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<blockquote data-quote="Suzie Q" data-source="post: 1003974" data-attributes="member: 14334"><p>That's the way it goes with baling, Ken. You can do nothing for 12 months with winter and floods and stuff and then every 3 weeks when it is up and going over Summer. We missed the Summer crops because of the floods, so be mindful of that if anyone is around here as hay will probably be more expensive this year as of course it happened to everyone and not just us. Everyone that we pass in Baudesert is baling their hay at the moment as well.</p><p></p><p>We ended up with around 116 round bales and 682 square bales. So hopefully we get the square bales up before it rains. They are predicting 5 - 10 mm for today, so we will be trying our best. So far I don't think we have brought up half the square bales yet. No round bales yet, but it doesn't really matter if they get wet with 5 - 10 mm before we bring them up. If we flood with them down there they will float off down the creek!!!</p><p></p><p>It is also amazing how the muscle memory and skill does not leave you for baling after a year. When i first started I couldn't keep the tractor straight no matter how hard I tried. The moment you look back that darn tractor would turn. Now I don't think about it and I can be looking behind most of the time and the tractor goes straight. I can mow within a couple of mm's of the fence and not touch the fence with the mower conditioner which is about 14 foot across next to the tractor plus a couple more feet where it attaches. However hubby cut this time so there is quite a bit next to the fence that hasn't been cut!!!</p><p></p><p>The problems we had that we hadn't had before was that the hay would start going around the auger in the square baler rather than being pushed along to be baled. The windrows were a lot bigger than normal and I naturally put the tractor where it does not run over the windrows. This is because of when doing lucerne and you don't want to knock the leaf off, however this is mainly grass so that is not a problem. So we fixed the baler doing that by me moving the tractor over and feeding the windrow into the middle of the square baler rather than the far end of the baler and that worked. </p><p></p><p>The other problem that we have never seen before is that many of the bales were attached to each other with hay even though baled 'separately' with the twine. They were impossible to try and pull apart and when hubby tried the baling twine broke, so we fixed that problem by him buying a cheap hand saw and sawing the bales apart before putting them on the trailer.</p><p></p><p>We have been flooded again which is why nothing has been done with the cattle. When we are wet like that we can't get my car out the driveway let alone a truck full of cattle. Since we have dried out we have cut and baled the whole of the crops and "When you do hay, you do nothing else".</p><p></p><p>We have had this side of the farm cut off since we flooded and the grass has now grown on this side, so much so that I was eaten alive by mosquitoes when I drove the David Brown through it. It is easier with no cattle on this side while we are doing the hay as all the gates are open and lazy us don't have to get on and off the tractors to open and shut gates. Once we have finished bringing the hay up I will separate the herd to those we are keeping and those we are selling and those we are selling can go onto this side of the farm to eat the grass and 4 round bales we have put in there rather than put the new netting roll on the round baler.</p><p></p><p>At the moment hubby is making a new cattle ramp and at the same time redesigning the cattle yard. Not only have we been too wet to get the truck out, but the ramp that was here when we bought is now being classed as too dangerous to use. I think the ramp is nearly finished now, however he has put it away from the yards as he is going to redesign the yards so as there are no corners for the cattle to stand in and just look at you when you want them to move!!</p><p></p><p>So when we sell them I don't know whether it will be one last hurrah for the old ramp or whether we are waiting for the new fences to go in to use the new ramp. </p><p></p><p>I will get a photo of the new ramp for you in the morning. Hubby put in road base rather than putting in a wooden ramp that can disintegrate like what has happened with the old ramp. He has some extra road base and has put it on the worst bits of the driveway and at the gate down to the farm which has just been absolutely lovely. I hope the next lot of rain doesn't just wash it away!!!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Suzie Q, post: 1003974, member: 14334"] That's the way it goes with baling, Ken. You can do nothing for 12 months with winter and floods and stuff and then every 3 weeks when it is up and going over Summer. We missed the Summer crops because of the floods, so be mindful of that if anyone is around here as hay will probably be more expensive this year as of course it happened to everyone and not just us. Everyone that we pass in Baudesert is baling their hay at the moment as well. We ended up with around 116 round bales and 682 square bales. So hopefully we get the square bales up before it rains. They are predicting 5 - 10 mm for today, so we will be trying our best. So far I don't think we have brought up half the square bales yet. No round bales yet, but it doesn't really matter if they get wet with 5 - 10 mm before we bring them up. If we flood with them down there they will float off down the creek!!! It is also amazing how the muscle memory and skill does not leave you for baling after a year. When i first started I couldn't keep the tractor straight no matter how hard I tried. The moment you look back that darn tractor would turn. Now I don't think about it and I can be looking behind most of the time and the tractor goes straight. I can mow within a couple of mm's of the fence and not touch the fence with the mower conditioner which is about 14 foot across next to the tractor plus a couple more feet where it attaches. However hubby cut this time so there is quite a bit next to the fence that hasn't been cut!!! The problems we had that we hadn't had before was that the hay would start going around the auger in the square baler rather than being pushed along to be baled. The windrows were a lot bigger than normal and I naturally put the tractor where it does not run over the windrows. This is because of when doing lucerne and you don't want to knock the leaf off, however this is mainly grass so that is not a problem. So we fixed the baler doing that by me moving the tractor over and feeding the windrow into the middle of the square baler rather than the far end of the baler and that worked. The other problem that we have never seen before is that many of the bales were attached to each other with hay even though baled 'separately' with the twine. They were impossible to try and pull apart and when hubby tried the baling twine broke, so we fixed that problem by him buying a cheap hand saw and sawing the bales apart before putting them on the trailer. We have been flooded again which is why nothing has been done with the cattle. When we are wet like that we can't get my car out the driveway let alone a truck full of cattle. Since we have dried out we have cut and baled the whole of the crops and "When you do hay, you do nothing else". We have had this side of the farm cut off since we flooded and the grass has now grown on this side, so much so that I was eaten alive by mosquitoes when I drove the David Brown through it. It is easier with no cattle on this side while we are doing the hay as all the gates are open and lazy us don't have to get on and off the tractors to open and shut gates. Once we have finished bringing the hay up I will separate the herd to those we are keeping and those we are selling and those we are selling can go onto this side of the farm to eat the grass and 4 round bales we have put in there rather than put the new netting roll on the round baler. At the moment hubby is making a new cattle ramp and at the same time redesigning the cattle yard. Not only have we been too wet to get the truck out, but the ramp that was here when we bought is now being classed as too dangerous to use. I think the ramp is nearly finished now, however he has put it away from the yards as he is going to redesign the yards so as there are no corners for the cattle to stand in and just look at you when you want them to move!! So when we sell them I don't know whether it will be one last hurrah for the old ramp or whether we are waiting for the new fences to go in to use the new ramp. I will get a photo of the new ramp for you in the morning. Hubby put in road base rather than putting in a wooden ramp that can disintegrate like what has happened with the old ramp. He has some extra road base and has put it on the worst bits of the driveway and at the gate down to the farm which has just been absolutely lovely. I hope the next lot of rain doesn't just wash it away!!! [/QUOTE]
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