Good morning!!!!

[Alien]

Just got in from a mowing session. Too hot during the day. Just going dark now...

 

[Eric Salop]

Almost a week now without rain and the ground is at last starting to dry out. Plan for today is to load up the old Subaru with tools and drive over the high ground to make some much needed repairs on the top fence.

So here is my new flail

View attachment 457128

Tomorrow I have to pu some gear oil and grease it. May get a new top link.

What self control, to be able to have kept that all that luscious red paintwork and shiny steel under wraps for so long. Apart from the flail itself, I'd long ago have been straining to see what could be re-used from the packing crate alone.

 

[wngsprd]

21 and snowing hard, only about 2 inches so far...may get a coat of ice on it this afternoon before it ends.

Very interesting info about the flail...I, too wondered why some folks bought it...sounds like a winner.

Kev (N.Bluff), great looking grapple. Are your hydraulics already set for it?

 

[Buppies]

19 this morning about six inches so far supposed to warm up after lunch and turn to freezing rain sure hope not

VDOT uses flail mowers to mow right of way along highways less damage from objects being thrown by shredder but due to money constraints they only mow them three or four times a year

 

[wngsprd]

Well, looks like some of you spent Valentine's much the way I did...outside working on tractor or farm related additions or problems.

I'm glad I made my wife some fresh roasted coffee, and a Belgian waffle before I ventured outside...because, while not intentionally, I spent most of the day with my tractor instead of her.

"Honey, just a quick trip back to the woods to pick up that firewood before the snow arrives." Still had a load or two from cutting my new path through the woods, so filled up the bucket and the carry all box in no time and drove across the 8 degrees ground back to unload.

"Gee, most of those rounds look like they could use a split or two before stacking." So 268 pulls on the starter rope later, my splitter warms up and comes to life (I really did count...it's getting like a contest to see how many pulls it takes...maybe I need to use more Seafoam). After getting it started I was almost too worn out to split.

"I've finished splitting, but there's another load on the ground I should run gather...won't take long." So, I drive along to a few remaining piles of wood, and fill the box and bucket one last time. Ready to head back to the shed...flat tire...and the bead completely separated from the rim...if there is any fortune in that, it is fortunately it was a front tire. I must have driven across one of the little stumps. Even though I cut them flush with the ground, once driven over and around, the soft earth and leaf layer compresses and results in an inch or three protruding, until I come back and recut.

So I dump out a completely filled bucket of 3 to 6 inch rounds and lift the tractor up with the FEL. Time to hike back to the house and retrieve my little air compressor - one of those jump start/work light/air compressor in one...I can blow harder than this thing can pump...no go. At least I had driven my 4Runner back there rather than hiked back.

"Are you enjoying that Valentine's movie? I'm taking my tire up to the gas station and see if they can seal the bead. Be back soon."...closed on Sunday. Next stop, a truck stop on I-95, 20 miles away...nice fellow takes a few minutes to understand I'm talking about a farm tractor tire, not an 18 wheeler tractor. A couple of hands full of tire mounting paste later, good to go. No charge...$5 tip.

Back home, it's dark...get flashlight, mount wheel, tighten, reload all the little pieces of firewood...drive 4Runner home...hike back to tractor, drive it home. Trudge inside. Wife says, "Soup's been cooking all afternoon, and now it's ready."

Love My Valentine.

 

[Thomas]

-10F clear sky now,mid 20's for toasty high compare to the last two days.
Dislike the thoughts going to work today mostly listen to all the complaining about how cold it is,most of them don't dress right for winter.:confused3:

Enjoy the day all.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

17° and snow. Looks like tomorrow might warm enough to turn to rain, maybe some ice in between.
Decided I'm staying in bed awhile longer.

 

[daugen]

nasty morning out, freezing rain, going to be a crummy commute until temps rise, and thankfully, today they are on the rise and going up to 50 today.
Was going to run my errands this morning but think I'll wait until this afternoon when the locals aren't sliding around...

seems to me a flail mower is a nice compromise between finish and rough cut. Rough cuts have swing back blades, like a flail, but dull blades in order to smash the tops of things, not cut them off, in order not to leave pungi stakes in the field or woods. Finished cuts of course are fixed blades and sharp. A flail is sharp, but not fixed.
They have been standard on highway mowers for a long time so as not to throw rocks and debris out into the interstate.
We'll have to wait for David to take some action shots for us cruising through his pineapple grove...

