Still no hay

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have one open station tractor left that I do all my unloading of hay with here at home, and as soon as the funds are there it will get replaced by a cab tractor. I like being able to spend 12+ hours in a cab tractor without being covered head to toe in dust and dirt, being able to work in the rain/snow/wind/sleet, and with our climate its nice not having to sit on a tractor at 30 below zero with a 40mph wind howling feeding hay in the winter.

Also if you need to have somebody help you with hay at 90+ degrees its much easier to convince them to hope into a tractor with a radio and AC than it is an open station where your going to sweat your butt off and be covered in dust at the end of the day.

 

[Ol' 243]

I have one open station tractor left that I do all my unloading of hay with here at home, and as soon as the funds are there it will get replaced by a cab tractor. I like being able to spend 12+ hours in a cab tractor without being covered head to toe in dust and dirt, being able to work in the rain/snow/wind/sleet, and with our climate its nice not having to sit on a tractor at 30 below zero with a 40mph wind howling feeding hay in the winter.

Also if you need to have somebody help you with hay at 90+ degrees its much easier to convince them to hope into a tractor with a radio and AC than it is an open station where your going to sweat your butt off and be covered in dust at the end of the day.

Yep, if it ain't 4WD, doesn't have a FEL or a cab, it will never be on my farm.

 

[dun]

Yep, if it ain't 4WD, doesn't have a FEL or a cab, it will never be on my farm.

That would be correct for me too.

 

[boondocks]

Yep, if it ain't 4WD, doesn't have a FEL or a cab, it will never be on my farm.

That would be correct for me too.

FEL and 4WD are musts for us too. Just debating the cab thing...We have pretty moderate summers (i've already worn a sweatshirt this month). It only takes us a few minutes a day to feed in the winter, and half the time we are able to do that from inside the barn. We will probably not use a discbine. Respirators are cheap. So I'm not yet convinced we need a cab.
I do this cow thing as an excuse to be outside. (I'm exaggerating but probably a lot of truth in it too). Being in an enclosed space would really detract from it. Yes I'm weird...

 

[Bright Raven]

You didn't ask me, but I'll answer anyway. Square balers create a significant amount of dust, but nowhere near the amount a round baler does. Then, if the hay had been rained on between cutting and baling, you can probably double that. I can remember baling rained on hay, looking back, and barely being able to see the baler.

My father's partner in the hay business died from respiratory issues in his early '70s. I've often wondered if breathing in all that dust for years caused it.

A guy about my age lives less than a mile from here. Never smoked or lived in a house were others did. His dad only smoked outside. He is on oxygen. They called it farmer's emphysema.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Ride around on an open station tractor sucking in dust raking and baling hay for a couple of days (and depending on how much hay your making it will be many days with old equipment) then report back on how "distracted" you would be in a cab with AC watching an inch of dust accumulate on your windows instead of your lungs/eyes/hair/etc.

 

[snoopdog]

We bale small squares with an open station massey 240, it was all we had for several years . A 500 dollar rollerbar rake and a 50 dollar sickle mower . Still using the rake and tractor , but bought a little 4X3 vermeer round baler because we had a hay crop burn up waiting on the hay guy. We didn't burn our bridges and he has customers that would rather have the smaller bales, so we help each other out. This made it possible to get a used cab tractor this year and I will never be dependent on someone else to put up my hay again . Gave alot of thought to buying hay only, but we are mechanically inclined , and with wise purchases , I think we did ok. I too love putting up hay, when everything goes right! In regard to the dust though , farmers are inherently resilient , really, who else would come back for more sun and dust and rain and sleet and snow? No one, so we have to .

 

[boondocks]

Ride around on an open station tractor sucking in dust raking and baling hay for a couple of days (and depending on how much hay your making it will be many days with old equipment) then report back on how "distracted" you would be in a cab with AC watching an inch of dust accumulate on your windows instead of your lungs/eyes/hair/etc.

Detract, not distract. But point taken...

 

[boondocks]

So I guess I'll be needing that hay lesson come next spring....




These followed me home

 

[wbvs58]

Woof woof, did you pat them on the head and they followed you home. Nice acquisitions, why wait till next spring?
The ones that follow me home are never that shiny.

Ken

 

[boondocks]

Woof woof, did you pat them on the head and they followed you home. Nice acquisitions, why wait till next spring?
The ones that follow me home are never that shiny.

Ken

Ken, they won't be actually here for a couple of weeks (only the paperwork actually followed me home. Along with a big dent to the bank account. Not very fuzzy at all :lol:
We will probably futz around with them this fall but won't likely have hay to cut. The guy who cuts it still has about a half field of first cutting to get (ugh). And we're back into rain now. So (hopefully) by the time the equipment is delivered, it will have all been cut, but only just recently. We won't get a second cutting. Nights already in the 40s. Cows should have a bit of fall grazing on the polywire though.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Wish you the best of luck next year. Hopefully both you and I will get better weather than this year.

