bull rake n
1 A wide hand rake used for gathering hay. chiefly NEng Also called buck rake n 1
1874 Hartford Daily Courant (CT) 23 July 1/9, Where there are but two to load we find this bull-rake, at $1.50, for gathering the scatterings, very convenient. 1886 MA Ploughman & New Engl. Jrl. Ag. 31 July 1/6, There are farmers who do not even have a horse rake. I do not believe a farmer should have more than one hand rake on his farm, and that should not be a bull rake. 1895 DN 1.396 cNY, Bull rake: very heavy hand rake. 1907 DN 3.183 seNH, Bull-rake. . . The largest kind of hand hay-rake. . . Rare. 1909 DN 3.409 nME, Bull rake. . . A large hand rake similar to a horse rake. 1913 DN 4.55 Cape Cod MA, Bull-rake. . . A large drag-rake, drawn by hand. 1963 Nashua Telegraph (NH) 11 July [4]/5 (newspaperarchive.com), Pulling the bull rake while Father was loading was a job that didn’t rate highly in a boy’s book. . . A bull rake is six or eight feet wide with foot-long wooden teeth. The curved handle comes up in a semi-circle, and as a fellow pulled it along it kept catching on tough hummocks. 1967–69 DARE (Qu. L16) Inf MA5, Bull rake—used to rake scatterings; MA42, Big hand rake, six foot wide; bull rake rakes up scatterings from loading it on rack. 1969 DARE Tape CT29, The bull rake doesn’t mean that it’s propelled by a bull, it means that it’s bull work, [that] makes it a bull rake. . . The bull rake is simply a large hand rake that . . was used to get into areas where it wasn’t possible to get with the horse rake. 2017 DARE File—Internet ME, Bull Rake—$135. . . Rake hay the old way. Lots of hard work but doable. . . Works great. I used it last summer on my field.
2 = hay sweep n. chiefly Upper Missip Valley, Rocky Mts Cf buck rake n 2, bull-rake v 1
1884 N. Vindicator (Estherville IA) [5 Sept 5]/3 (newspaperarchive.com), C. E. Fuller, D. L. Hartwell and Frank Pierce have formed a combination and are piling up hay at a rapid rate. They use a fourteen foot bull rake and two mowing machines. 1908 Anaconda Std. (MT) 3 Aug 6/4, A “bull rake” pushed by two horses will bring half a ton of hay to the stack every trip, and it need not be touched by a pitchfork until it is on the stack. 1925 Daily Herald (Biloxi MS) 7 Oct 5/4, The truck, driven by Mr. Pryon, was going north, loaded with a “bull” rake. 1943 Maryville Daily Forum (MO) 30 Nov 6/6, [Advt:] Tractor bull rake, made from horse bull rake. It can also be used for horses. 1949 PADS 11.18 CO, Bull rake. . . A swivel-wheeled implement for hay harvest. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. L16, Machines used . . in handling hay) Infs CO7, IN63, MA25, MO20, 27, 38, OK52, Bull rake; MO3, We used to use bull rakes when we stacked it [=hay]; UT3, Bull rake, mowing machines, rakes; WY1, Used to use slide stacker, bull rake, or sweep. 1971 Jrl.–Courier (Jacksonville IL) 31 Jan 35/5, [Advt:] Bull rake—Fits New Idea front end loader. 1976 Moravia Union (IA) 12 Aug [2]/1 (newspaperarchive.com), [Advt:] Antiques—Dain hay stacker, in excellent condition; bull rake (both of these have been shedded). 2003 Jrl.–Courier (Jacksonville IL) 30 July 20/3, [Advt:] Real good antique horse drawn hay bull rake complete. (Museum farm piece).
3 A wide clam rake; see quots. NEng, NJ Cf bull-rake v 2
1956 Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield MA) 24 May 18/6 RI, Fishermen who go after quahaugs in Narragansett Bay with tongs and bullrakes from small boats have occasionally turned to scattered surf clam beds. . . But the larger dredge boat fishermen never bothered with them. 1961 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv. Circular 109.41, The bull rake is a large implement with a head between twenty and thirty inches wide. It has long curved teeth about nine inches long and unlike the common hand rake it does not have a basket or apron. Its handle is usually longer and is fished in deeper water than the hand rake. The bull rake is used generally in New England. 2006 in 2017 DARE File—Internet sNJ, 21 Tooth Bull rake with 10 foot T handle and 10 foot extension. Large basket in rake. Can easily handle large takes of clams and mussels. $75.00 firm. . . I always called the rake that I have and the one in the picture a Bull Rake. Also, all the clammers in Tuckerton called our type of rake a Bull Rake. . . [Resp:] I am one of them tuckerton clamming pineys for 50 years. . . you may have called that rake a bull rake but it is a shinnecock rake or also called a big rake. bull rakes are not used in a boat. they are shinnecocks that have a different handle to work the sand bars with. 2017 Ibid ME, The bull rake is special rake with a bucket on it used for harvesting quahogs. It can be done off the side of the boat.