The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[Hay Dude]

I can work a much longer day feeding branches and small trees into my chipper using the mini-ex, vs hauling and feeding them by hand. You have to be a bit more organized about stacking stuff so it's pointing in the right direction, but then it goes real fast.

We tried feeding longer logs into the bigger chippers with the grapple, but the automatic feed systems don’t like that. The auto feed wants to have long large diameter logs chipped by drawing the log in-out, in-out, in-out, etc.

Have to be careful with logs. You can over-feed, or stall the chipper if you feed too much.

Brush, yeah you can shove it in there and it’ll eat it.

I can pull together 1 to 4 helpers on any given job and we can do a lot in one day.

 

[hayden]

We tried feeding longer logs into the bigger chippers with the grapple, but the automatic feed systems don’t like that. The auto feed wants to have long large diameter logs chipped by drawing the log in-out, in-out, in-out, etc.

Have to be careful with logs. You can over-feed, or stall the chipper if you feed too much.

Brush, yeah you can shove it in there and it’ll eat it.

I can pull together 1 to 4 helpers on any given job and we can do a lot in one day.

I load stuff in until the feeder grabs it, then let go and let the feeder do the rest

 

[BackRoad]

That was a mess Mr. HayDude! And it looks like still more to come down with the standing Ash (?). Those look like opportunities for dropping limbs while cutting, and similar to the worst ever barber chair I experienced with the split running 20' up the trunk.

Good Luck with the rest of the clean up! You might talk Mr. Winterdeere into running over to pick up those logs for firewood...!

 

[RayIN]

Great pics and commentary. Until I got my cab tractor, I had no idea how productive I could be in winter. I never thought of mowing in winter, but it makes sense to get it done before spring hits.

Did the landowner give you a reason why they don't want their fields cut for hay? Do they have tax breaks for ag there? I've heard that a lot of people have their fields cut for hay just so they can pay less taxes on that land, and they don't really care if it's good hay or not, just as long as they can keep the Ag Exception on their land by having it baled.

Mowing in winter allows me to see what was hidden by foliage, especially multifloral rose bushes. Insulated coveralls, ski gloves, and full-face hood. (open station tractor)

 

[EddieWalker]

Insulated coveralls, ski gloves, and full-face hood. (open station tractor)

I've never owned any of those things, and I'm thankful for that!!!

 

[RayIN]

I've never owned any of those things, and I'm thankful for that!!!

When it's zero outside, cattle require feeding and snow plowed, those are required here in Indiana. I can't use a tractor cab, too many trees to mow around/under with brush hog.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a lot of respect for what it takes to run a farm up North in the winter. Here in East Texas, we get below freezing, and even into the negative numbers, but it's only for a few days to a week at the most. My hay bale tractor is an open station Deere that I would freeze to death if I tried to put hay out with it, so I always make sure to put a fresh bale out before the cold hits.

 

[Hay Dude]

Then theres customers.
They always seem to run out of hay on Sundays when its raining, snowing or 12 degrees.

 

[RayIN]

I have a lot of respect for what it takes to run a farm up North in the winter. Here in East Texas, we get below freezing, and even into the negative numbers, but it's only for a few days to a week at the most. My hay bale tractor is an open station Deere that I would freeze to death if I tried to put hay out with it, so I always make sure to put a fresh bale out before the cold hits.

View attachment 2891051

OTOH; summer days of 90°+ and 85% humidity it was a T-shirt and baseball cap.
That's why I have skin cancer, with countless places frozen off and cut away. I have to laugh at ignorant people why say farmers/ranchers have a easy life.

 

[mjonesnh]

OTOH; summer days of 90°+ and 85% humidity it was a T-shirt and baseball cap.
That's why I have skin cancer, with countless places frozen off and cut away. I have to laugh at ignorant people why say farmers/ranchers have a easy life.

Haven't had skin cancer yet but had to have actinic keratosis places frozen off, which are a form of pre-cancer. Like you, t-shirt and baseball cap. Starting this year applying spf 40 sunscreen to problem areas.

 

[RayIN]

Haven't had skin cancer yet but had to have actinic keratosis places frozen off, which are a form of pre-cancer. Like you, t-shirt and baseball cap. Starting this year applying spf 40 sunscreen to problem areas.

Some years ago, while wintering in FL, I bought a few long-sleeve T-shirts that have built-in sun protection/SPF rating. They are polyester, and cool to wear, sweat evaporates quickly. Baseball cap replaced with cowboy hat to shade my head.

 

[deserteagle71]

OTOH; summer days of 90°+ and 85% humidity it was a T-shirt and baseball cap.
That's why I have skin cancer, with countless places frozen off and cut away. I have to laugh at ignorant people why say farmers/ranchers have a easy life.

