haying

[Mark Cowdrey]

I mowed Tues as soon as the rain stopped and we got that baled and in yesterday. The forecast looked good so I planned to mow again Wed but then it changed for showers Thurs night so I held off. Yest AM it had changed again for no showers Thurs night and I was so pissed I went out and laid some down anyway just for spite. I did have enough sense to quit after a dozen or so rounds when the mare’s tails and mackerel skies were fighting for possession overhead. Don’t know whether I will be able to salvage it or not, conditions do not look good for us in NH to get dry before Sunday. Good luck Ed. Oh, and I believe it is “Old Bitch Nature.”
Mark

[j.l.holt]

over heard a old man telling another ”they were having so much trouble with the weather they were going to dry it one bale at a time in the cloths dryer!”’

does that really work????

[JayChase]

those are grade haflingers….

[Ed Thayer]

We got about 200 bales in this afternoon. Pretty good stuff considering the rain that we got. Fortunate to have good friends and neighbors to help today.

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[Mark Cowdrey]

I got mine in as well, despite it being soaked Thursday night. Quality OK to good. Tedded 3-4 times Fri, which was a great drying day, once yest AM & baled it a little less than optimally dry about 1 PM, spooked by the radar. Rain held off til after dark but drying conditions deteriorated from about 3 on, still & muggy. Thanks from here, too, to friends and family.
Mark

[Donn Hewes]

This week I watched as my Amish neighbors put a few loads in their barns. Not really a good week for making bales here, but that little extra drying time for the baled hay made a difference. Yesterday morning as it was raining I visited a couple farmers that still had two wagons in the mow to unload. Nice hay, but even that loose hay was really as dry as they would like it.

I always like to point out when mowing conditions will be particularly challenging, and the need for the best tuned mowers will be. Sitting in my housing drinking tea! I can see clearly that the 6 acres in front will be terrible to mow. A fertile piece with second cutting coming up through the first, all lodged and laying in every direction. I will be sure to report once I get started. Until then I will be the guy with his head under his pillow! D

[Ed Thayer]

Glad you got yours in Mark. Friday really saved us as well. I started raking yesterday about 2:00 pm after seeing the black clouds start to roll in. But the rain did hold off until about 8:00 pm. Checked the tempature of the bales this morning on a few of the heavier bales and all was good. Only about 10 deg above air temps. We stacked it all cut side up and only 2 deep.

Don, I hope you have good luck with the mower. Your conditions sound similare to ours last year at this time. Here hoping you get a good stretch soon.

Ed

[Does’ Leap]

The hay we cut Tuesday/Wednesday was rained on Wednesday night. Five teddings later we were able to bale 150 on Friday afternoon. I thought we would be baling Saturday but, although relatively cool, the drying conditions were ideal – low humidity, sunny and breezy.

Fingers are crossed for some decent weather to come….

George

[Brad Johnson]

Nobody around these parts has put in dry bales yet, all wrapped or sileage. I am glad not be be producing my own this year, but hopeful that I will get a call soon to come and pick up in the field. Let’s all hope for drier weather to come!
-Brad

[JayChase]

Weather forecast for Friday – Monday looks good for my area…. going to put up all I can….

[LongViewFarm]

I have only recently had the pleasure of mowing back pasture and hayfield with my #3 mower. No I really want to learn more and eventually make my own hay.
If anybody wants help in the near future with haying, I’d like to come work and observe. Also, does anybody have a copy of “Haying with horses” by Lynn Miller or any other good reading on how to gain these skills that they’d be willing to lend me?
Thanks,
Jay

[wild millers]

We got our first round of hay in last week successfully! Great looking weather window opened up today and we cut the remaining 4 acres of our first crop this morning.

To answer Daniel’s question posted earlier on.. we have two # 9 mowers that we have fixed up, one with a 5 ft. bar on new rubber wheels and one with a 6 ft bar on steel wheels with semi decent lugs on them still.

This morning was the first time I have cut hay with the 6 ft machine after we acquired it and fixed it up. So far I’m not sure that I like the extra foot on the cutter bar. It obviously saves passes and time, that is nice. It just feels a little awkward with that much more weight and length out there. Also I can see that so far I prefer the rubber wheels over the steel even though I’m not going down the road or over any hard ground, it is still feels like a noticeably smoother ride on the rubber than steel. I was having some issues with losing wheel traction and the resulting clogging on a few wetter spots in the field that I don’t think would have been an issue with the rubber tires. I have never yet lost wheel traction with the rubber wheels. Has anyone else found traction trouble more readily with the steel wheels on their machines?

[Donn Hewes]

I have worked very little with the rubber tires, but I am pretty sure that the best steel wheels will have better traction than the rubber. You are right that the condition of the tires or wheels is critical to the performance of the mower. The longer the bar, the more important the wheel conditions are. I run seven foot bars, and with the mowing we are facing now I was a little dubious, but yesterday we made a few trips around (stll way! to wet – we stopped when we hit the standing water), I was glad to see it was still possible for us to mow this heavy, wet tangled mess. We will face some plugging, but once or twice per lap is just enough to rest the horses. To run in these conditions mowers must be perfectly set up and maintained. I have never minded the ride from a mower, but I use a sheep skin on the seats.

60% chance of rain tomorrow!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 10 months ago by Donn Hewes.

[wild millers]

Lots of sun the next 4 days here it seems like every hay field in the neighborhood got cut today.

Nice idea with the sheepskin. After a few hours of mowing that bolt head sure starts to get uncomfortable.

[Ed Thayer]

Mowed the last 4 acres of first crop on Friday. Very wet from the 1.5″ of rain from the day before. The forecast was predicted 4 days of sun and low humidity. Beautiful drying day yesterday, cloudy with 60% chance of rain this afternoon. We just can’t catch a break this year. Looks like we will be teddin several times on Sunday to get it in the barn.

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