[AT] Tractor talk, Baling hay

[charliehill]

Cecil, around here it seems like most of the horse people are women and most 
of their husbands (if they still have one) are not the least bit interested 
in horses.  I have actually heard some women say they would pay MORE for 
lighter bales.   If you figure that out you will have unlocked the inner 
workings of the female brain and you can get rich on the book and lecture 
circuit.  They don't seem to understand that they are loosing on both ends 
but to them a bale.   All I can say is take advantage of it if you can.

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cecil Bearden" <crbearden at copper.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2009 8:13 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Tractor talk, Baling hay


> We have almost finished Baling Hay around here.  I never have baled so
> late in the year in my 50 year of farming.  We had a cold front pass
> through and it dried things out a bit, so we did not have to work in the
> window of 1 to 5 pm for dry times.  The dew in the mornings had been
> like a rain!!!  We baled 7.5 acres of Bluestem prairie hay yesterday
> with a IH440 baler, and got 235 bales off of it.  The bales weighed
> about 45lbs.  No one seems to gripe about the light bales, So I am not
> squeezing down the baler.  At $4 a bale we might just break even this
> year.  We have about 500 bales of bermuda on the ground also.  I bought
> a NH 1330 Bale wagon to get it out of the field, as soon as it gets
> light I am going to see how many problems it has!!  The tractor I wanted
> to pull it with decided to have a flat last week, and yesterday after
> airing up the tire, the batteries went belly up...
>
> The bale wagon is set up with controls you reach behind and operate.  I
> do not know how that is going to work with a cab tractor, but will find
> out...
>
> We have used the Belarus 825 baling, and the 8345 raking and mowing hay.
>  There is a problem with the Belarus tractor transmission design.  It
> has a gap in ground speed at pto drive speed.  Both tractors use the
> same transmission, as do most all of the Belarus line.  There is a gap
> in the speed from 4.2 to 6.9 mph.  This caused us to drop our mowing
> production  from a little over 4 acres per hour to 3 acres per hour.  It
> appears that this added 2 days of mowing to our production.  We need to
> be able to travel about 5.25 mph for optimum use..  Raking causes the
> same problems.  Baling is not as critical, it is slow on the Bermuda as
> it was light, and we used the new 10 wheel v rake that has some
> issues...  On the bluestem it was ok as the rows had some heavy spots
> that would plug the baler if you went too fast.  My new hired hand
> learned how to go slow and steady after digging out the baler pickup 3
> times....
>
> It looks like I am going to go and get my JX85 Case/IH that I was going
> to sell.  If I put new belts on it and keep the radiator blown out each
> day, it may be able to run the disc mower without overheating.  It was
> better baling as it had 5 speeds in the 3 to 5 mph range.  Years ago, I
> had some factory literature on the Allis Chalmers tractors and they made
> a lot of noise about the fact that their tractors had more gears in the
> 3 to 5 mph range.  It sure makes sense now!!!  Allis also had a
> conservative HP estimate so you had a little cushion when running with
> an Air conditioned cab.
> The wind here is so bad that you have to wait to rake after about 4pm
> which means you will be working until 11pm.  I just bought 12 work
> lights from Atwoods yesterday to mount on the tractors. At 250,000
> Candlepower, maybe I won't have such a hard time finding the windrow.
>
> Working so late at night makes those cabs really nice even though the
> heaters are not working.  When I think back of working open tractors in
> the weather, I don't remember us running in the dark this late in the
> year.  Of course it was in a different part of the state where the wind
> is not always blowing, and we did not have these late rainfalls.  The
> climate is sure different from  my youth.  The wind is just the problem
> with my location.  This is one of the areas of the highest sustained
> wind.  East of Oklahoma City it changes, and for about 50 miles west of
> here it is less.
>
> I never baled hay on Thanksgiving day before, but at $4 a bale, who
> cares!!!  It is light out, so I guess I will see how well I can move
> bales with the new bale wagon before it rains again on Sunday..
>
> Y'all have fun now Ya' Hear..
>
> Cecil in OKla
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at