The 2016 shakedown baling is finished. I usually get somewhere between 30 and 50 bales per run off the small hay field and I got 46 this time around. I honestly think I would have gotten another 15 or 20 bales if I had a mower that worked worth a damn. So much hay got knocked over and not cut that it was clogging up the baler pretty bad and forced me to raise the feed hopper which in turn meant I missed some cut stuff too.
I also found out that the constant fiddling and starting back and forth on the diesel has made the battery go bad as it wouldn't start this afternoon after I got the baler ready to go.
It's always something it seems. Mrs. PP pointed out rather smugly that it's always something because I am using antiques. She got a giggle out of it until I pointed out that we were both older than a couple of her so called antiques.
Truth is this thing is slowly coming together. Ya the field looks like it got hacked up by a student in her first day of beauty school. I haven't fully learned how to set that sickle bar mower up properly and I had to jump start my tractor but there were many improvements.
For one thing last year I couldn't even get the sickle bar mower to work at all and had to cut the fields with the brush hog which severely depleted the overall yield. Still I baled up almost 400 bales total if I remember right and we are now down to our last 20 left over.
Secondly I am getting a much better handle on the old Ford 532 baler too. I managed to get her cleaned, lubed and set up so she only miss-tied the first bale and then popped the other 45 out just as tight and uniform as could be hoped for.
I also have all the tools needed for baler prep stored in the old girl now so no running around trying to find everything as I need it. The whole process was pretty painless in that arena.
The diesel not starting prompted me to try something I had been wondering about though which was if the old 8N could run that baler. I actually moved the baler from storage to field with the 8N and was able to run the baler with her but the ground speed and lack of a true live PTO on the clutch pretty much meant the 8N was useless with the baler. I just didn't have the speed and PTO control I need for it.
All in all I can't complain too much. Each time I do this I get a little better at it and the equipment gets a little more familiar and better at it's job.
That field looks like crap though. I am going to have to run the brush hog over it to even it out some before all the neighbors laugh at it.....
Hopefully this next week now things will begin to level out to normal once again and I will get caught back up on things I have let go. Like blogging and bee keeping to name a few...
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!
Nice looking hay, it beats using a scythe! Even the 8N has a limit in the square bale world. I can't remember seeing anyone use them after I thought about it but they can do the rest of the work. They must have used them with earlier balers that had their own motors? Hope you get a second cutting before long.
ReplyDeleteSf - I know there are a few youtube videos of guys baling with 8N's and one of them is using the exact baler I have. However they are almost all from Texas and on very flat fields with lots of open ground for making perfect uniform windrows. My guess is not alot of speed reduction to get past the heavy spots.
DeleteAs long as your gaining its a win situation. I grew up with a father who had old equipment and took care of it so it can be done and it won't cost you insane dollars in new machines. The hay looks good!
ReplyDeleteFiona - YA maintaining the stuff is the key. The sickle mower I bought has been used hard and put away wet a lot. I just don't know enough about them to get it whipped into shape.
Deleteyou need to show Mrs PP what New equipment costs vs the Old stuff you have and even the cost if someone cut and bailed for you. By the way great job. Oh who cares what others may think of your fields...just saying
ReplyDeleteRob - NO kidding. Also getting people to come and bale for you is next to impossible. Most of the guys with the know how and equipment to do it are already too pressed for time anyway.
DeleteWho are you calling an antique!? lol
ReplyDeleteRuss - No kidding.
DeletePreppy is there any way to email you, I'm an old blog sparring sorta partner with a request to make...
ReplyDeleteAnon - Sure my email is PP@fife-drum.com I am pretty bad about checking email though so it usually helps to post a comment and tell me to go check :)
DeleteDon't feel bad. They big commercial guys here, with their new, fancy equipment had problems baling, too. The stuff all grew in thick and was just getting laid over while they cut. Lots of missed hay in their fields, too. It'll all get sorted out by the end of the season.
ReplyDeleteBesides, the older stuff isn't powered by some stupid electronic gadget made in china that will short circuit in a week. We're cutting grass with a John Deere B and a #5 sickle mower. It works.
hobo - I am surrounded by some big players here. Maybe not big by industrial standards but they have some big equipment. Combines larger than my house and tractors with tires bigger than my diesel. They make me feel inferior sometimes :)
DeleteThe sickle bar mower is pretty frustrating. You need sharp sections and the sickle needs to be held down against the guards. If you have pointed guards then the edges of the guards should be sharp and not rounded. The same goes for stub guards but you don't think about it with the pointed guards as much. You also need hold downs to keep the grass from going under the sickle at the guard and not cutting. Putting new sickle sections and new guards on might make all the difference in the world.
ReplyDeleteBDS - I had a old guy come and look at it and he said it was in good enough shape but did need a few things as you mention. He said I had the blades sharp enough but the stub guards needed some attention. The grass going under the sickle was a big issue especially when I was cutting with the wind lay direction.
DeletePP,
ReplyDeleteWhen you run out and cut your straw/hay do you make a few circles, then after go back and forth to capture everything?
Looks like good hay. We still haven't cut. It's really getting thick in the pasture.
ReplyDelete