel gearbox, at 540 RPM.

Michael claims that 70hp is adequate to operate the machine. The tedder itself features hook tines with an adjustable angle setting to set the aggression levels of the tedder in the crop. This Shake N rake is also entered in the Innovation Awards at the Ploughing. The price is expected to be in the region of €25,000 plus VAT

Meanwhile, the Malone Pro Cut mower has received an overhaul. The mower features a 3m comer bed with seven discs, and reversible bolt on blades. The bed has a stone guard and wear slides fitted as standard. The mower is belt-driven and weighs in at 1,150kg, making it very suitable for 100hp tractors according to Michael Malone.