Look at what's going by.

[tallyho8]

One nice thing about living by the Mississippi River levee is that while I'm on my computer I can look out the window and see 4 of these going by, side by side, doing their regular duties. Bet I could cut my pasture in 15 minutes with one of these.

 

[WayneB]

you should invite him in for a cool one and while he is enjoying his brew, you could take a spin on the rig, through the pasture!

 

[riptides]

Or do what me neighbor did when he sees equipment nearby.....

Bribe the operator

-Mike Z.

 

[jinman]

One nice thing about living by the Mississippi River levee is that while I'm on my computer I can look out the window and see 4 of these going by, side by side, doing their regular duties. Bet I could cut my pasture in 15 minutes with one of these.

Do they ever cut and bale the levees? Here in Texas, where there is a wide highway right-of-way that is in front of someone's property, they often cut and bale it for hay. I've seen several places that would have 10 - 12 round bales sitting on the side of the road and then several hundred bales in a nearby pasture. While they are baling the big pasture, they just bale the highway frontage too.

 

[jimg]

I saw this same thing in SD and was surprised by it. I dont know of any place in the E that does this. Does the state sell the hay rights or do abutters have that 'right'? Id be interested to know how that works.

 

[tallyho8]

Do they ever cut and bale the levees? Here in Texas, where there is a wide highway right-of-way that is in front of someone's property, they often cut and bale it for hay. I've seen several places that would have 10 - 12 round bales sitting on the side of the road and then several hundred bales in a nearby pasture. While they are baling the big pasture, they just bale the highway frontage too.

I have not ever seen them bale hay on the levees. Baling round rolls on this steep slope might prove to be rather interesting. Each Parish deals with the levee in a different way. In the urban and suburban areas they just cut the levees. I live in Jefferson Parish on the west bank of the river. The east bank is more suburban and the west bank is more rural. They cut the east bank with flail mowers and the west bank with brush hogs. In some of the more rural parishes the levee is fenced off and contains livestock. Many people who own land on the River Road had the levee placed on their land and they still own land between the levee and the river but it is severely restricted by the Corps of Engineers as to what you can do with it. (basically nothing) When I was young a local dairy farmer would walk his cows up the levee about 3 miles and back each day for their forage. One man with a cow dog would handle this task with one more person stopping traffic when they crossed the road to get on and off the levee.
In the 1950s and earlier, people used to dump behind the levee. (illegally, but I never heard of anyone getting caught) They would just back up their pick-ups to the edge of the levee and dump trash out. It looked like a 50 mile long dump. I am very glad they stopped that practice and cleaned everything up that hadn't already floated down to the gulf.

 

[dmccarty]

Kinda funny that is a NH tractor. The mowers have been out in my county and they have NH tractors both new and old. The older ones seem to have a smaller 6-8 foot mower while the new ones have the wider mowers. The one I saw could make one pass up/down my road and be done in about 5 minutes.

The new models had cabs while the older ones just had a canopy. Wonder how they decide who gets to drive which tractor?

Later,
Dan

 

[tallyho8]

They used Fords with canopys up until they replaced them with NH air conditioned tractors a few years ago. They have an easier time hiring drivers now.

 

[cp1969]

Wonder how they decide who gets to drive which tractor?

Later,
Dan

Cab or no cab, with the slopes some of those guys have to mow...you couldn't pay me enough to do it.

 

[tallyho8]

One tractor turned over on the levee about a year ago, but it is the only one I ever remember seeing.