The pool is open, and the grass is tall - it's hay season! The field behind the swimming pool is the one dubbed the zip line field. All the hay fields in our neighborhood were mowed over the weekend, but our gear still wasn't ready, so we started late, with rain in the forecast for today. Hurry, Brandon!
This year, we have our very own big tractor, a borrowed rake and baler, and an old sickle bar cutter that Brandon bought from Craigslist and repaired. That long jagged blade on the back of the tractor is the sickle bar cutter. It's scary.
Folks these days use a different kind of cutter that is covered, and not as dangerous looking as this seven foot long bar with a series of jagged blades. As the pto on the tractor turns, these blades jerk back and forth really fast, and cut the grass against those metal spikes. It's dangerous to animals because although they can see the tractor coming, they don't realize that there's a blade under the grass and against the ground that sticks way out to the side of the tractor. We were careful to keep the dog away.
Here's a little clip of the cutter in action. Poor Brandon spent an eleven hour day in the sun replacing the blades and reassembling this cutter. He even had to take a part of it to the local welder and have it repaired. But, he finally managed to cut some grass on Monday afternoon! Whew! Everything to do with this hay making project was stressful. Not only did we have to figure out how to purchase, repair, and use this older technology, but we have the constant question of the weather hanging over us. You've got to make hay while the sun shines, and you know how rainy it's been lately. Every day we watched the neighbors make progress with their hay and we knew we were days behind. Hurry!
Once the hay was cut, it was time to turn our attention to the baler machine. It's pretty old too - although Brandon reminded me that it's only a year older than him, and he still works pretty good!
We had the manual for this machine. Whomever wrote it, bless their hearts, must have assumed all readers would have a basic understanding of the machine, because we struggled to interpret despite all the drawings and photos. There were about twenty places that needed lubrication, so we patiently scrubbed off the crud and used the grease gun. Joe told us the last time the baler was used was five years ago, but it worked then, so we were hopeful that it would work for us too.
Our next step, after cutting the hay and letting it dry, was to use the hay rake to make long wind rows. Since we don't have a tedder, which stirs up the hay to help it dry, Brandon raked the hay a bit during the early part of the day. Once I was home from work and we were ready to bale, he piled the hay into long rows.
Here's a little clip of the rake in action. It's pretty cool - it doesn't require the pto to turn it, instead, as the wheels roll on the ground, they activate a gear which turns the series of round rakes. Brandon used the little tractor for the rake, and then the battery died in the little tractor and it was stuck out in the hay field while it charged up again. Nothing like a dead battery to amplify the stress level. It's going to rain in the morning - hurry, Brandon!
We debated the dryness of the hay, and worried that it was still damp, but decided to try out the baler on at least one field and see how it goes. We expected a learning curve, but oh boy, was that an adventure. This machine is loud, strong, and seems particularly scary when your loved one is perched near it while it spins, thumps, and pounds. It has two "needles," which are several feet long and curved, and has a very particular order in which it must be threaded. After our fourth hour and multiple attempts to thread it, we finally managed to get it to tie a bale!
Here's a little clip of the baler in action. Little rakes on the bottom pull the hay into the machine. The pto on the tractor spins a giant auger which pushes the hay to one side, where a big plunger pushes it into a square hole. As the hay passes through the hole and onto a chute, those giant needles stab through it and a complicated mechanism ties the string around the bales. That tying mechanism was what caused us so much grief. We were warned that the first few bales probably wouldn't tie, so we tried over and over making bales that didn't tie, kicking them back apart, and trying them again. Finally, after pinching our fingers, and banging our heads, we got the tension right on the strings, and made hay bales!
The zip line field yielded eleven big bales, and by the time we got them stored out of the weather it was well past dark. We were exhausted, but so happy that we managed to make that equipment do it's job.
Today, Brandon finished baling the other two fields that were cut, and got the bales put away right before the rain fell. We have thirty bales, already. Now we just have to hope we didn't bale it when it was too damp. If it's too damp it will mold, or worse, catch on fire!
No comments:
Post a Comment