2017 Haying Season Off to a rough start!

bill ns · Jul 1, 2017

We started this season by making sure all the equipment was ready and in tip top shape well before hand. Grass is tall and we had lots of wet warm weather looks like haying season is going to be productive! All the local cattle farmers started mowing so we watched the weather forecast. It called for three days of intermittent showers so we waited for our window of opportunity. On the third day it looked like we might have a chance so we took a gamble and decided to mow a small field close by into square bales for the barn. One hour into mowing the mower breaks ! I limp home take it apart and repair it 2 1/2 hrs later back at it . Meanwhile a thunder storm passes by but doesn't hit us . Ted the hay the next morning all good . Head to the field 3 rd day to check hay. Weather calling for rain later in the evening . Hay is dry all good get out newly rebuilt Massy 25 hay rake one and a half passes around the field and one of the new non inflation tires parts company with the rim . So rush back home again set up the haybob to rake the field . Then get out the baler and start baling hay its so thick takes 4 hrs to bale 3 1/2 acres and produces 350 bales just get it home and in the barn the rain starts again 2 days later its still raining ! Never a dull moment on a horse farm .

BoylermanCT · Jul 1, 2017

Nice work. Still waiting for a break in the weather to cut and bale here in CT. Been getting afternoon thunderstorms every other day. Wettest spring / summer in a long time.

Farmer495 · Jul 13, 2017

Get that mower from Fort? Doesn't look that old.

224 baler? That should be a hay eating SOB, I bale around 4.5 MPH with a #9, 100 bale/acre stuff it would still be 3 MPH. A 224 should be almost impossible to keep full. Last one I was around was on an 80 PTO tractor and couldn't drive it fast enough!

bill ns · Jul 18, 2017

Yes i bought the mower from Fort It works awesome Hopefully that was the only shoddy weld on it .
I bought the baler second hand from a dairy farmer who was only baling a couple hundred squares a year for a horse and decided it was easier to just buy the hay We do 1000 to 1500 a year I can easy do over a 100 bales a hour it is too big for the 40 hp International but it gets the job done !

Farmer495 · Jul 18, 2017

I saw those small Kuhn mowers on the lot a while back, they were an actual PZ mower anyways, Kuhn also has the (PZ) Haybob now, Fort had those on the lot, think there's one now.

276 should be able to pull that 224 in L3 in almost any hay dropping on the ground.