Keeping Going Mowing

[Howling Farmer]

This is my first time posting here, although I’ve been reading for a couple of weeks.

A few weeks ago I started mowing with my horse and am hoping someone might be able to offer some advice. My problem is keeping my horse going, and my question is twofold – first, how to tell if I’m asking too much, and if not, how to keep him going.

Milt is an eight-year-old haflinger, a hefty guy, somewhat overweight. Since spring, he has been worked regularly but lightly (some days all he has to do is move a 50 lb. goat shed a few hundred feet.) In the past, most of work he has done is short cart rides (3 miles or so) or hauling light loads short distances, although he has plowed a bit (both snow and dirt), and done some logging. We are using a New Ideal single horse mower with a 4-ft. cutting bar.

When we first started mowing, he almost instantly started balking at mowing taller, thicker grass. When I tried to mow hay (first cutting, fairly thick), he would go a short distance, then slow down to a crawl, clog the mower, and stop. I would then unclog the mower, and the scenario would be repeated. Other than mowing, I do my hay by hand, so when he mows hay, he only has to mow for 10-15 minutes or so.

Last weekend, it seemed like we were making progress. Friday we clipped his sacrifice area, which was basically only a few weeds, and he kept going pretty well. Same thing on Saturday and Sunday with two more pastures (one another ¼ acre and one about ¾ acre). Monday we mowed hay – fairly thick first cutting, but only two passes about 250 feet each, mowing in the slightly downhill direction. Only one clog at the end.

But Tuesday he didn’t seem to want to go at all, right from the start. Got a later start, so it was hotter, humid, and quite buggy. Got him to do two more passes on the hay, but then when we went to clip, I could barely keep him going. Even with frequent rest stops, it seemed like he was breathing awfully hard. Although when I got him back to the barn, he was barely sweaty at all, only under his collar and back pad.

At this point I’m wondering if I’m asking too much, based on his conditioning and his size? Maybe too much mowing too soon?

If he should be physically up to the work, any ideas on keeping him going? He doesn’t really pay any attention to clucking. “Yehaws” and cheering have worked at times, but not Tuesday. Tapping him on the behind with a whip is the most effective, but I’m quite a distance from his butt, not to mention trying to steer and work the mower, and end up giving what seem like ineffective taps, rather than a well-timed swat. I also don’t like having to get after him like that.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Leslie

[mitchmaine]

hi leslie, i’d start with the mower first. make sure its working well and easy, before i thought about your horse. if its hard to pull he’ll balk. easy stuff like sharp knife and plates. and see if you knife is in register( meaning if you run it by hand, does the knife stop directly under the section before returning ). if all is well, then question the horse. best luck, mitch

[Joshua Kingsley]

I can’t help much with a single haflinger on a mower. I use a pair on a JD#3 with a 5 foot bar. They are geldings about 900-1000# each and I have found that when the mowing is going good you should stop them, back up a little and let them blow. The best reward is rest. Others with more knowledge can chime in here because I am only starting to get this team of geldings used to “farm” work they are great in a carriage but don’t really like to get into the harder work.

Joshua

[Howling Farmer]

Hi Mitch, thank you for explaining register! My understanding of the workings of the mower is still quite limited (although expanding rapidly….) When I work the blade manually, the knife stops about 1/8 inch short of lining up with the next “set” of knives. So does this mean it’s out of register? The mower does a nice even job of cutting and the only time it clogs is when Milt stalls in heavy hay, or I run over thick hay that I’ve already cut. On the other mower I just picked up but haven’t set up to use yet, the knife stops just past the next “set.” So maybe that’s out of register too? Is adjusting the register difficult? I ordered the manual for my mower a month ago, but it somehow never got here. SFJ is sending another one but it hasn’t gotten here yet. Thanks.

