A few pics from today’s square baling

[Bearsixty7]

Exactly that^
I’ve told mine many times, I don’t care what they do when they grow up but I want them to have an appreciation for real work. And that can’t happen unless you’ve done some.
View attachment 709967

LOL! I've told my son (almost 15yo) that if I ever find a field of square bales somewhere and we have the time, he is going to learn what real hard work is!

Only once have I seen some around here in NTX, over near Keller years ago and I pointed them out but we didn't have the time.

 

[Bearsixty7]

My son helping me during his summers has really changed his outlook on what work and sacrifice is. Of course he is paid fairly for his hours, but he has a better outlook on life.

Paid!?! I never got paid for haying until I was 16. I was filling the pickup from our fuel tank on a stand and Dad walked over and gave me a stash of cash. I said "what am I getting?" assuming I needed to go into town to get a part or cattle medicine. He said that was for all the hard work I do. I was kinda shocked! If I remember right it was hundreds of dollars. Most went in the bank. Luckily at that time I didn't have a steady GF or I may have wasted a lot of it.

 

[Bearsixty7]

I remember getting paid 0, but my family fed me and gave me a bed to sleep in.

LOL! I wasn't paid either, well see my previous post. That is what OTHER people got that hauled hay around there, Dad paid a few crews a few years until me and my brother were big enough, I was 6 or 7 when I was deemed big enough to drive or stack, I started bucking around 10-12 I think.

 

[deserteagle71]

I remember getting paid 0, but my family fed me and gave me a bed to sleep in.

^ This!

"Family" is the operative word. Being raised right, with the right values, and knowing that everyone in my family had my back if ever I was in need. We are still very close today.

In my opinion the lack of a cohesive family structure with so many families is causing a lot of the problems we are seeing in society today. Case in point - whenever I see a news story about some "child" that was involved in a shooting, it seems it is always in the middle of the night. What is that child doing out on the streets in the middle of the night??? The "Family" was OK with the kid running the streets at 2:30 in the morning?

 

[Hay Dude]

Paid!?! I never got paid for haying until I was 16. I was filling the pickup from our fuel tank on a stand and Dad walked over and gave me a stash of cash. I said "what am I getting?" assuming I needed to go into town to get a part or cattle medicine. He said that was for all the hard work I do. I was kinda shocked! If I remember right it was hundreds of dollars. Most went in the bank. Luckily at that time I didn't have a steady GF or I may have wasted a lot of it.

Welllll, yeah but hes 21. I cant ask him to work for free. He worked free when he was younger and he and the other kids do other work "free"

 

[buckeyefarmer]

^ This!

"Family" is the operative word. Being raised right, with the right values, and knowing that everyone in my family had my back if ever I was in need. We are still very close today.

In my opinion the lack of a cohesive family structure with so many families is causing a lot of the problems we are seeing in society today. Case in point - whenever I see a news story about some "child" that was involved in a shooting, it seems it is always in the middle of the night. What is that child doing out on the streets in the middle of the night??? The "Family" was OK with the kid running the streets at 2:30 in the morning?

^
Yep, the new woke culture is very against the family unit.

On the farm I learned carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, woodworking, electronics, how to pay bills, how to drive at a young age, how splice rope, how to maintain equipment, how to hunt, trap, etc.

If only we had a welder, though I eventually bought one for dad after his welder buddy died.

 

[Hay Dude]

My son has paid me back many times with scholarship money. Although I may pay him ~$5,000 a summer, he has knocked off $34,000/yr in scholarship money from his advanced anti-American studies institute (aka college)

 

[deserteagle71]

advanced anti-American studies institute (aka college)

^ Boy, ain't that the truth!

 

[Hay Dude]

My daughter is doing even better. Now she wants to get on the “payroll”

 

[ultrarunner]

I was 10 and my brother 6 when dad's friend had a disagreement with the land owner after just filling the barn loft with baled hay for the winter ..

It's the same riding stables where dad worked as a kid at Stateline Tahoe...

Never worked to exhaustion up to that point dragging bale after bale to drop down to the 18 wheeler and attached trailer...

We couldn't lift anything but dragged across the loft... Dad's friend did the stacking on the flatbed ..

The 1860's barn is still there and now a state park on both Nevada and California sides...

