2nd cutting

[Donn Hewes]

Mowed about 4 1/2 acres of second cutting today. Plugging the mower a fair bit. A very thick pasture type hay, full of red clover and grass. A good bit of bed straw in this area and that all ways mows hard. A bit damp at the bottom from a lot of rain on Friday and Saturday too. Used a #9 mower with a seven foot bar. May have used the haybine but a have one mule with a hoof abscess. All told it took about 3 1/2 hours between the unplugging and resting the horses. Should make nice hay if I can dry it and bale it by Wed afternoon.

[Ed Thayer]

Folks are just finishing the first cut here. My field was green chopped early and has grown back in red clover nicely.

[Donn Hewes]

Beautiful hay making weather! hot and dry! So much for haybines. I went and tedded the hay yesterday morning from about 10 am to noon with a Grimm tedder. Much needed as there were many very large clumps from the poor mowing the day before. By noon the hay was almost dry! Raked it from 2pm to 4pm. and baled 243 From 4:30 to 6pm, just in time for milking to begin. Super nice hay. That is quite a lot from 4 1/2 acres, but that is why it was hard to mow, and that is the result of a first cutting in May. true confessions – baled with a tractor, one mule is lame with an abscess. I also got a new horse in last night so we will start to check him out.

[J-L]

Donn, I forgive you for using the tractor!
Wish I had your hay drying weather (we normally do), I knocked down 25 acres of grass hay (one cut is all we get, used two swathers) yesterday afternoon and it rained on it last night. I’m shutting water off and haying like a mad man for the next month or so while I have the kids home to help.
Good luck with the new horse. Keep us posted.

[near horse]

I too broke down and swathed my hay (until the swather broke down yuk yuk). We have bedstraw and ventenata (wind grass) mingled in with our orchard/brome/fescue mixture – those stinkin’ weeds really are a pain when cutting – in fact the ventenata will shake the header of the swather even at the slowest ground speeds – knocked out my wobble box! I don’t know how well the horses would have done w/ that crap mixed in.

On a plus side, everything baled nicely (a rarity) and after putting up all I needed I was deluged with folks wanting to buy hay – all sold and gone now. NOW THAT has NEVER happened!!!

It is still incredible to me that you can mow on one day, tedd the next and rake/bale on the third day!! That seems impossible unless you’re in AZ or something! I am impressed.

[Donn Hewes]

Actually I tedded, raked and baled all the day after I mowed. I mowed from 12 noon to 3:30 pm. on Monday. Baled at 4 pm. on Tues.

[mitchmaine]

same here, donn, hays making in a day.
wind came off the water today. strong breeze. couple of hay devils showed up and you were probably baling some of my hay over there in new york.
we have a church of the brethren family two roads over. seven children. the oldest boy found us sugaring one day and they stop by to help now and again. they are growing up pretty fast. one is married with a baby of her own. but the youngest girls showed up today while penny and i were picking up a couple hundred and i couldn’t get down to the ground fast enough to grab a bale. we have a buncher and those girls loaded two wagons faster than we could do one. same at the barn. they are the best gift i ever got save my three own sons. life is good. carry on.

mitch

[karl t pfister]

Same great hay making weather here too ! knocked it down monday baled most Tuesday except the outside shaded windrows needed an extra day . All done with 1/st cut now , it has been a few years since I was done in July . Forecast is for 3 more big Florida suns feels strange not to be gearing up again . Mitch , we had some of the biggest hay devils I ever saw both baling days , they make me laugh , though it makes the rows look like a drunkand man raked them. 1/st day the wind was from the north 2/nd day it was from the south and a little lite rain last nite to keep the 2/nd cut growing ,thanks be

[Howling Farmer]

Mowed second cutting yesterday for the first time. Pretty much a disaster…thought I’d get an early start before it got warm since the horse seems to be having such a hard time pulling the mower. BAD IDEA — the grass was still soaked from the rain the night before. Did okay on the first stretch because it was downhill and Milt kept going at a good clip. Slowed down at the corner and we were done for, swamped in a tangle of clover, alfalfa and bedstraw….
Leslie

[Donn Hewes]

Leslie, left or right turn? The mower was made to turn right With out too much trouble as you can roll the bar backward a little while you turn. When you turn left the bar speeds up throught the grass just as the wheels, and there fore the knife, slow. We usually use a left turn to open a field against a fence or a hedge but other wise turn right as much as possible. On a left turn to avoid plugging, use a little longer radius turn to help keep the speed up, sometimes lifting the bar a little will help as well. On a right turn if you slow too much on acount of trying to make neat corners, just ask him to stop before it plugs. this is better on two counts. When you ask him to move over (come gee) the bar will roll backwards and not plug (lifting a little as you turn), plus you will be lined up for the next side with out rolling out into the already mowed grass (all ways good for a plug)

Short, wet, green, and thick, are all the best conditions to test a mower, horse, or operator! keep at it.

[Howling Farmer]

Donn — Yes, it was a left turn as we were opening the field. That’s good to know about right turns being easier. Sounds like if we can get the field open, then the turns might be easier. The first cutting we’re working on, I’ve just been making “straight shot” passes down the end of it, I rest at the end and then we walk back to the beginning, not mowing. The part we’re mowing is mostly on a slight down slope. Sometimes he still slows and we plug, but it’s usually only once or twice, not every few feet or so. Yesterday we just did 3 passes on the first cutting (about 200 feet each) and today all he’s going to do is haul in the hay on tarps. So I’m thinking tomorrow to try clipping again. The pasture he’s been in is pretty well eaten down, so there shouldn’t be a problem with plugging to clip it.
Leslie

[Author]

Posts