Let's talk about raking time

A few years ago I started off with just my little 5.2 acre field.  Last year I added another 7 acre field, and then started putting up 5 acres of hay for my neighbor lady down the road who has all her own equipment but her husband left her.  So I was doing 17 acres total.  Enough to be fun, but not stressful.  I usually do my 12 on the same day and hers on a different day.

 

This summer it's looking like I'm going to add on another 20 acre field and another 34 acres have been offered up to me beyond that if I ever feel like I can take it on someday.  I'll need upgraded equipment by that point.

 

So in just a few years I went from 5 acres to 37 acres.  I mow with a 9 foot haybine on day 1, ted with a 2 basket tedder on day 2, and rake with a 9 foot Miller Pro 900 rotary rake on day 3, and then square bale.  If I'm raking at 5-6 mph I can rake about 5 acres/hr (that's based on how much I can cover with the haybine at the same speed).  By that time estimate it would take me 4 hours to rake.  Then I unhook and grab the baler.

 

That seems like a long time, or is that standard for what you guys are doing?  As I add on more acreage I'm trying to figure out how to put down acres (with what I have currently) most efficiently. It was never an issue when I had a little 5 and 7 acre field right next to the house or a few blocks down the road, but this larger field is about 5 miles away so the travel time is more significant when moving 16 mph.

 

I could use the neighbor lady's restored 4010 to run the baler while I'm still raking, but it becomes a 9 mile hike for that tractor to get to the field.

 

Here's the other problem with raking speed: my 4610 in 6th gear at PTO speed runs around 5-6 mph, so that's spinning the rake full speed, I read most people run it about 300 rpm.  7th gear on the tractor jumps to 12 mph but if I throttle down to a realistic speed then PTO speed seems almost too low.  It's a really nice tractor but the field speeds are one thing I really don't like about it.  It's either crawling slow or blazing fast.

 

All tips and suggestions are appreciated for strategy, and what my expectations should  be.

Let's talk about raking time