[AT] Haying (long)

[Robert McBride]

That hay loading video brought back some memories for me. The first memory would likely be about 1944 and we were still using the old dump rake, which my mother used to do most of the raking at home. I think we "cocked up" the hay with pitch forks until 1949. Grandad was always fussy about cocking up the hay so as it would turn the water when it rained. Sometimes it would be a week or two before we got around to hauling the hay to the barn.

   We got our first tractor in 1948, a Case VA but it wasn't used in haying until /49 or /50. My uncle got his first tractor, an Allis B about the same time and both families started haying together. (my uncles farm was directly across the road from ours) Haying at home was usually uneventful, we used the slings with 4 bundles to the load with short hay and the hayfork for longer hay. My mother usually drove the old team of horses to pull the bundles up in hay mow. That old team (Minn and Polly) had done that job all their life and didn't really need any body to drive them. They did the same job at my uncles barn and when we finished up for the day, we just unhooked them from the rope, they automaticaly walked home and stopped at the water trough and waited for some one to unharness them.
It must have been about 1950 when we started using the hay loader, a rope and wooden slat type similar to the one shown in the video. We used my uncles Allis B to pull the wagon and loader. Haying at his place could be exciting sometimes. He had a bank barn with only one way in. I remember a time or 2 when the tractor would stall just at the door way. I don't remember how we ever got the thing started and got the load up in the barn without the engine throwing a spark and burn the barn down. (damn lucky I guess)

   After we got the wagon unloaded nobody seemed to be able to back the tractor and wagon out of the barn and down the hill without taking a long time. Well now why don't we just push the wagon out by hand, run with it as far as possible, give the tongue a sideways throw and the wagon won't go too far. That worked good 99% of the time. One year uncle John had parked his 3 sections of spring tooth harrows beside the ramp to the barn.
We pushed the wagon out of the barn and started running down the hill, gave the tongue a throw one way and one of the wheels must have went over a bump in the ground, that swung the tongue the other way and wagon ended up on top the spring tooth harrows. I learned a lot of new words that day.:):)

   A couple of years later uncle John had a small building about 10' x 14' for some chickens. It was on skids and for some reason he had it parked in his back yard directly in line with the ramp to go up in the barn. You probably guessed by now what happened with the wagon this time. Yes the damn wagon went straight as a string right down the ramp and hit the building. Neither the wagon or the building seemed to suffer much if any damage and I can't remember if there were any chickens in the building at the time or not. I learned a few more new words that time.;)

  There was that time when I got the trip rope wrapped around my foot, got it off before it got tight enough to trip the bundle of hay down beside the wagon. Nobody ever knew about that until now.:) My life wouldn't have been worth living.

These days all I have going for me is some memories, sold all my tractors and stuff. The only antique I have left is an Appollo magneto, base mount.
It turns very stiff but is still hot. Guess it will sit on the shelf until I'm gone. 

Robert (Bob) McBride
Retired on the banks of the Rideau River

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