Same here. I have a standing appointment with my dermatologist twice a year and she always finds more to cut off or freeze at each appointment. But then my Dad always wore a broad-brimmed hat (usually straw) and long sleeved shirt when he was outside and yet he had the same problem. By the time he passed away most of his right ear was missing, cut off piece by piece as cancers kept recurring.

 

[RayIN]

Same here. I have a standing appointment with my dermatologist twice a year and she always finds more to cut off or freeze at each appointment. But then my Dad always wore a broad-brimmed hat (usually straw) and long sleeved shirt when he was outside and yet he had the same problem. By the time he passed away most of his right ear was missing, cut off piece by piece as cancers kept recurring.

My dermatologist told me sunscreen higher than 30 was just wasting money, and not to rub it in, just coat the skin. I like the sunscreen today; not greasy like years ago. DW won't let me out of the house until she lathers me up, too late is better than none I guess.
It addition to farming, I retired from Army Infantry, so sun has always been part of my life.

 

[sixdogs]

A good way to help yourself in the sun is to dress for it. I wear thin western styled shirts in the summer and a decent straw or palm straw hat in the summer. The long sleeved western shirts are cooler than short sleeves and a bigger hat is doctor demanded.

My shirts are from Ely Cattleman in Texas, are tough and I can barely wear them out. I buy direct from them on sales but they are sold everywhere. Worn since I was a kid and never a problem.

Ely Cattleman Shirts

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elycattleman.com

Hats come from SunBody Hats and I think in Texas. Highly regarded company. Their site is an education by itself. I always size mine a little snug and it works better for me.

SunBody Hats | Handcrafted Palm-Leaf Hats – Cowboy, Fedora & More

Explore SunBody’s collection of handcrafted palm-leaf hats — UPF 50+, crushable, waterproof & shapeable. Styles from cowboy to fedora for men, women, and kids.

www.sunbody.com

My skin cancer check ups have been twice a year for decades.

 

[BackRoad]

My skin doctor is fantastic, suspect he has bought a new Cadillac just off my visits. Every 6 months it's freeze or cut and stitch, and sometimes in between when I find a fast growing spot...

I blame it on an ignorant youth.

Five years of hot tar roofing in Louisiana...without a shirt much of the time...but man, did I have a good tan!

One job used a tar called "Black Diamond". The dust from it made your skin peel off in big sections, like birch bark off a tree. Somewhere I still have photos...it was bad, bad stuff.

I never quit a job and at the time had important responsibilities - a baby boy depending on me for food! Though in hindsight, I should have walked away from that one...I'm paying for it now.

 

[deserteagle71]

I blame it on an ignorant youth.

.without a shirt much of the time...but man, did I have a good tan!

.I'm paying for it now.

That was me also, growing up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania. All the time I was growing up, till I got drafted (Vietnam was going on), if the temperature outside was 50 degrees or above I never wore a shirt. And of course, no one used sunscreen back then. By the month of May I would be burned a dark brown color. Now I'm paying for that...every 6 months my dermatologist has a bunch of fixing to do. On top of that, my shoulders and back are covered with many dark brown "keratins" that are unsightly but the doctor says are benign.

That's me with no shirt on...in my "summer" uniform.

 

[Hay Dude]

Speaking of sun,
I just got back from Florida. Wife and I took a long weekend off and went to our friends place near Tampa.
Caught a couple Phillies spring training games.

This game was at Tigers Park in Lakeland.

This one was on Sunday at BayCare Park, the winter home of the Phillies. They won this game. Alec Bohm had 2 homers.

I needed a beer(s) and some warm weather more than you’d ever know.
I’m so sick of cold weather and everything BROWN at home.

 

[LouNY]

That was me also, growing up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania. All the time I was growing up, till I got drafted (Vietnam was going on), if the temperature outside was 50 degrees or above I never wore a shirt. And of course, no one used sunscreen back then. By the month of May I would be burned a dark brown color. Now I'm paying for that...every 6 months my dermatologist has a bunch of fixing to do. On top of that, my shoulders and back are covered with many dark brown "keratins" that are unsightly but the doctor says are benign.

That's me with no shirt on...in my "summer" uniform.

View attachment 2910748

Been there and done that for many years.

 

[deserteagle71]

Speaking of sun,
I just got back from Florida. Wife and I took a long weekend off and went to our friends place near Tampa.

I’m so sick of cold weather and everything BROWN at home.

What kind of fuel mileage did that Ram 5500 get on the drive down and back???

 

[Hay Dude]

What kind of fuel mileage did that Ram 5500 get on the drive down and back???

Haha
I flew on a 737 my friend.