[mitchmaine]

hi leslie, there is a rod connecting the heel of your mower to the pitman guard. it runs right across the front of your mower and looks like and is protecting your pitman arm. it should be threadede and adjustable. unbolt the end by the pitman guard and see if you can turn it. thats your adjustment in or out as you need it. when all else fails you can cut a new pitman arm and adjust the new length to suit. its important to close up that knife in the guards. but now you have to start thinking about the lead of your cutter bar. does it seem like the grass board end of your cutter bar is ahead, even or behind on square to the mower? should be just a little ahead if possible. good luck, mitch

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Mitch and Leslie, just so others understand Mitch, folks use the term register or timing to mean pretty much the same thing. In time or in register. I agree timing is very important, but an 1/8″ might not be having any effect. Not bad to adjust it if it is easy. I wouldn’t cut a new pitman for it.
Leslie, Did catch how to look for the lead?

I had a funny (sad?) thing happy this week. I broke the same metal plate at the end of the pitman I broke about six weeks ago. I know something is wrong with this mower, right? The timing and the lead seem perfect. Ever thing is sharp and running free. The mower has a seven foot bar and has mowed and clipped a lot of acres this year. Seems to be working well except these two broken plates. I have been using a custom rebent (Leon Brubake) push bar that helped me get the perfect lead, but now I notice that this push bar leaves the ball of the knive a little ahead of the pitman held square to the fly wheel. Could this tiny amount be tweaking the plate and causing it to snap?

I call up Norm Mcnair for his opinion. Not much help there, “I have been told since I was born that when that plate breaks it is the timing or the lead”. So I decide to change the push to another one that will move the ball of the knive back a little; I also loose a little of my beautiful lead.

Now for the punch line. as I am putting the knife back in I realize that it is very slightly touching the clamp on the ball against the point that sticks up at the knife holder at the inside end of the bar. With each trip around the knife slides forward a tiny bit just at the end of each stroke. So light a touch that you would never notice it while spinning it free hand, but if you imagine the grass pushing the knife back that would become a solid wack. More than enough to brake that plate. Now the mower mows but I can tell it is sluggish with out the lead that it had. I hope I can stop sweating long enough to put my Leon Brubaker special push bar back in!

No fun taking those things all apart. I am also out of spare parts for pitman sticks! Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Leslie, Did you look at how high your mower was set off the ground? I can’t remember if we talked about that?

[Howling Farmer]

Hi Donn, yes you did mention the mower height. I adjusted the shoe (I think it’s called) on the mower head to the second highest notch because that’s what I read in your post that you had done. The adjustment at the end of the bar seems to float. I don’t quite see how to adjust that.

I’ll check to see if timing is easy to adjust. Took a look at it earlier, but wasn’t quite sure still what I was supposed to be looking for. Need to re-read Mitch’s post more carefully.

Today I’m thinking part of Milt’s problem may well be the heat. Took him out during a break from the t-storms for a short cart ride to deliver milk to the neighbors. By the time we’d gotten him hitched up, the weather had gotten hotter and quite humid. Was only a 1/2 mile each way, cart with myself and my daughter, each of us weighing all of 100 lbs. each. Milt was one pokey puppy. I need to get some weight off of him.

Leslie

[Donn Hewes]

That sounds like what I am dealing with for Connie. She can’t handle the heat, and especially the humidity. D

Leslie, there should be an adjustable shoe on the outer end of the bar. Perhaps it is missing. You could take a picture? Donn

[Howling Farmer]

There is an adjustable shoe. To adjust, there’s a bolt that goes up and down in a groove. I wasn’t seeing how to adjust it because there weren’t any holes and it seems to float. Now I see that what I need to do is tighten it to stay in one place. To adjust the mower height higher, should I push the bolt down to the bottom of the groove (thus lowering the shoe), or should I push it up more towards the top to raise the shoe? I thought I remember reading somewhere that the bar is supposed to be level?