Redirect Notice

 

[leeave96]

Here are a couple videos we have on our youtube channel. The first is baling with a view from the tractor seat back to the baler and kicker wagon. The second is a drone video. John Deere 5055d, 348 baler, #42 kicker and home made kicker wagon racks.

Enjoy!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Oh, a kicker and a wagon, you cheated!

Nice video, wish I had a drone back when we did hay. Dad stopped making hay 2 yrs ago, but he’s still mowing the fields at 97 yo.

 

[KenEtch]

It’s dangerous for sure.

I’m not a farmer, but I do use ZTR’s, brush cutters and a 35 hp CUT for brush hogging.

Anytime around these machines there is danger. Moving parts and sharp blades.

In my opinion, the danger compounds as the day goes along. The work is physically demanding and mentally taxing. So, we get tired.

Working with dangerous equipment and being tired can be a bad combination.

Plus - you are typically in a remote place with no one around.

MoKelly

So true about remote locations &
nobody else around. Step back 50 or 60+ years, when cell service didn't exist, & many farms had no landline, or at best a party line. Then forget stat flight to nearby hospital. I remember several farmers in Southern Illinois with a hook hand instead of a real hand, or worse dying in field. Farming is indeed a demanding, dangerous occupation, even today. Bless them all.

 

[beenthere]

Thanks, Mo.
Yeah it’s fun to teach him something, but it’s a dying trade. Just wish it was a little safer and more prosperous
Probably why it’s dying

Much, much safer than back in the "old" days. Even have AC in the tractors with cabs these days.
Good if kids will do a job and do it well.
How old is the son?

 

[Hay Dude]

Much, much safer than back in the "old" days. Even have AC in the tractors with cabs these days.
Good if kids will do a job and do it well.
How old is the son?

Oh yeah, its much safer, but still has danger. Especially when 2 tractors are working in the same field.
We do have cab tractors with AC. They are much safer in terms of sun exposure and inhaling dust. Rollover protection, too.
My boy is 21. I tried to keep him away....couldnt live with myself if he was hurt, but a father can only keep him away for so long.
He will finish college and work summers and breaks for me

 

[Hay Dude]

So true about remote locations &
nobody else around. Step back 50 or 60+ years, when cell service didn't exist, & many farms had no landline, or at best a party line. Then forget stat flight to nearby hospital. I remember several farmers in Southern Illinois with a hook hand instead of a real hand, or worse dying in field. Farming is indeed a demanding, dangerous occupation, even today. Bless them all.

I have a cell phone, but get into places that are desolate and have very spotty cell reception

 

[Bearsixty7]

Oh yeah, its much safer, but still has danger. Especially when 2 tractors are working in the same field.

Not sure why it would be so unsafe with 2 tractors in the same field, we have had up to 5, maybe even 6 at a time, plus pickups and trucks being loaded and never even close to an issue.

IH H or 464 raking, 574 square baling, A big White 100+hp round baling, IH 464 and a IH 504 or something like that moving the round bales. We may even had an Oliver running a JD Moco at the same time in one particular field where 4 families were doing the hay on shares.

 

[Hay Dude]

Not sure why it would be so unsafe with 2 tractors in the same field, we have had up to 5, maybe even 6 at a time, plus pickups and trucks being loaded and never even close to an issue.

IH H or 464 raking, 574 square baling, A big White 100+hp round baling, IH 464 and a IH 504 or something like that moving the round bales. We may even had an Oliver running a JD Moco at the same time in one particular field where 4 families were doing the hay on shares.

Unsafe is a relative term. When you are in a small field with an inexperienced operator, IMO it can be unsafe. Especially when raking and baling in tandem. We already have had a few close calls, so that’s the way I see it. I make 1000 tons of hay a year and with the amount of time I spend in the field, it’s a wonder we haven’t had anything more than a minor accident. Also, many of my fields are hilly or have obstacles to work around.
If you don’t feel the same way, I have no reason to disagree with you.
Its an unsafe way to make a living in general and accident statistics support farming as a very dangerous occupation.
Stay safe out there!
Keep posting pictures, both current and past!

 

[Hay Dude]

Well, it rained yesterday. Temps were in high 70’s (about 15* below normal). Good day to work on the dad blasted knotters.

 

[Hay Dude]

Loading squares for shipment