[J-L]

Well I just mowed the first time with the swather guards and smooth sections. I put down close to 4 acres of very good meadow foxtail/timothy/clover grass hay. Some of this was down and lodged, some standing and heavy, some fine under growth. Seems like this worked well for it all. Even my brother the tractor man was impressed with how this mower got under that heavy hay and didn’t clog. The inside three guards are stub guards and I do like this set up. Especially with an inexperienced team that wanders a bit. It cut through the down hay well when we wandered over into it on the first piece.
I think I’ll stay with this set up, although I’m still toying with the idea of going with under serrated sections on my other mower.

[J-L]

I have not seen what they (St. Paul) are backing it with Robert, but the most common stuff I’ve seen backing synthetic harness is the shiny plastic covered nylon. It is what is on two of my harnesses and works good.
Like you I thought that stuff wouldn’t be good for the animals, but doesn’t seem to rub too bad for daily use (we don’t get that kind of heat though, 90 is damn hot here). The nylon its self does rub more than leather in my experience, but is tough as nails. I like the look of that newer granite material. It would make nice harness I think. Hope some one with experience with that material will chime in.
Don’t know if that helps or not.

[J-L]

I had been busy and not checked back in here. Wow, got some interest showing.
It would be nice if I could load up the western Wyo contingent and come. The 9th isn’t objectionable to me. I’ll have to check with my boss, he’s sure enough a good guy and likes to work animals, so I ought to be able to cut loose (by the way, I’m self employed).
I’d like to drag a plow up with a team. I have to get the kinks worked out of the plow and need somebody who speaks plow better than this dumb rancher.
That date would allow me to hit some early elk hunting and get home to work cattle before shipping.
Would be nice if this is a go.

[J-L]

Depending on the time Robert, I may be interested. It would be great if there were a little plowing involved. What have you got in mind?

P.S. I have to fit it in around elk hunting and gathering/shipping calves.

[J-L]

Please do keep us posted George. You folks will be cutting well ahead of me (grass hay is ready 15-24th of July here) and I will have time to try another set up with your input. I will use the new/rebuilt knife I already have with smooth sections in one machine and try either the over or under serrated sections with the other machine and compare.
I got to thinking about the aggressive sections and remembered rebuilding my 9′ New Holland mower with them about 7 or 8 years ago. I thought they caused me a lot more side draft. Enough so that I could notice it on the 45 hp John Deere tractor I was mowing with. Granted 9′ is a long bar.

[J-L]

Very interesting subject here. First off I have to agree with most that the alternatives we have are not that good (windmills, solar, etc) and are surely not going to work without the technology and energy that we have right now. No getting around it.
I think back to my grandmothers and even my dad’s day. They only occasionally had power when they could afford it well into the 1950’s and they got by alright. I do think we all (at least we folks on this forum) have an idea how we can survive in that situation. What we can’t plan for is the rest of humanity. Our population is so grossly out of whack with the carrying capacity of this planet that we are supporting it only by artificial means. That’s the big problem as I see it.
What we’ve all grown used to, as far as conveniences, has gotten us as a society in trouble. We now can’t differentiate conveniences from necessities. I’m guilty too.

[J-L]

Let’s talk sections for a minute. What do you prefer for types of sections? On my tractor powered mowers and swathers I’ve gone completely to over serrated and was wondering if they will cut good enough (in grass hay) with my horses and we could forego the sharpening?
The super sevens you refer to must be the aggresive over serrated sections I saw in some of your mower shop pictures Donn, what do you think of them?

P.S. I’m using the new double swather guards by the way.

[J-L]

Ogden is only two hours away. That’s where the cutting was going on with the sick horses. Not too far away for sure.
My brother has an indoor arena and it’s used by several kids who are practicing for high school and college rodeos one of which will be travelling Utah.
Let’s hope they will hold off until this is under control.
I’m holding my breath on this one.

[J-L]

Nice team. They did a great job. The plow looks like the small I&J plow to me. Seemed to work fine with the small animals.