 

[KevT]

47 going to 74 Todays plan is take hay to the horses and seed the garden. Guess I need to do some research on flail mowers, not sure how they work, but sure looks nice. I use a bush hog for the dog fennels around here, and horses for the grass.

 

[bakerg]

Good morning, light snow here in Southern Ontario, 19F heading to 32F this afternoon.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Good Morning! 65 degrees and overcast at 7 am, forecast for 76 this afternoon.

 

[ronjhall]

Coffee is done brewing. 55° with mostly clear skies this morning. Heading to 84° with plenty sun. Had a nice Valentines Day. Sister and her husband came over for BBQ ribs dinner. Then sat on patio and enjoyed the warm evening. Going to help neighbor rebuild his stairs to back door today.
Drew, when frost free spigot is installed. Make sure no rocks are put in to refill hole. Makes it very difficult to replace or repair.
David S, Flail mower looks good.
wngsprd, bet that soup tasted great after all the time outside.
Good Morning All.

 

[farmer2009]

31 this morning and headed to 41 today. Currently 33. Rain and freezing rain all stayed south of us. All we got was snow.

Been up since 4am when chickens called. Couldn't go back to sleep. Will be bad day can already feel it. Plans for today are taxes. Appointment is Friday. Oh I hate bookkeeping.

 

[JFoy]

Gawd... Here in the Piedmont NC, They call for snow and everyone panics and buys out the grocery stores. There was a small dusting last night and I had to make a trip to the hardware store. Skeleton crew as many people called out. Such wimps. Course, for many people in retail, any excuse to get out of work is a fine. I mean, what's the point of asking for a job if you're going to lay out all the time?

 

[txdon]

Good morning! Cloudy 61˚. Which mower is less dusty - Flail or rotary?

 

[mkr7734]

Cold 27 and damp to the bone. Got to get out there and clear the lane from all the drifting last night. Wife has the day off so will just hang out. Maybe move the bucket into the shed and start looking at the grapple assembly needs.

KevT I will bolt it to the bucket. I may have to add height to the top and I know I want to add a 3"x 1" rectangular tube along the top plate to add strength to the bucket top. Just got to see if it will be on top or the bottom of the plate. I will drill the tube and insert spacers where the grapple bolts through so the tube can't crush.

Kev (N.Bluff), great looking grapple. Are your hydraulics already set for it?

Yes they are wngsprd, John Deere did not offer a FEL third valve option or kit for the 3203 so I built my own so I could swing the snow plow. Just stole the main pump flow to the main control valve by running it through a open center two way spring to center valve that momentarily diverts the flow to the plow cylinders. Works good and should be fine with the grapple as well.


Well I had better get with it.

 

[Larro Darro]

Good Morning. 0845, sunny, 50F with 90% humidity. Forecast high of 70F with 80% chance of thunderstorms today, and a low of 49F tonight.

Warmer day today. Thinking about working in the garden this morning before the rain. I've got tomato, pepper and a few other seeds in soil {inside} that will have to go out when I run out of space under the lights. I'm going to make a underground hotbox using a couple of old shower doors. That sounds like a good project for this morning.

You guys have a good one,

Larro

 

[toppop52]

We were supposed to get a dusting to an inch, then turn to rain, currently 5"+ and still snowing hard, may get to 6" or more before turning to rain, could be our biggest snow of the year. We got about 7" total from the big one a couple of weeks ago, but it was in two separate falls with rain in between.

 

[Larro Darro]

Just finished watching a marvelous movie Temple Grandin, came out five years ago, never saw it, about a high functioning autistic girl who grew up to design cow chutes for the US cattle industry and now half the devices out there now came from her design. Just a delightful movie, Clare Danes was amazing, and a good education on autism. And why some odd, goofy folks may be much more talented than we are...the autistic girl in the movie that constantly got teased for being weird is now a professor of animal husbandry at the Univ of Colorado. Her Mom never gave up on her and when folks gave her a chance, she excelled.

Drew, she liked the pressure of a hug, but couldn't tolerate people touching her, so she made a devise to hug herself. She also is responsible for the curved chutes going into slaughter houses. Many of the chutes are pretty high off the ground, and the cows were freaking out from seeing the ground so far below. Now the sides are covered so they can't see down. A calmer cow at slaughter means better tasting meat.

 

[txdon]

A calmer cow at slaughter means better tasting meat.

You can taste fear? Is it something that is secreted by the animal body that ends up in their muscle which ends up in your body?

Do you have a reference, I could really use this info.