[AT] Fuel prices and old tractor activities.

[Francis Robinson]

    I find my old tractor activities to have been greatly curtailed by high 
fuel prices. Since I retired from grain farming all I do with them is bale 
some hay and do mowing of barn lots, around fences etc. but while I used to 
just climb on and do it I now look long and hard at just how badly it needs 
mowing. I also do more mowing with the lawn tractors since they generally 
use less fuel and leave it more finished. Even using them is painful at the 
pump.
    Last year was a loser for baling hay. It rained here almost every three 
days all spring and summer. A neighbor across the road got three cuttings of 
alfalfa and it rained on all three of them. This year it has been so dry 
that the hay has grown little. We mowed the yards last week after a month of 
not mowing due to no rain at all. Now the rain is coming back and things are 
greening back up nicely. The ground is still pretty dry and most small 
creeks are still dry. Fuel cost is so high that if hay was selling like it 
was two years ago it would hardly pay the cost of mowing, raking, baling and 
hauling the hay. This year is going to be an exception though since hay 
supplies are going to be quite tight at least in this area and from what I 
am reading in much of the country. I follow the hay prices posted by the 
Knightstown Indiana sale barn in the Farm World weekly paper. Rather than 
the .75 cents to $3 prices that were common before they are now running 
mostly $3 to $5 for small square bales. I keep hearing stories of small 
livestock producers paying up to $10 for extra nice small square bales and 
as much as $5 for "former green stuff" baled from old pastures and lots. 
Several people have told me of baling hay fields this year and getting much 
less than 1/2 of the normal bale count from them. Hay acreage is way down 
this year as well since thousands of acres of hay lots around here were torn 
up and planted to corn and soybeans due to higher grain prices.
    It "may" rain today, better chances tomorrow and still better chances 
Wednesday. Then supposedly a chance of maybe a week of nice warm and clear 
but not hot weather.
    It was in the mid nineties yesterday and they were issuing the usual 
warnings but son Scott and I spent the afternoon laying block for the 
26'x32' addition he is building onto his house. We were wondering if the 
mortar might dry too fast but the dripping sweat kept every thing fairly 
wet...   ;-)
     I am going to try planting some late pumpkins today using the Super MTA 
to prep the ground. I hope that I don't have to use dynamite to loosen it up 
first. The late date makes them "iffy" but if I don't plant them at all I 
know they won't grow...   :-)
    I bought a good John Deere sickle mower last year (at the Greensburg 
Indiana tractor show auction) and I think I will put it on my Farmall Super 
MTA to cut much of the hay. I hope the combination doesn't burst into 
flames...   ;-)

BTW, Gas is still around $3 at most local stations for the cheap stuff.



--
"farmer"

Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net