RippySkippy
Silver Member
As a farm kid one of my jobs was to knock down the hay, dad had a John Deere conditioner (don't recall the model) with the arched tongue that was also the hydraulic reservoir. The conditioner was 12' wide, and by the time you added the tongue length, the outer end was ~30 feet away.
Typically I would cut the outer swath first (driving on the standing hay) turn around going the oposite direction I could get most of the driven-on hay picked up. This particular time though, when I was cutting the tracks out, as I neared the pond, I spotted a movement in the outer wheel track. I pushed the clutch, hit the brakes, which caused the conditioner to lunge forward.
I saw the object get picked up with the reel, tossed into the feed auger. I thought about yanking the PTO lever. I realized that IF what ever it was would make it through the conditioner rolls, I'd be better off. If it didn't, well I'd be there cleaning it out. WHAM, the conditioner roll slammed shut....I pulled forward and shut down the machine.
A snapping turtle with about a 15" shell was cut from stem to stern (from the feed auger), and the shell was cracked in about a dozen pieces. Talk about angry...despite his condition, he was PI$$ED (couldn't really blame him). Not much to do but leave him, by the time I finished the field, he was dead. I wish we knew how to fix turtle, the hard part was done!
Of all the years of running that machine, that was the only critter I ran through it...spooked many deer, pheasants, quail, foxes, coyotes.
Typically I would cut the outer swath first (driving on the standing hay) turn around going the oposite direction I could get most of the driven-on hay picked up. This particular time though, when I was cutting the tracks out, as I neared the pond, I spotted a movement in the outer wheel track. I pushed the clutch, hit the brakes, which caused the conditioner to lunge forward.
I saw the object get picked up with the reel, tossed into the feed auger. I thought about yanking the PTO lever. I realized that IF what ever it was would make it through the conditioner rolls, I'd be better off. If it didn't, well I'd be there cleaning it out. WHAM, the conditioner roll slammed shut....I pulled forward and shut down the machine.
A snapping turtle with about a 15" shell was cut from stem to stern (from the feed auger), and the shell was cracked in about a dozen pieces. Talk about angry...despite his condition, he was PI$$ED (couldn't really blame him). Not much to do but leave him, by the time I finished the field, he was dead. I wish we knew how to fix turtle, the hard part was done!
Of all the years of running that machine, that was the only critter I ran through it...spooked many deer, pheasants, quail, foxes, coyotes.
It must've crawled in there this past winter, got stuck & died. SWMBO wasn't amused. The BH & pressure washer took care of the mess.