2017 second cutting - WOW

[powerscol]

268 bales off of the neighbors place and 75 off of mine for the second cutting. I was blessed with dry weather. the 20% chance of rain kept going around me, but once I though I was going to get it, but the storm change direction. I thank God for my good fortune. I used the sickle to cut - probably should have used the drum mower though. Neighbors place had some very thick sections of red clover and the sickle kept plugging with the long runs. Tedder had issues too with the clover too staying in big clumps. Had to go through it several times It raked and baled fine, but did not dry as fast as the grass so had to hold off a day to bale. Baler never missed a tie and ran like butter - sweet. Average moisture content was about 9%. The clover alfalfa took some bales to 14% but still good.

So right now I have over 550 in the barn for sale - need to make a few calls

 

[Thomas]

Glad it all came together for you. :thumbsup:
We got our second cut but only in the dry places,some spots to wet still for the first cut here.

 

[AKfish]

Nothin' finer than good dry hay in the barn! (Except watching the last trailer full pull out the drive with a customer.) Congrats on a successful season.

 

[Texasmark]

"I used the sickle to cut - probably should have used the drum mower though." "Neighbors place had some very thick sections of red clover and the sickle kept plugging with the long runs."

There you have it. Screw the sickle PIA.

 

[kthompson]

powerscol, I have farmed a few acres for a few years and never was bothered by the weather unless it turned dry for over two weeks. Began this year to turn our few acres from row crops to hay and have now begun to watch the rain for for hay baling purpose and it has amazed how often we have gotten rain the last two months. Hay is now being cut that should have been a month back. Yep, God is good.

 

[powerscol]

"I used the sickle to cut - probably should have used the drum mower though." "Neighbors place had some very thick sections of red clover and the sickle kept plugging with the long runs."

There you have it. Screw the sickle PIA.

The actual answer is sometimes. If it is tall grass I prefer the sickle as it cuts and lays flat, If I use the drum mower I must go back the next day with the tedder or it will never dry, With the sickle laying everything flat, I can wait two days and then rake into the windrows to finish drying, Sickle saves me time and fuel if conditions are correct. Never had the clover as thick as it was, so learned something new.

 

[Texasmark]

The actual answer is sometimes. If it is tall grass I prefer the sickle as it cuts and lays flat, If I use the drum mower I must go back the next day with the tedder or it will never dry, With the sickle laying everything flat, I can wait two days and then rake into the windrows to finish drying, Sickle saves me time and fuel if conditions are correct. Never had the clover as thick as it was, so learned something new.

Well there you have 2 different opinions. I enrolled in Hard Knocks U. and after nearly 40 years I am yet to graduate....seemed to be a shortage of professors for the courses I needed to survive. Most of those years were in trying to make a sickle work, having had 3 of 3 different ages and mfgrs.
and 2 JD 1209 swathers with sickles.

On the sickles alone, I never could get a clean line for starting the next pass. One did have the wooden mold board but I never could get it adjusted correctly and in turns, which is what my hay patches are made of, the sickle just made wads of grass in the turns......which had to be tedded once I found out what they were and were used for and bought one.

On the swathers the deflectors were missing (the sheet metal flaps that you drop down if you don't want to ww the output), being well worn out when purchased (something I could afford) and they automatically made the ww which the drum makes and I like. My place is nothing but irregular and more square shaped than long, thin, rectangles. Sickles just don't get it. The drum and the tedder do.