I still have 60 acres of my own first cutting to do but 20inches of rain in the last month has made it impossible. Evening owning all my own equipment that can knock down 60 acres in a few hours isn't enough to guarantee that you won't be trying to make hay into September .

I've had some customers call mad and wondering why I haven't got their hay done. I keep telling people that if they can find somebody else with pontoons on their equipment so the fields won't get tore up, and a giant drier then they are welcome to the hay. I've told them all that unless a miracle happens their hay probably won't get done this year.

 

[wbvs58]

I bet you are already more knowledgeable about making hay from doing the research on buying the equiptment.

Ken

 

[boondocks]

Wish you the best of luck next year. Hopefully both you and I will get better weather than this year.

I still have 60 acres of my own first cutting to do but 20inches of rain in the last month has made it impossible. Evening owning all my own equipment that can knock down 60 acres in a few hours isn't enough to guarantee that you won't be trying to make hay into September .

I've had some customers call mad and wondering why I haven't got their hay done. I keep telling people that if they can find somebody else with pontoons on their equipment so the fields won't get tore up, and a giant drier then they are welcome to the hay. I've told them all that unless a miracle happens their hay probably won't get done this year.

Misery loves company--I hate that you still have first cutting in the field but it does make me feel less alone
For our small operation, it is crazy enough (dollarwise, timewise, inexperiencewise) to be buying equipment for small squares, when everyone else around here is going to silage because of our increasingly wet summers. But that equipment would have been even pricier, so we will see how we do next summer. Hope it's a bit drier (not drought! Do you hear that, karma? I did NOT ask for a drought!!!). ;-)

 

[boondocks]

I bet you are already more knowledgeable about making hay from doing the research on buying the equiptment.

Ken

You would think that...but you'd be wrong :hide:
I need to find someone to apprentice with!

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Your not alone at all. Went to look a field yesterday in the rain that is on decently drained and sloped ground with hopes of making some silage in a 2 day window we have coming up (we've had like 10" of rain in the last 14 days and temps in the 30's, 40's, and 50's.). I drove past probably a thousand acres of standing first crop, then talked to a guy at the coop that runs about 100 momma cows and he only has about half the hay he needs for the winter done. Plenty of guys in the same boat (no pun intended) as you.

Job for today is braving the 49 degrees and driving rain and putting duals on the tractor in hopes of not getting stuck trying to make hay....

 

[boondocks]

Your not alone at all. Went to look a field yesterday in the rain that is on decently drained and sloped ground with hopes of making some silage in a 2 day window we have coming up (we've had like 10" of rain in the last 14 days and temps in the 30's, 40's, and 50's.). I drove past probably a thousand acres of standing first crop, then talked to a guy at the coop that runs about 100 momma cows and he only has about half the hay he needs for the winter done. Plenty of guys in the same boat (no pun intended) as you.

Job for today is braving the 49 degrees and driving rain and putting duals on the tractor in hopes of not getting stuck trying to make hay....

Good luck. We are into the cold fall rain already as well

 

[True Grit Farms]

Your not alone at all. Went to look a field yesterday in the rain that is on decently drained and sloped ground with hopes of making some silage in a 2 day window we have coming up (we've had like 10" of rain in the last 14 days and temps in the 30's, 40's, and 50's.). I drove past probably a thousand acres of standing first crop, then talked to a guy at the coop that runs about 100 momma cows and he only has about half the hay he needs for the winter done. Plenty of guys in the same boat (no pun intended) as you.

Job for today is braving the 49 degrees and driving rain and putting duals on the tractor in hopes of not getting stuck trying to make hay....

Good luck. We are into the cold fall rain already as well

We just got back from Alexander Bay yesterday. The weather was great for making hay till Saturday. I even hauled hay for a day just for something to do.

The groom put 1120 rolls of hay in his barn last week.

 

[boondocks]

We just got back from Alexander Bay yesterday. The weather was great for making hay till Saturday. I even hauled hay for a day just for something to do.

The groom put 1120 rolls of hay in his barn last week.

We are in an odd area. Hilly and sloped. We can literally have a downpour on one end of the property and sunshine on the other. We did get a few nice days and our hay guy got some of it in. He has a day job and I think that has held him back the last week or two, even when weather was decent. Crazy to be getting equipment to do our small farm. But we needed a bigger tractor anyway. (Or so I'm told!)

Looks like a beautiful wedding, and venue!

 

[True Grit Farms]

We just got back from Alexander Bay yesterday. The weather was great for making hay till Saturday. I even hauled hay for a day just for something to do.

The groom put 1120 rolls of hay in his barn last week.

We are in an odd area. Hilly and sloped. We can literally have a downpour on one end of the property and sunshine on the other. We did get a few nice days and our hay guy got some of it in. He has a day job and I think that has held him back the last week or two, even when weather was decent. Crazy to be getting equipment to do our small farm. But we needed a bigger tractor anyway. (Or so I'm told!)

Looks like a beautiful wedding, and venue!

I enjoy making hay. It gets a little stressful, and you need to gamble on the weather at times but I find it very rewarding.