MossRoad
Super Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2001
- Messages
- 58,364
- Location
- South Bend, Indiana (near)
- Tractor
- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
Last Saturday, I baled hay for the first time in my life. 
A friend of ours has a few cows, pigs and sometimes horses. He has several hay fields, and I've been asking him for a couple years to let me know when he's baling it because I'd like to help and see how it's done. Kind of a bucket list thing. We've never had the right timing, because I've always been busy when he has to make hay. But things worked out Saturday, and I got to assist.
To be clear, I rode the wagon and did what the two 14 year old foremen told me to do while my friend drove the tractor and baler. :laughing:
Things I learned:
- At almost 60, I have no sense of balance. The wagon was like a giant skateboard. I stayed towards the middle until the bales at the rear were high enough to lean against. Then I was OK. Meanwhile, the 14 year olds walked around like it was nothing. I think they were chewing gum at the same time, too, just to antagonize me.
- Never stand next to the chute when the tractor is turning. It'll swipe your feet right out from under you.
- That bale is too loose while that bale is too tight, while they both look the same to me. Until you pick them up, and feel the difference. Ah-ha! Now I get it. :thumbsup:
- In the barn, I'd rather be on top of the pile arranging bales VS on the ground level throwing them up.
- 14 year olds say things like "Look at that old truck! It's a classic!"
- I say thing like "I hate to tell you this, but I'm older than that truck. It's a 67 Chevy."
- 14 year olds reply to facts like that with things like a trailing off "Wow..." in a dejected tone.
- Farm kids sound like they're all from Oklahoma.
- The only thing that I was better at than these kids was throwing the bales up over head height, but I had a foot and a half in height and 140# on each of them. :dance1:
- The world is not doomed. These kids were polite and hard working. One had a broken foot and was still out there working.
As we went along, I just listened to them. They talked about the condition of they hay. The weather. How much hay they got during the 1st and 2nd cuttings compared to today. The condition of the beans in the next field over. The beans they harvested last week. Some guy that was striving for exactly 32 pods on each plant. Not 31. Not 33. Exactly 32. One kid said 'WHY??" and the other shrugged his shoulders.
Honest to goodness, the way these two kids talked, they could have been any two TBN members with farming experience talking over the pickle barrel.
Anyhow, it was a small field and it only took us about half an hour. When we got done, my friend asked them how much they wanted. They both said $5. He gave them $20.
There were less than 50 bales. He told me to come back next year at 1st cutting when they get 400 bales off the same field and it takes 4 hours. Then you have to load them in the barn. YIKES! I'll give it a try. :laughing:
A friend of ours has a few cows, pigs and sometimes horses. He has several hay fields, and I've been asking him for a couple years to let me know when he's baling it because I'd like to help and see how it's done. Kind of a bucket list thing. We've never had the right timing, because I've always been busy when he has to make hay. But things worked out Saturday, and I got to assist.
To be clear, I rode the wagon and did what the two 14 year old foremen told me to do while my friend drove the tractor and baler. :laughing:
Things I learned:
- At almost 60, I have no sense of balance. The wagon was like a giant skateboard. I stayed towards the middle until the bales at the rear were high enough to lean against. Then I was OK. Meanwhile, the 14 year olds walked around like it was nothing. I think they were chewing gum at the same time, too, just to antagonize me.
- Never stand next to the chute when the tractor is turning. It'll swipe your feet right out from under you.
- That bale is too loose while that bale is too tight, while they both look the same to me. Until you pick them up, and feel the difference. Ah-ha! Now I get it. :thumbsup:
- In the barn, I'd rather be on top of the pile arranging bales VS on the ground level throwing them up.
- 14 year olds say things like "Look at that old truck! It's a classic!"
- I say thing like "I hate to tell you this, but I'm older than that truck. It's a 67 Chevy."
- 14 year olds reply to facts like that with things like a trailing off "Wow..." in a dejected tone.
- Farm kids sound like they're all from Oklahoma.
- The only thing that I was better at than these kids was throwing the bales up over head height, but I had a foot and a half in height and 140# on each of them. :dance1:
- The world is not doomed. These kids were polite and hard working. One had a broken foot and was still out there working.
As we went along, I just listened to them. They talked about the condition of they hay. The weather. How much hay they got during the 1st and 2nd cuttings compared to today. The condition of the beans in the next field over. The beans they harvested last week. Some guy that was striving for exactly 32 pods on each plant. Not 31. Not 33. Exactly 32. One kid said 'WHY??" and the other shrugged his shoulders.
Honest to goodness, the way these two kids talked, they could have been any two TBN members with farming experience talking over the pickle barrel.
Anyhow, it was a small field and it only took us about half an hour. When we got done, my friend asked them how much they wanted. They both said $5. He gave them $20.
There were less than 50 bales. He told me to come back next year at 1st cutting when they get 400 bales off the same field and it takes 4 hours. Then you have to load them in the barn. YIKES! I'll give it a try. :laughing:
