A few pics from today’s square baling

[alpacalips]

Send some of that hay to northeast WA, the drought has pushed grass hay to $400/ton here!

 

[Bearsixty7]

I thought square bailing was a thing of the past. Labor intensive and a great deal of storage needed, plus danger of burning barn to ground if hay is too green. Really good pictures though.

You are thinking of the smaller, 75-100 lb. bales that most people handled by hand. Usually a 3 man crew, driver, bucker and stacker, sometimes me and my brother alone would do it, put the pickup in Granny gear and let it crawl along and I'd reach in occasionally to steer it between the bales while we both bucked and stacked from each side. Once we got to the 4th row we'd stop and have to climb up to stack properly.

Those big square bales are used a lot for bales that are sold and trucked with a semi, they don't leave any unused or wasted space.

 

[51allis]

WOW, thank you for sharing the pics...Was raised a city boy then moved to the country after I married my wife. When you live in the country you learn to be self sufficient to a certain extent. As the years progressed, I had various jobs and never knew anything about farming, just surviving. it wasn't until about at age 45 we bought our 20A farm spread....this is when I got into old tractors and old hay equipment...because the newer stuff was just to expensive for what little I cut and couldnt justify the cost. My first tractor that I still use is a 1951 Allis Chalmers (we call her "Allie") and I wanted to try and use her for haying...so we got a sickle mower, then a old loose hay rake. Believe it or not....I thought it was the best thing ever as Allie had the hand clutch which I just love....we did loose hay for 2 years to feed 2 horses we had...it worked great but then got a small square baler and it changed. I can tell you, that to me, cutting hay in manageable sized field became something I looked forward to...it was a break from the hectic world around us, it always made me feel so peaceful...could shut off my brain and just focus on the task at hand....now at 50 I look back and how things used to be done on a farm and wished I could have learned long ago....No matter how old the equipment, as long as its in working condition, if you have a will you have a way....I think this is why our country is not the same any more...the loss of small farms has really taken a toll on society and its norms. But luckily there has been a resurgence as we see all the bullcrap going on. Thanks again for the pics and thank you for your service.

 

[sea2summit]

Send some of that hay to northeast WA, the drought has pushed grass hay to $400/ton here!

Send a freaking truck! 5-800# rounds here are $25-35 right now for cow hay because no one wants first cut, especially while all the pastures are green for grazing.

 

[Bearsixty7]

Raking hay that had been rained on in 1972:
View attachment 709723

Chopping corn in 1969...my brother was riding shotgun on the chopper because a lot of the corn had been blown down in a storm and he had to clear the throat of the chopper whenever it plugged.

That looks like the same rake we had, a New Holland 256 IIRC. We also used an old H a few years but most of my raking was with a IH 464.
We would mow with 2 IH 464's and 7' sickle mowers (Dad and me, later me and my brother), Then when it was time, I would pull my mower off and rake (Except for the years we had the H for raking), then Grandad and later my brother would bale with an IH 574 and an IH 430 maybe then later a IH 435 or something like that.
Once raking was done, I'd put the mower back on and Dad and I would start the next field.
Various uncles and cousin's sometimes helped.

 

[RancherGuy]

I thought square bailing was a thing of the past. Labor intensive and a great deal of storage needed, plus danger of burning barn to ground if hay is too green. Really good pictures though.

Even the smaller 70# bales are now managed by equipment. The most common buyer around here are people with horses. The baler can be followed by an accumulator that organizes them into a single layer group of 8 to 12 bales and lays them on the ground, then that group can be picked up by tractor with FEL and hay grapple which lays over the group and picks them all up in unison, then places the group on a trailer/truck.

 

[RancherGuy]

Do you have to fertilize those fields once in a while?

Around here, Houston Texas, if you want higher quality over a period of time, fertilizing is essential. If conditions are right, I apply a moderate amount between cuttings. Richer green, denser and faster growing. If I neglect to fertilize, after 3 years the harvest gets skimpy and does not shade out weed competition. That's what I do because I hay land that I own. Few who lease land put in the money because if the lease is lost, someone else profits.

 

[RancherGuy]

Send some of that hay to northeast WA, the drought has pushed grass hay to $400/ton here!

WOW! And around here (Houston Texas), the first two counties off the Gulf have had so much rain over the past 3-4 months that nothing can get baled. We are now in the middle of August and I have not been able to get my first cutting.

But it is not always the first two rows of counties. My biggest customer last year calls now and then to talk. He has 1600 acres under lease and is located closer to San Antonio (100 miles inland) and spent lots of money on planting and fertilizing. Two weeks ago he said he cut 100 acres, but 4.5 inches of rain followed, flooding the field. Of the heavily-seeded Sorghum grass that he planted, being unable to cut, he says the grass is now 8 feet high.

With the lack of contract hay or spot market hay being cut, I have a strong feeling that there will be a severe lack of hay this winter around here. I really feel for people who have to face severe impacts of issues out of their control - producers and buyers.

 

[deserteagle71]

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  Original Curt and Mark with Steyr bringing in the hay (2).jpg

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Yep... memories for sure and where my love of tractors began... family dairy farm in the family for generations...

A wonderful experience spending summers with my Grandparents and cousins and a window into another way of life...

That tractor was part of the family and my Grandfather sold timber over several years to raise the money to buy and opted to go hand crank because the electric start was a costly upgrade...

Single Cylinder diesel with a glow plug lit with a match...

Still remember the sound of the motor as it started...

The drive belt was used a lot... moving hay with a blower, buzz saw, pumping the manure pit.. etc.

Love the photo!
At least the sickle bar mower was mounting on the side of the tractor. All the years I had to use one it was mounted on the rear; by the end of the day I would have a severe kink in my neck from constantly looking back at the mower. Had to keep watching it because the mower would become plugged - especially when mowing something like lush red clover. Had to get off the tractor countless times to pull a critter's nest off the knife guard to get that part of the sickle bar to mow again.

 

[deserteagle71]

We used a McCormick baler and I remember when I was a kid about 10, my dad taught me how to tie a square knot and I sat on the twine storage area as we baled. When a bale did not tie, I would tie the twine while we were moving. That baler had a knotter problem, but we still used it for about 30 years. The picture below was taken in 1954, pulled by an Oliver 77.

We had a McCormick also - and it had the same problem. I believe all the baling we did with that unit was done with a kid sitting on the twine box, checking each bale to make sure it was properly tied.