hay sweep n Also sweep [nEngl dial, attested 1800→; EDD hay-sweep (at hay sb.1 1.(46)), sweep sb.1 II.11, and cf sweep v.1 II.3 “To trail hay to the stack or barn”] Also called bucking pole n, buck rake n 2, bull rake n 2, go-devil n 2b, hay buck n 1, hay bucker n 1, sweep rake n
A large rake, originally pulled or pushed by horses and now usually mounted on a tractor or other vehicle, used to gather and transport hay or similar material in the field.
1836 Genesee Farmer & Gardener’s Jrl. 6.201 cwNY, The object of the Hay-Sweep is to collect and draw the hay from the winrow to the stack, or place of deposit. . . A horse is attached to the whipple-tree at each end. . . [A] small boy is placed on each horse, and passing on each side of the winrow, sweep it off and carry it to the stack. On arriving there, the horses are turned about, causing the gates to perform a semi-revolution, and drawing the instrument out from under the heap of hay. . . The teeth on each side of the piece B B are thus alternately used. 1842 OH Observer (Hudson) 14 July 112/2, On extensive and smooth meadows we would by all means recommend the revolving rake . . and the hay sweep . . to collect and draw it to the stack or place of deposit. 1861 Cultivator 9.268, By the modern mode, the hay is cut by two horses, needs no tedding, is raked with a revolver, and is either drawn by means of a rope or sweep, or on a wagon, and pitched by the assistance of a horse-fork with little labor. The hay-sweep . . enables two horses and two boys to draw 20 or 30 tons a day. 1884 Knight New Mech. Dict. 449, Hay Sweep. A form of rake for gathering hay, either from the windrow or the cock, to the place where it is to be stacked or ricked. 1905 Cedar Falls Gaz. (IA) [6 Oct 7]/3 (newspaperarchive.com), A. E. Shreffer, of South Dakota, says: “The following is what I believe to be a cheap and practical way to make a bucker, or hay sweep.” 1920 Mills Co. Tribune (Glenwood IA) 17 June 1/1, They had seen Mr. Warren fall backwards off the sweep seat. . . As soon as possible the men on the stack rushed to the hay sweep. 1927 Lancaster Daily Eagle (OH) 14 June 8/7 NE, The hay sweep attachment, fitted to the tractor, gathers the hay up out of the windrow, carries it to the stack where it is loaded on a stacker and lifted onto the stack. 1929 AmSp 5.56 NE, The “hay sweep” for “stacking” the hay into great stacks. 1967 DARE (Qu. L16, Machines used . . in handling hay) Inf NE8, Hay sweep; WY5, Power sweep—the horse-drawn buck rake is usually called a sweep in this region; a power sweep is a mechanized adaptation of this. 1986 Salina Jrl. (KS) 23 Mar 39/1, [Advt:] John Deere hay sweep with push off, fits model 158 loader. 1994 Hutchinson News (KS) 21 Aug 29/6, [Advt:] Hydraulic operated buck rake or hay sweep.