I’m finding the heat a double whammy for getting weight off. Not only am I working Milt less, but it’s harder to monitor his pasture time. I was putting him out for a couple hours in the a.m. and p.m., but with the flies and heat, he wasn’t going out and was only going out to eat at night, just as I was going to bed, when all he had access to was his sacrifice area. When I’d go to work him, all he could think about was eating whatever was in front of him. So I stopped locking him out of the pasture. He still mostly only goes out to eat at night, but I still think he’s getting more than he needs, even though the pasture is one that’s already been eaten down by the cows.
Leslie

[Howling Farmer]

Milt seems to have figured out the mowing. Had a retired farmer friend out last week to check out the mower. He thought it was running fine. Went out the next day to clip a pasture. Milt kept balking. I’ve been concerned that the mower was too heavy, but I’ve also been suspicious that some of Milt’s reluctance boiled down “bratty poniness.”

So finally I got off the mower and walked on the left so I could reach his butt with the whip. I have a rule about never getting off the mower with the blade engaged, but it seemed like as safe a situation as possible. We were in a pasture he’d been in for a week, and in his mind, he was hitched to the Titanic.

Mowed downhill, and as he started to slow around the turn to go up, I popped him a good one. I swear you could see the thought bubble over his head — “I didn’t think she could reach me!” Shot forward about three steps, then slowed to a steady walk. I had to get after him a couple more times as we went around, and then he went around once without stalling at all, so we quit.

Since then, I’ve adjusted the hitch so I can reach his butt from the seat, but I haven’t really had to get after him at all. He’s been mowing better and better. Today he actually seemed to enjoy himself, accelerating on his own on the inclines. I enjoyed myself too.

Leslie

[Joshua Kingsley]

That is GREAT news. It seems that once in a while these great little horses need a wake up call… Mine got one today with a new set of curb chains on the bits, they started to think that they could just take off and go and found out that I had a way of really getting thier attention.
I am really happy to hear that you are making out well with the mowing and all. Joshua

[reb]

Leslie,
I am glad to hear the mowing is working out with your Haflinger, I still havn’t used mine yet. How about some pics?
Richard

[Howling Farmer]

Joshua — I would agree with you that sometimes these guys need a wake up call. When I first got my Haflinger, a friend who has Haflingers asked me if mine had a “pony personality.” Having only had horses, I wasn’t sure what she meant…of course, I was soon to find out. It seems like it’s always something. Milt’s latest is that he can now pull the mower fast enough to mow hay and snack in the process. That’s what I get for still having tall first cutting left to mow.

Richard — I’ve been meaning to post pictures. I’ll try to get my daughter to take some this weekend.

Leslie

[OldKat]

@Howling Farmer 20143 wrote:

Milt seems to have figured out the mowing. Had a retired farmer friend out last week to check out the mower. He thought it was running fine. Went out the next day to clip a pasture. Milt kept balking. I’ve been concerned that the mower was too heavy, but I’ve also been suspicious that some of Milt’s reluctance boiled down “bratty poniness.”

So finally I got off the mower and walked on the left so I could reach his butt with the whip. I have a rule about never getting off the mower with the blade engaged, but it seemed like as safe a situation as possible. We were in a pasture he’d been in for a week, and in his mind, he was hitched to the Titanic.

Mowed downhill, and as he started to slow around the turn to go up, I popped him a good one. I swear you could see the thought bubble over his head — “I didn’t think she could reach me!” Shot forward about three steps, then slowed to a steady walk. I had to get after him a couple more times as we went around, and then he went around once without stalling at all, so we quit.

Since then, I’ve adjusted the hitch so I can reach his butt from the seat, but I haven’t really had to get after him at all. He’s been mowing better and better. Today he actually seemed to enjoy himself, accelerating on his own on the inclines. I enjoyed myself too.

Leslie

Ooohhhh! Please don’t do that again. If he yanks the lines out of your hands and gets away from you this could really be ugly.

If he gets balky again and you feel the need to “motivate” him try a longer buggy whip or get someone to either walk along while you mow and let them motivate him, or, let them mow and you tickle his rump. Mowing while on the ground is really NOT a good idea. Didn’t want to barge into your thread, but this really concerned me.

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