Farmall A and Horse Drawn Hay Mower

[chipsndust]

My uncle in his 80's doing what he loves to do. His grandson in the passenger seat.

Farmall A Tractor pulling an Horse Drawn Hay Mower - YouTube

 

[MIKE R]

Imagine, that's how they used to cut all the fields but behind horses. Not just there for the ride. It's always good to see that the old equipment is still going strong

 

[Larry Caldwell]

When I was a kid our old AC WC had a belly mower, but my dad had me on an old horse drawn buck rake behind the tractor to rake the hay. It was not a very secure perch for a 7 year old kid. I held my butt to the metal seat with both hands and operated the rake by foot pedals. Originally the hands held the reins and the feet ran the rake.

We also put up loose hay in the haymow using a hay hook. That was more fun. I got to trip the hook to drop the hay, and then pull the hook back to the opening to drop it again.

 

[Ken]

Before WW11 and until the mid 50's my father used a home made tractor using a Model A ford and Ford T rear end with a "Brownie" transmission to add power to the wheels. Then all the horse drawn equip Mowers Hay rakes and also a hay bucking rack to push the hay into piles for loading with pitch fork onto a wagon. tractor would pull the wagon to barn and a cable attached to a hay lift and tractor pulled the cable up to opening into barn and the pole leaned enough so when hay was at level of the opening it would swing into the hay mow. a rope would be at bottom of load and when yanked the hay was dumped and then again forked in a stack. all available kids were walking the stack to pack the hay. Hot dusty and no air flow and the work lasted all day long. Drank water at room temp by the gallon.
The Home made tractor was sold in mid 50's for a Farmall H and a bailer pull type with Wisconsin engine and bales were tied with wire my job was to ride on side where the dust was blown in face with every packing of the ram my older brother rode on the other side inserting the bale stops at proper time and pushed the wire ends to me to tie. Then end of days bailing it was time to load onto a flat bed truck the bales and when again at barn had to toss the bales into the hay mow one at a time. Still have my used to be polished hay hooks.
When we were hired out to other farmers. received a payment of 3 cents a bale to load and unload from truck .
When finished it was time to do the evening choirs. milk the cows feed the calves and hogs.
High School foot ball coach wanted us to play ball. came out to the place to talk with Dad. And Dad agreed if we finished the chores we could go back to town and practice.it would only be a 10 mile walk. Coach never pushed his idea again. Went into the service with weight of 165 and 28" waist line.
But basic training was the easiest life I had known up to this time.
ken

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Went into the service with weight of 165 and 28" waist line.
But basic training was the easiest life I had known up to this time.
ken

I know what you mean. When I was growing up, kids worked on the farm, and work meant hard. One of the easier jobs I had was sewing sacks. Most crops, I could get the sacks sewed before the combine made its next round, but after the harvest we had to load truckload after truckload of grain by hand. One of my most impressive childhood memories is of my 80 year old grandfather picking up a 100 lb. sack of wheat and throwing it from the rear of the truck all the way to the headboard. The work kept him in shape. He lived to be 98 years old, which was a remarkable age 50 years ago. Prostate cancer finally killed him, which is a **** of a reward for how hard his life was.

We still have his cradle reaper. My dad used to look at it and say, "Those were the days when men were men."

****, farm life has gotten soft. We even have tractors with air conditioning, and if you aren't lucky enough to keel over from a heart attack, hospice will come around and make sure you don't suffer too much.

 

[Ken]

Living in Colo. This before Dad had sold out and moved to Ark. We had a grain binder also pulled by the home made tractor. riding the binder and shocking the wheat in to 5 bundles then dump to be made into shock. dusty sitting on the binder all day. when we had the area bundled we went around placing the shocks together to keep together. Then the threaser came by and leveled and prepared to start gleening the wheat. Remember the year the threaser man came with a new case tractor with rubber tires. and one of the tires went flat. he gave and employee of his and standard tire pump told him to stay with it until filled with air. must of took all morning. but then the long belt was put on the tractor and when all was in place the shocks were hauled in and tossed into the hopper. wheat was kept in a bin and the straw was blowen into a stack. The spinning belt and the thrashing machine moving it was a dangerous work.
Sacked grain then was loaded on to a truck to be again unloaded in the feed room of the barn. Don't remember the sewing of the sacks they were twisted and stacked so could not fall over.
The portain that the threasure man was paid for the work was put in a mid 40's Ford cab over 2 ton truck of type seldom seen today would be nice to have. and hauled to grain silo.
ken

 

[chipsndust]

I have enjoyed the responses. My Dad has passed on, but I remember working with him and my uncle as a kid. My uncle bought that Farmall A new when he returned from WWII.

All the implements we used, the sickle bar mower, the hay rake, and the hay wagon were converted from horse drawn. I barely remember the last team they had.

What is the name of the thing that they pulled over the windrows of hay? The hay was raked into rows, and then they pulled this thing behind the hay wagon that picked up the hay and carried it to the top and then fell on the wagon.

We kids would jump on the hay to pack it down on the wagon. They had a fork on a rope that lifted the hay off the wagon and dropped it into the mow, where we got to pack it down again.

Seems like a long time ago . . . well, I guess it was nearly 60 years ago!

Any help with the name of the "hay picker"?

 

[Ken]

I have enjoyed the responses. My Dad has passed on, but I remember working with him and my uncle as a kid. My uncle bought that Farmall A new when he returned from WWII.

All the implements we used, the sickle bar mower, the hay rake, and the hay wagon were converted from horse drawn. I barely remember the last team they had.

What is the name of the thing that they pulled over the windrows of hay? The hay was raked into rows, and then they pulled this thing behind the hay wagon that picked up the hay and carried it to the top and then fell on the wagon.

We kids would jump on the hay to pack it down on the wagon. They had a fork on a rope that lifted the hay off the wagon and dropped it into the mow, where we got to pack it down again.

Seems like a long time ago . . . well, I guess it was nearly 60 years ago!

Any help with the name of the "hay picker"?

Never saw one in use we only had a fork.
Manuel no batteries. Never overheated either. the user did.
ken

 

[turnkey4099]

I have enjoyed the responses.

Any help with the name of the "hay picker"?

I'm from back in the horse farming days. Dad was, I am sure, the last one in our area (Central Idaho) to trade inhis horses for an old Caterpillar 10.

Can't help with the 'hay picker' Bale pickers yes but even those came along later.

We had a mare that was our hoist puller. Had that track running under the top of the hay mow and sticking out over the wagon. We used hay nets - on on the empty bed, fill load half way up, another net and finish load. then a hay fork, and a Jackson fork. Jackson Fork seemed to be the ost efficient.

That mare knew her job. Only needed two commands "get up" and "back". No attendance. Hook her up, holler "get up" from the wagon, she would walk out to where we had laid a single tree, stop and wait for the "back".

Yep, my job was mostly up in that hot, dusty hay mow.

Harry K