[J-L]

I don’t know if there really is a good answer to your question. After thinking about it, it seems to me that baling in the field and then hauling is still the best option if you need to have it baled.
I grew up putting our hay up loose and it did have it’s advantages. The hay kept well in our outdoor stacks (my dad made really nice hay stacks). Feeding it was a pain. I think loading bales is easier than pitching loads on in my opinion.
A hayloader with a team would be the best option to get it there. IF you had room it may not be a bad idea to just store it loose in your loft or barn.

Hard to think of haying with this snow storm raging here. 4″ on the ground and snowing like crazy. We’re about ready to cry uncle.

[J-L]

Sorry to hear of your drought woes. Nothing so hard to take as drought. I know this from experience. Makes you feel completely helpless.
I guess the one thing you can look forward to (gotta look on the bright side) is making your new here into the cow that’ll work for you again.
The part of the cattle industry that has really bastardised cattle is in the show side of things and the club calf end of things in particular. It is in this area (to me) that we have really skewed what a steer is supposed to look like and perform like. We’ve made them an unsound animal with birth problems and genetic defects, and many times they are not even an animal that would function in any way in the cow world.
Our country is so big and so diverse that one cow will not work every where. We get docked hard on eared cattle and our hairy, fat, black cattle would have hell down in the hot country.
Your professor sounds like my dad, who has told me many times not to get too far from the basic, good cow and chase trends.

[J-L]

That looks like a lot of my calves. The Simmental breed in the U.S. has changed radically in my life time. As a kid we bred them into our herd only to have quite a few 120# plus red and white calves and learned to do C-sections on cattle in a hurry.
We also encountered a lot of udder problems. Much of it was due to the great deal of white on the bag its self. We are prone to late spring snows and wind along with. This combined with white udders made for a great deal of milking and greasing sore teated cows. When you have 250 or more, that’s a big deal.
The Simmental breed has really changed in many regards. Most for the better in my oppinion. I used eight Simmental and Simmental x Angus bulls on my cows in addition to three Simmental A.I. sires. They make good cattle for me and are a little more low maintenance than some other breeds.
As far as the black bias in the cattle industry, I agree it’s a marketing ploy by the Angus breed. When the red calves out of my herd go to slaughter, the carcasses are just the same as the the black calves in quality. But money talks. The black hided cattle make me over a nickel per pound more, at times as much as 10 cents per pound more. And this is right off the cow, not the hanging carcass where you see as much as $300 difference in the CAB (Certified Angus Beef) carcass.
We’ve made them into a usable cow model for us out west at least. They are now more moderate in size (a little more) and much easier calving. Still good mothers with good milk for beef cattle, and more muscle and growth than Angus cattle in general.
Well, my $.02 turned into a few bits worth didn’t it?

[J-L]

Well, I did find a couple old metal swathboards right after I posted this. One is on an old JD trail mower (#9 I think) and looks like it’ll work. The other one is on an old bar assembly that I found in an old shed on the ranch. I think I can get them to work.
On top of that the Lost Farmer found a website that has a nice one made of sheet steel and round spring steel for $36. Looks like a very good outfit from what I saw and is similar to one I used on an old New Holland 450 tractor mower. The one on the New Holland was an after market job and not their standard one. This is a dead ringer for that old one and it worked great for me.
The name of the company is Woodward Crossing Country Basics for anyone wanting to look at their stuff. They’re located in PA.

[J-L]

Nice pictures and thanks for sharing them. I too am glad to see you getting your daughter on the lines.
It’s great to see some green for us too. May 1 was flat cold (lower teens) and snowy here.
Very nice looking team and beautiful daughter. You gotta be proud.

[J-L]

I was lucky enough to find about six sets of wood hames in an old barn that a fellow was cleaning out and he gave them to me. They had been sitting in there since around 1950 but were still good. I’ve been using them for four or five years now and really like them. Some of the work has been heavy, jolting work and they’ve held up fine. They are nice and light.

[Author]

Posts