[AT] Fight over hay

[Cecil Bearden]

My New Holland round baler broke a shaft last week in the middle of the 
night.  Not knowing what happened, We put the baler in the shed and 
waited for this *&^%% weather to clear.  It has been foggy and mist 
every morning for the last week.  I had about 40 acres cut with a 
swather.  I had to hire a swather to cut this bermuda field because the 
wind has been so bad if you cut it with a mower, when the rake picks it 
up off the ground it blows into the next county.  You can't run the rake 
some directions because the hay will not clean off the wheels from the 
wind.

I found out my round baler was in trouble Thursday and spent most of 
Friday getting the pickup out from under the baler and then getting the 
feeder shaft out of the pickup.  I hooked onto the little vicon square 
baler to get it baled before the rain set in, and bent the PTO shaft 
driving out the gate.  I borrowed a neighbors JD 24WS baler and baled 
about 190 bales Fri night.  I called a contractor friend who wanted the 
hay for silt fence, and he did not seem as interested as he was when I 
asked him if he wanted some hay for this project we are working on.. 
Sat morning I made a couple of phone calls and then put an ad on Craigs 
list for small hay bales of horse quality bermuda and listed the 
location.  From the phone calls I had 190 bales spoken for, One taking 
150 bales and the other taking the 40.  However, the 40 bale guy did not 
show up until about 3pm.  I had 4 people show up with trailers by 10am. 
  I started baling again with the vicon after I had repaired the pto 
shaft and the shear pin on the pickup had broken.  It had been cobbled 
up before I got it..  I think the entire baler has been put together in 
a salvage yard.  I put in a new shear bolt, but the twine knotter 
wasi=n't working on one side.  I quit and went back to the JD baler.  I 
needed to rake these windrows together since the wind was down, but when 
I went to get the rake that was hooked onto the tractor, the tractor had 
a flat and when I aired up the tire, the batteries were down..  I went 
back and just started baling.  This borrowed baler is missing 3 
strippers from the feeder and about 8 teeth.  So, I left some in the 
field and the windrow was wider than the pickup so I had to make two 
passes over the windrow.  I had promised 50 bales to a couple who were 
to be back in about 1 hour.  I went on baling and the contractor friend 
showed up with 2 trailers and his grandkids to load hay and started 
loading even after I told him that 50 bales had to go to someone else. 
Had to stop in the middle of things and let in the nurse that takes care 
of Dad.  So, 2 more trailers show up and load 20 bales on each and hand 
me cash while on the tractor!!!  Finally the couple with the 50 bales 
show up and start to bitch at me for not having enough of the "good" hay 
that they had to have for the horse "cassie" that founders on pasture 
grass only!!! (sounds like a horse with a lead deficiency, about 
70grains worth).  Then the lady proceeds to start a fight with the 
contractor friend.  He just has the kids put the 45 bales he had loaded 
on her trailer, and then she starts blaming me for her having to borrow 
a trailer from a neighbor and it needed a tire!!!!!   I just told her 
that sundowner sells trailers on I-40..  Next thing happened was my JX85 
new tractor went flat on a front tire, so I had to quit.  Took the 
Belarus with the loader and pulled the baler away from the drawbar and 
shoved it under the shed. Then went back to the tractor and found that I 
did not have a large enough socket with me to take off the wheel.  So, 
went back to the house and just got the wrecker I bought a month ago and 
  towed the tractor back behind the wrecker!!!  Sure nice to have extra 
equipment.  I have to deliver round bales this morning and my Case JX85 
is the only one with a bale spike on it right now, and it has the flat...

I have about 30 acres of bermuda left to cut and bale.  The field is 
clean, no bales left, and I never touched a bale.  Looks like I need to 
find a good square baler and maybe one of those accumulator setups, and 
some more flatproof tires.

Cecil in OKla