[AT] Haying (long)

[John Hall]

Wonderful stories!! Thanks for sharing.

John Hall

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert McBride" <bob100837 at yahoo.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 10:45 AM
Subject: [AT] Haying (long)


> 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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