[Mark Cowdrey]

George,
Thanks for bringing up an important issue. If the evener those pins came off is the style i think it is, where you have to hook the trace chain to the hook behind the single tree and then the hook pivots around (if that is close to clear), I never liked that kind, always found them awkward to hitch when using a neckyoke. I have been using one recently on a scoot (w/o pole) and I will check it.
As far as the turning inside out… I use a butt rope. Even on a pole. Not staying it would have prevented your horse going inside out but it is definitely another line of defense. I don’t know why it isn’t a standard part of the harness. I don’t find it inconvenient in the least. I burns me that they are not permitted at the fair obstacle course competitions and are actually referred to as “cheater straps”. It gives a legitimate safety feature a bad rap. Go figure.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

“with shoe relieved with angle grinder”

Hi Brad, Can you elaborate?
Thanks,
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Constant mowing, at least making sure it never goes to seed. I also seem to notice less of a problem when soil pH is less acid though that may be coincidence.
M

[Mark Cowdrey]

George,
I was going to try to get a picture of my process for sharpening haybine guards but have not done so. Will try words.
The side of each “tooth” of the guard has a slim , fairly vertical but concave profile. With the knife removed, you can check the edge of the ledger surface of the tooth. If it is a shiny line, like a dull chisel, ax, scissor or any other cutting edge, it can be improved by sharpening. I use a 4″ angle grinder w cutoff wheel. I use the concave tooth profile as a guide both visually and to some degree, physically. I use short , regular strokes, standing in front of the cutterbar and working the sharpening process on each tooth from front to back, taking as little as possible to make the shiny line go away. I do not try to get the very back, as there is some impediment I cannot now recall. I do the outsides w the cutter bar vertical, the insides w it horizontal in lifted position.
Hope this helps.

Will be interested to hear how removing the inner grass stick works. I think you reasoning is sound.

I also usually mow about 2 hrs at a stretch, w a 5′ bar and walk up the worst hills. My team is mature but not in particularly good shape.

M

[Mark Cowdrey]

Donn,
How do you make a windrow w a tedder?
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Although this probably doesn’t apply to the E-Z cut, with my McD 9 HG a sharp knife properly adjusted makes a difference. I mowed yesterday w a pretty well adjusted (I’m talking hold down tension here) cutter bar and a knife that seemed pretty good. I use under serrated knives and haybine guards. I took the knife out this morning anyway and sharpened it and touched up the sides of my guards so I had a nice sharp “scissor”. I do all this with a cut-off wheel on a 4″ angle grinder. The cut-off wheel is thin enough to get in tight w/o hitting the next knife section. I also tightened one hold down a whisker. The difference this morning was remarkable, you could here it in the way the knife ran.
Another option is to get a helper to “pitch back” the mown hay off the unmown, perhaps “combing” the lodged a bit.
Am I right that excessive nitrogen contributes to lodging? Seems like I heard that.
This weather is incredible.
Good luck all.
M

[Mark Cowdrey]

I suggest sticking w one model for simplicity. If a significant purpose of this endeavor is “advertising” DAPNet, and you desire wide circulation, I would not plan on sales but on doorprizes, contribution premiums and other give-a-ways. This strategy would indicate the less expensive model (that might end up as a paper weight).
I will wait for the keyhole grab model, though I have not been able to figure out how to incorporate “DAPNet” lettering onto one.
Thanks for your work on this Donn.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

I would gladly trade the 2 2-day windows in the forecast for 1 3-day!

[Mark Cowdrey]

Well I made one.
My driveway was a mess this spring with a lot of old pot holes. So when I had a backhoe here I dug the whole thing up.The shape (crown) was roughly correct but it was rougher than a cob. I more or less followed the “Ohio” plans for the “King Road Drag” that I found, although I put steel full length on the front board & 6′ of the back one. I used hemlock & pine. As spreaders I used 3″ PVC w 1/2″ threaded rod inside.
I was happy w the way it worked. Dragged it up & back a couple times w the tractor to get an idea of what I was dealing with and then hauled it behind the forecart. The instructions say to ride it on a loose hitch so you can shift your weight an manipulate the cutting and dirt moving action as you go along. I did notice that it swung out to the ditch side quite a bit and perhaps more weight would reduce that tendency. I think I would want some kind of dash on it though before I rode it. I may make one yet.
The longer you hitch the more you cut. The point on the chain on the front of the drag that the tow chain is hitched to changes the angle of the drag. I’m not sure how that changes things operationally. I’ll keep an eye on it.

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[Mark Cowdrey]

Have boiled last 3 days, making almost as much as we had made up to that point. Making a barely Dark syrup w good flavor. Sugar content of sap down to 1.4 from 2.5, possibly due at least in part to rain water contamination. Keeping our fingers crossed for next 4 days, forecast looking grim for sugaring beyond that.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Michael,
Thanks. Great description, I can see it
I have also seen online reports of pigs sucking on cows and even heifers and causing problems.
This is a +/- 2 acre wooded area I am trying to convert. Seems lke rotating them through at different times is probably the way to go.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

WE (Tucker Mountain Maple)made 40 gallons of medium today, with our own & purchased sap. It was running 2.7-3.2 %. I have about 30 buckets set out here & have gotten about 45 gallons all year from those. No encouraging. It is the bushes on vacuum that are running, no surprise.
I still can’t decide if, because of the weather, the season just hasn’t started or is about over. However, the calendar is going to get us soon, regardless.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Had a gang busters Maple weekend Saturday, broke all sales records. Boiled straight sap to make it last. Long day standing on concrete yapping.
Thoughts while listening to James McMurtry (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-D824LHti4)on a Saturday night…
Interesting observations Joel. I will not pursue the ski on the wheel avenue, your description lays bare the obvious problems, which I had not considered. Carl, you may not be so far off. I am fortunate to have 2 forecarts so I could have skiis on one and wheels on the other, pulling a wheeled trailer similar to Joel’s. I expect I would use the wheeled one most of the time, but if I needed the one w skiis I have the option of picking up roadside buckets w the pickup.
Interesting firewood observations. I worked up one basswood log a couple years ago & it was so stringy I decided the proper use of basswood was forest floor compost. I will have to try it again. I have plenty of poplar and junk pine as well.
Emptied my buckets about 7 tonight when I got home from boiling. It was that late-in-the-day Spring light and not really cold, the kind of weather & time of day that it’s real nice to be outside sugaring…
Thanks,
Mark
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Joel,
Good idea having it set up to tip, not only to get the sap but to help keep it clean, always an issue for us with those side bulkhead fitting tanks. Is that a 250 gal tank? We will have about 250 taps here and in the immediate neighborhood next year. Trying to think about the best rig for me for collecting. I expect that I might be going over sleigh trails w deep snow pack (like this year) but would also like to be able to go up the road to the neighbors roadside trees. Would be nice to have some clamp-on skiis for the forecart, ones that would go on the tires, w/o removing the wheels. Probably more trouble than it is worth.
Erika,
Yeah, the busy bodies are getting all over galvanized. Though from what I read in this Maine Extension bulletin (http://umaine.edu/publications/7038e/, “Reducing Lead in Syrup”, about 3/4 the way down), the less time the sap spends in contact w galvanized the better. So a collection tank would not be as big an issue as buckets or a storage tank.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

I would think that a round bottom SS storage tank, the kind on the angle iron frame that all the mfg’s are making now (e.g. see p. 36 of 2014 Bascom catalog), with a bottom drain, could be sized appropriately and fitted w a removable SS center baffle. The baffle could be hung from the top edges and braced back to the ends. A cover would be easy enough to fab up and would not necessarily need to be SS.
Mark

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