2016 Hay season started for me.

powerscol · May 11, 2016

Is the calf's name T-Bone or Porterhouse?

I have looked into getting an Angus steer to feed out, but I no nothing about it or how much work it wold be. I have horses, but I know they are not the same. My FIL raised feeder caves in Mississippi and he was sure glad to get out of it and retire a few years back. Was the calf born on your place?

I may be able to cut the end of the month or wait until mid June after my trip to the gulf coast. Around here we need to have the first cutting up by July 1 before the monsoon season starts.

cat fever · May 11, 2016

I like T-Bone.
Buying a calf and feeding it out is no work at all. IMO
Yes, the calf was born at my place while I was in Missouri. I had several friends and neighbors checking in on the cow while I was gone. (first calf)
I'm very excited about how well the growth in my field is doing. Almost afraid the hay will not fit in the "cow/hay barn". Good feeling to have I suppose.

kevin37b · May 12, 2016

Still do not understand how you can stand the view ! Is that a grain storage facility in background pic #4 ? Crop is looking good and so is the new little guy or girl .

cat fever · May 12, 2016

Thanks Kevin,

Yes, it's a grain mill for a local egg farm.

cat fever · May 13, 2016

Here's a few more shots of the field.

As you can see the snow is about gone and the mountains are greening up. It's about 80 degrees today.

wmonroe · May 13, 2016

Great pictures, I always enjoy when you post them. The fields are looking very good too.

foreman Etexas · May 19, 2016

Well everything went on Craigslist on 5/17. Was selling as whole but someone gave me good price on the New Holland TL100 and have a lot of interest on the hay equipment separate but I still have it bundled at $27500,if someone brings me 25cash I will go ahead and sell. Boy it's going to be different when move and not have but 5cows and no hay to do but my son is having some health issues nothing life threatening,just changing and I'm going to just spend every minute with him,ride dirt bikes,jackpot steers shows,that type stuff.

wmonroe · May 19, 2016

You can always go back to doing gay if you wanted. The rest sounds like some priceless family time.

cat fever · May 22, 2016

foreman Etexas said:
Well everything went on Craigslist on 5/17. Was selling as whole but someone gave me good price on the New Holland TL100 and have a lot of interest on the hay equipment separate but I still have it bundled at $27500,if someone brings me 25cash I will go ahead and sell. Boy it's going to be different when move and not have but 5cows and no hay to do but my son is having some health issues nothing life threatening,just changing and I'm going to just spend every minute with him,ride dirt bikes,jackpot steers shows,that type stuff.

Foreman, sounds like a new chapter is opening up in your life. Good luck to you and your son.

As far as my haying this year, it's looking great. Very deep and thick. Will be going very slow with the haybine I think. Still a couple weeks away the oats have not stated to head out yet. Alfalfa is starting to flower but the growers around here told me to wait until the oats are ready since they make up the bulk of the field.

wmonroe · May 22, 2016

wmonroe said:
You can always go back to doing gay if you wanted. The rest sounds like some priceless family time.

Hay! I meant to type hay.

cat fever · May 22, 2016

wmonroe said:
Hay! I meant to type hay.

I think we all knew that. But, it was funny. G and H being right next to each other on the key board----easy mistake.

wmonroe · May 22, 2016

I was hoping everyone knew but wanted to make it official. That will teach me to do a quick proofread before I hit send.

foreman Etexas · May 23, 2016

wmonroe said:
I was hoping everyone knew but wanted to make it official. That will teach me to do a quick proofread before I hit send.

Yeah I knew was hay but still got a laugh out of it.

powerscol · May 25, 2016

Well walked out in the field this morning and noticed the stocks seeding out and realized if I waited to the middle of June to cut after our vacation it was going to be very stemy.

So I hooked up my new to me PZ 170 and went to cutting. OMG does this unit do I nice job. I have to re-learn my pattern as the tractor tire prints dont get cut sometimes and it takes two passes for me to be able to drive the tractor over the cut windrows. I also need to mark the top for the cut limits so I dont need to fix mohawks. But unlike the sickle mower, I can just back up . Its a bit slower than the sickle mower (I have a 9' bar), but gives a better cut. After cutting I ran my GF222T tedder through it. Sweet.

cat fever · May 27, 2016

Looks great powerscol,
I think I'll be cutting in the next two weeks. The oats are just starting to seed out. The rain we have been getting combined with fertilizer has made my field look better than it has for the last 20 years. I'm looking forward to cutting.

Not the best picture to see the field growth, but it's very green and still growing up. The average depth is close to 30".

farmer2009 · May 28, 2016

Need to move one more tractor today. Then we'll start cutting. Have 30-40 acres to cut. About 5 I'm still debating on if I should graze or cut. With 2 cutters running this year I'm hoping to get done cutting today.

powerscol · May 28, 2016

Got 25 75# bales off of the 1.5 acre I cut. I am happy with the quality and it appear the tedding cut at least 1 day off and gave a better uniform drying. I tedded twice and only raked once. I did get a bit of rain on it, but still looks and smells good. Second and third cutting should be good too from what I can tell from this cutting.

foreman Etexas · Jun 1, 2016

Well everything went pretty quick to three different homes. It will be a change this summer for sure.

farmer2009 · Jun 1, 2016

Well the first 20 acres are rolled up. 63 bales. Which sucks. Should have been closer to 100. Think I'll fire my manure applicator. Still have about 15 acres to cut. But will have to wait till after this next round of rain.

Btown · Jun 2, 2016

powerscol said:
<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=469856"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=469857"/> Well walked out in the field this morning and noticed the stocks seeding out and realized if I waited to the middle of June to cut after our vacation it was going to be very stemy. So I hooked up my new to me PZ 170 and went to cutting. OMG does this unit do I nice job. I have to re-learn my pattern as the tractor tire prints dont get cut sometimes and it takes two passes for me to be able to drive the tractor over the cut windrows. I also need to mark the top for the cut limits so I dont need to fix mohawks. But unlike the sickle mower, I can just back up . Its a bit slower than the sickle mower (I have a 9' bar), but gives a better cut. After cutting I ran my GF222T tedder through it. Sweet.

Your first pass should be with the cutter to the outmost edge of the field. Then you turn the tractor around and the cutter after the first pass in this direction will be in grass that has not been driven over.