[near horse]

Hey all,

I read that a poll conducted through BEEF magazine showed that most producers think the NAIS proposal should be scrapped, not mandatory or voluntary. The question is will USDA pay attention or do like the FCC did a few years back and take comment but still do what ever it damn well pleases.

If you’re a small producer, check out NoNAIS. Keep hammering your representatives if you find this regulation to be an unjust burden for small farmers to bear just so the Cargills, ConAgras and ADMs can force open export markets.

[near horse]

And I thought I was the only one not able to get my DAP “fix”.
Glad you’re back.

[near horse]

I also started haying on Friday and made my first pass around our smaller field (~5 ac) w/ no mishaps but I had to keep my horses reined up a bit as they wanted to trot. Started in on the second round and – BANG – broke the old pitman stick BUT no problem I have spares. Unfortunately when I went to replace it I noticed that the “bearing” on the flywheel was pretty loose and sloppy. And that put me out of commision until Monday (or later) when I order the replacement plate setup from Norm Macnair.

Has anyone used the replacements he has?

[near horse]

I agree Rod but, and I hate to keep complaining about it, out here you’d need to add another zero to your $150 if you could even find an old tedder. Believe me, I certainly don’t relish recreating the wheel – so now it looks like if I want/need a decent piece of horsedrawn equipment that I can afford, I need to take a 1000 mile road trip (or more).

I do have a junk side delivery rake – that’s where the idea came from.

[near horse]

Hi Joel,

We do have a Big R nearby (about 100 miles one way) and they have a little sisal but only the 16,000 ft for round bales. Our Cenex coops have become Primeland and is actually where I’m getting a bit of sisal twine from but am very ambivalent as the warehouse guys have mentioned that this stuff has been bounced from one warehouse to the next over the last few years.

This is becoming hardly worth the effort.

[near horse]

Thanks for your replies.

I ended up talking to the Bridon Cordage Rep for this region and she located some sisal twine for me. But even she admits that no one keeps it on hand much because it doesn’t “keep” well on the shelf and starts to lose some of its strength and consistency over time. So one has to be aware that although the sisal twine is “new in the box”, it may have been shuffled from one store to another or just sat in a back room for a few years. I think that may be the case for what I’ve located. I’ll let you know how it performs.

[near horse]

First off – here in the inland NW we have been getting rain or threats there of since the end of May – no good hay cutting weather (good grass growing). Here, there is no 2nd cutting because there is essentially little or no rain in July and August.

I would like to know if any of you that bale are using sisal twine rather than the poly plastic stuff? I’n just tired of the huge mass of twine left after a season of feeding poly tied bales. Finding sisal twine in my area (w/in 250 miles) is almost impossible – but I’m still working at it. Any pointers or other comments regarding using sisal twine. I know it doesn’t last for years but that’s fine. I’m interested in things like adjustments on billhook tension, tightening or loosening the “clamps” on the bale chamber ….. just things that need to be addressed when you switch from poly to sisal.

Thanks – I might have brought up the sisal issue previously but here it is again.

BTW – I’m running a JD 347 PTO baler.

[near horse]

Thanks Scott and everyone. You never really know how much you don’t know until you know:)

[near horse]

Thousand hills – once again Donn has hit it pretty straight on. There seem to be good suitable teams of every color, size and species as well as some “not so good” ones. The biggest issue is finding a team that fits where you’re at. Eventually, you can always move to a more challenging pair if you desire but if you start off over your head, it can be over before it starts.

Good luck and keep at it.

[near horse]

Great responses! The bar length/ergonomics of limbing was what brought this to mind. When I bought my saw almost 20 yrs back Jonsered just came out w/ the 630 or something that was a “turbo” – essentially ran the chain at a much higher speed than the 625. My concern at the time was increased speed equals faster wear so I opted for the 625. The saw was setup w/ a 24″ bar but I went for a 20 because I thought it would be more nimble in limbing.
Carl, I also do as you suggest using the log surface to support the saw and the shorter bar would be convenient. The longer bar comes in handy when you limb from on the log (common out here) walking down the log.

A lot depends on the species of tree you’re cutting as well. Our western larch is a nice straight tree w/ small branches (thus used for telephone poles) while Ponderosa pine can have lower branches as big as small trees and intertwined, twisted …..

especially when one gets tired at the end of the day

Simon, you’re right here. Fatigue is a dangerous thing in all aspects of logging (and farming for that matter) –

What gas/oil ratios do you all run? Again, back when I bought the saw I wanted to be “good” to it so I ran it a little rich (maybe 30:1) rather than 50:1 that is the norm here. Probably hurt overall performance.

In the field – how many spare sharpened chains? Anyone field sharpen? Time to change or sharpen when the “chips turn to sawdust”. Your thoughts?

No doubt on the safety gear!

Can one of you differentiate on chain types – full comp, skip tooth, semi skip, chisel, square (new one to me).

Geoff

[near horse]

I agree Jen.

[near horse]

Hi George,

Robert Moonshadow tried to get something like a “lending library” going back in Feb/Mar w/ no real response from the community. But rather than the group holding the DVDs and books, each member could loan stuff that they have on hand – maybe pay shipping or something. Since interest seemed to be non existant, it ended up that just he and I are exchanging materials right now.

Good idea(s).

[near horse]

George,

I agree w/ Mark on this one. Many haymakers switch to a newly sharpened knife after each day’s cutting (sometimes even 1/2 day). It’s nice to have 2 knives so the swap can happen pretty seemlessly then just sharpen them up at night. Also, the guard nearest the mower is the one that likes to plug and others on this site have mentioned using stub guards or one w/ no “top” on it to reduce plugging. But sharpness solves a lot of problems.

Haying is awesome though, isn’t it? Good job.

your day1 /day2 difference was loosing just that much of the edge off your knives?

[near horse]

It will be the first step for you

Towards what?

trying to solve other people’s problems, which I don’t think is truly helping anyway,

That’s convenient to decide that solving their problems isn’t helping them. It takes away that responsibility you like to talk about.

This is what I was trying to get you to realize. When you finally become aware of how your allegiance to the socially correct concept of trying to save the world has placed you square in the middle of a sweeping wave of mindless human flesh pouring over the edge of a cliff, you will have a better idea of what I am referring to. The “hole” is that place where we make bad decisions based on a tradition of bad decisions, in the hopes that it will bring a new result ( new horizon), and the “solid ground” is that place where you finally feel yourself taking control of the elements of your own success based on simple human truths that have been overlooked, or even disdained, for eons.

I am aware, not of any allegiance to anyone or anything, but of the frightening mindset that you’re promoting – that’s what will take us over the edge. And, as I said earlier, I’ll go willingly before I will ever adopt this attitude and perspective. Sorry.

[near horse]

Wow – Carl, we are worlds apart on this issue. Some of your last comments seem almost circular – like “if I spend time helping people then I can’t be ready to help people” (my paraphrase)

If I am spending my time trying to solve other people’s problems, then I am not putting into place those things that I will require to be able to help even the smallest group of people.

We delude ourselves into believing that we can actually see what our choices can bring. That is why we are where we are. We focus on what we think is the point, and we always miss the real affect of our choices, until they come up and bite us on the butt.

That IS all we have – the ability to try and make decisions (and hence choices) looking forward. We’re not right all the time. Nobody is. But we’re also not wrong all the time either.

In fact the “hole” is only sucking in those who don’t see or hear it, and those who can’t feel the pull of the current. I didn’t say that helping others was going to pull me down. What will pull us down is running wildly, frantic with the crowd, rather than finding some good solid ground to hold onto. And I have no remorse in letting the crowd go in their frantic headlong rush to a new horizon

I don’t even really understand what “hole” or “solid ground” you’re talking about. Or new horizon.

When you’re sick of trying to help people who can’t hear you, or who can’t believe what you’re trying to tell them, then you will know that if you find me, I will have food, roof, and wood to share, and you will be welcome

That’s exactly how I feel about this discussion. So I don’t see how we can be so different in our view of how we help people. Perhaps it’s in how much risk we are willing to take in assisting someone and who we’re willing to take in. I don’t know for sure but I do know I can’t live that way. If that means I’m doomed, I’ll go willingly.

Good luck with your endeavor as well.

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