A few pics from today’s square baling

[Hay Dude]

I take it, you are enjoying your new Ram. How many mile now? Enjoying the pictures. Jon

Yeah, I love it so far. The CP4 pump scares me a bit. Truck pulls twice as hard as my F-550 it replaced without feeling like its struggling.
I used to laugh when guys would brag about the bottom end torque on a Cummins. Now I know what theyre talking about and I am a believer. I have tractors with Cummins engines in them, too. They are a great motor.
Never thought what is essentially a beefed up pickup would easily pull 17 tons.

I can post up more pictures if you like them and thank you for the compliment

 

[Hay Dude]

Here you go, Lou. Photos I took in 1972 on Ektachrome slide film - nearly 50 years ago and I see there's a strong color shift now. (Our farm was in Pennsylvania, but just south of Binghamton, New York)
My brother on the David Brown chopping:
View attachment 714056

At the silos...Farmall H driving the belt since it had the belt pulley always mounted on the side. An "unloader" gearbox was attached to the left side of the wagon to the mechanism that pulled the false front of the wagon rearward, bringing the silage with it.
View attachment 714057

My dad, pulling the silage down into the blower trough. This was a new one to me...when I left for Vietnam we had a "Papec" brand blower instead of the John Deere in this photo.
View attachment 714058

God Bless your dad and your family. THEY should be given respect and admiration for what was typical of a Pennsylvania farm family back then. Hard work, staying together, raising their children with work ethic and a son who would sacrifice so much for God & country.

I am humbled by your service and sacrifice in Vietnam.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Here you go, Lou. Photos I took in 1972 on Ektachrome slide film - nearly 50 years ago and I see there's a strong color shift now. (Our farm was in Pennsylvania, but just south of Binghamton, New York)
My brother on the David Brown chopping:
View attachment 714056

At the silos...Farmall H driving the belt since it had the belt pulley always mounted on the side. An "unloader" gearbox was attached to the left side of the wagon to the mechanism that pulled the false front of the wagon rearward, bringing the silage with it.
View attachment 714057

My dad, pulling the silage down into the blower trough. This was a new one to me...when I left for Vietnam we had a "Papec" brand blower instead of the John Deere in this photo.
View attachment 714058

Love all the pics guys!!

 

[Hay Dude]

Here’s a view from the Massey 7495 & Pottinger front disc mower of today’s take down of 31 acres of hay.
I have another 75 acres to go and will be able to smell the end of hay season in a few weeks.
I heard Bryce Harper smacked a home run while I was sitting in the cab taking this picture lol

 

[Hay Dude]

Well today was a mixed bag. Got up early. Thanked God for another day of life on the green side of the grass in a *ahem* free country, and hit the road.
Got to the shop planning on dropping another 15 acres only to have a surprise dead batteries. My Massey always had a slow battery drain, but usually the summer is ok to leave the battery switch “on”.
Not today. Even on 15 minutes of vehicle jump start, not enough reserve to start!

Plan was to mow in the morning, then rake & bale all afternoon. I cut the cord on the mowing after trying to get the Massey going and ended up raking and baling 2 fields I had down.

 

[civilian]

Well today was a mixed bag. Got up early. Thanked God for another day of life on the green side of the grass in a *ahem* free country, and hit the road.
Got to the shop planning on dropping another 15 acres only to have a surprise dead batteries. My Massey always had a slow battery drain, but usually the summer is ok to leave the battery switch “on”.
Not today. Even on 15 minutes of vehicle jump start, not enough reserve to start!
View attachment 714768

Bummer on the Massey, Jon

 

[Hay Dude]

Got it back and running again that day.
Baled a couple small fields yesterday.
About 75 acres to go and I’m done. I can feel the end of hay season is upon us here.

Loaded up and hauling out a few nice feed hay bales

 

[EddieWalker]

Seems like there are a lot of advantages to those big square bales. I haven't seen them here yet, but I think it would be nice if my supplier switched to them. I'm sure it's too expensive to change from round bales to those massive square bales, but they sure would stack better with less wasted space in a barn.

The thing I like about round bales is when he brings them here with a self dumping trailer. He just turns the handle on the trailer and 16 bales are all on the ground at once. I don't even have to have my tractor there!!!

 

[MoKelly]

Seems like there are a lot of advantages to those big square bales. I haven't seen them here yet, but I think it would be nice if my supplier switched to them. I'm sure it's too expensive to change from round bales to those massive square bales, but they sure would stack better with less wasted space in a barn.

The thing I like about round bales is when he brings them here with a self dumping trailer. He just turns the handle on the trailer and 16 bales are all on the ground at once. I don't even have to have my tractor there!!!

We don’t have big square bales here either. Only the round ones. I’ve never even seen a big square one - except on the picture!

I’m not all that educated in hay. Around here, the hay that I see baled is simply field grass allowed to grow. It’s nothing special in my mind. It could either be mowed like grass or allowed to grow and baled.

Is that typical or do some folks grow special grasses for “real” hay?

MoKelly

 

[Bearsixty7]

...Is that typical or do some folks grow special grasses for “real” hay?

Where I grew up in SW MO. most "Good" hay fields were Orchard grass, Fescue, Timothy, Red Clover and less common, Alfalfa.
Many "hay fields" we did for other people were thistle, dandelion and a little fescue or ryegrass scattered through out.

Here in Texas they talk about Coastal grass and Bermuda grass a lot.