How agriculture works thread

[Creamer]

Here is some bale wagons used like where I grew up in SD.

Who used those in our area? I never saw one of these machines other than at the state fair. For the most part people stacked hay either free standing stacks or with a stackhand. Very few people used small squares unless they wanted a few in the barn for special uses. We always made 2-300 of straw to have in the barn but quite often we did not have any hay in the barn - we just would use a loader to bring a pile up to the barn and feed it i the barn by hand with pitchforks.

Even in 1976 when we worked with a couple of neighbors making hay in ND and hauling it back we didn't sue these - we used stookers and then loaders right onto the flatbed semis for the haul. We made about 90,000 square bales that year between the 3 of us and what a pain. When they got home we did not stack then off the semis - we just pushed them off sideways into a pile and ground them. Who wanted all the manual labor small squares make?

 

[Creamer]

Once we quit free stacking it in 16 x 30' free style stacks using Farmhand F10 loaders we bought on of these JD stackhands and typically made about 1500 stacks per year including hay and straw.

Here is a video showing the Hesston version which operated the same as the JD in he field. On a good day in a flat relatively smooth field we could make 100 stacks - 8 x 14' base and 11-12' high. About 3 ton in pure alfalfa. These Hesstons were the B version which had more rounded roofs than the A version which was the main difference between it and the John Deere and why we had the Deere. For us in the SD dryness with dry soil underneath we would swath and not crimp and three days later pick it up with one of these and the alfalfa would be dry enough. These stacks breathed some so you could put it up with a little more moisture than baling.

We put our stacks in rows of 11 as the large truck mounted chain movers could carry 6 if they had something to push against otherwise it was only 5 at a time.

 

[Creamer]

Here is a Haybuster brand stackhand that was kind of popular because of the round stacks that shed water well. It seemed though that these stacks did not stand up to the wind even as well as the others which was not great. There also tended to be a hole down the middle of these stacks which some thought increased the spoilage as the hollow vertical core allowed more water in instead of shedding it.

 

[Creamer]

For those of you wondering shat a bale stooker is - here is one example. Total mechanical and functions off the weight of the bales. By stacking the bales in triangle they shed water better than a flat square bale and also only had a corenr touching the ground which reduced spoilage there. You could leave these sit in the field longer without losing as much hay allowing you to put up hay at the best times and then pick them up on other days.

The angled bales also made it easier to pick up the stooks with a haybasket on a loader as the teeth would slide between the bales. We could pick up two stooker piles or 12 bales with the haybasket before going to the truck. Very quick and easy.

 

[ArlyA]

Who used those in our area? I never saw one of these machines other than at the state fair. For the most part people stacked hay either free standing stacks or with a stackhand. Very few people used small squares unless they wanted a few in the barn for special uses. We always made 2-300 of straw to have in the barn but quite often we did not have any hay in the barn - we just would use a loader to bring a pile up to the barn and feed it i the barn by hand with pitchforks.

Even in 1976 when we worked with a couple of neighbors making hay in ND and hauling it back we didn't sue these - we used stookers and then loaders right onto the flatbed semis for the haul. We made about 90,000 square bales that year between the 3 of us and what a pain. When they got home we did not stack then off the semis - we just pushed them off sideways into a pile and ground them. Who wanted all the manual labor small squares make?

I seen them operating but I'd not call them common in eastern SD.

 

[ArlyA]

This is neat video of dated combines out operating. I believe our neighbor tipped this combine over. INTERNATIONAL 1480 Axial-Flow...

 

[lman]

I remember when my dad combined soybeans with an open cab Gleaner and he would come home covered with black soybean dust. I always wondered how his lungs survived, but he made it to 93.

 

[ArlyA]

I remember when my dad combined soybeans with an open cab Gleaner and he would come home covered with black soybean dust. I always wondered how his lungs survived, but he made it to 93.

Grain dust is not your lungs freind.... Ya, the lack of cabs brings back memories for me as well.

 

[ArlyA]

Photos from the Saskatchewan History and Forklore society. I recognize some implements here but I seen them in the bone yards.

 

[ArlyA]

Interesting video made at the turn of the century in eastern Washington of horse drawn combines.

 

[ArlyA]

The Buds going back into production?

 

[ArlyA]

A video about farming in New Zealand. Mostly dairy and cutting hay with some exotic animals mixed in.

 

[ArlyA]

The Finnish girl Amski is in the woods using a grapple log trailer to bring logs out. Seems this is a proportional video but I still like it.

 

[Creamer]

The Finnish girl Amski is in the woods using a grapple log trailer to bring logs out. Seems this is a proportional video but I still like it.

A lot of equipment and screwing around for some two-bit logs. What do they use those for?

 

[ArlyA]

A lot of equipment and screwing around for some two-bit logs. What do they use those for?

zero idea.

 

[Creamer]

I was snooping today and I found this - basically it was the Farmhand F10 loader with modified mounting and bracing mounted on a Field Queen self-propelled forage harvester so that you could use the power unit all year round. Over the years there have been a lot of conversion systems like this that have never caught on. It seems that there is the basic row crop tractor that everything has to adapt to (usually as a realtively quick hitch pull-type piece of equipment) or the self-propelled machine that stands alone (Combines, swathers, forage harvesters, cotton pickers, sprayers, etc.). The inflexibility of the farmer to want to mount and dismount various units has fallen out of favor although back when farms were smaller they did use more of this high labor changeover, i.e. Farmall mounted cotton pickers, mounted corn pickers, front mounted corn cultivators, mounted forge harvesters. New Idea had a full line of changeover with a single power unit but it never took off. The only reason it had any of its sales was the fact that it provided essentially self-propelled forage harvesters and corn pickers with fairly wide headers and larger capacity than anything else in its time.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/37647346864300806/

 

[LouNY]

There was a few major reasons that it never caught on. It seems good on paper, but until you have had
the pleasure of mounting a mounted corn picker on a tractor in the fall you have no idea what you have missed.

To start with depending on what you had been doing with that tractor one of the first things you would likely have to do was change the wheel spacing at least the rears and if a wide front most likely the fronts also.

Then you had to find and gather up all of the mounting brackets and little pieces that like to hid over the 10 months or so since they had been used last. Especially all the nuts and bolts.

Then it was time to start getting ready to mount the large pieces, of course those large pieces are excellent nesting places for bees and or mice and maybe even a snake or two.

Once you have all the parts and pieces together and are going to get started you will likely have to find the manual to figure out what you did last year or just get after it because there is never time to plan for crop operation switching. And so you are going great things are lining up good and your going to get it mounted in one afternoon and then oh hell that piece has to go on before all these other ones, yank them all off and start over.

Oh heck it's getting dark, can't see and haven't even started evening feeding and chores. Well better get that done we'll finish this tomorrow.

The next day you finish getting it mounted and hooked up, greased and oiled and ready to go.

Now of course that tractor is now completely tied up for that job which may take a week or a month or longer. Oh that last hay field is ready now also well I guess we will be down one tractor so that will take twice as long as normal.

And then you notice how nice and snugly all the moving noise making vibrating equipment is all wrapped around you.
Now how in the heck do I get on or off this thing, damn can I even check the oil, I've got to climb on top of it to fill the fuel tank.

Now lets go out and run this contraption for 8-10 hours either sweating or freezing our butt off.

Now do you still want that fancy mounted equipment or one that you can back up to drop in a hitch pin, hook up a pto shaft, grease, lube and go to work with.
Oh the weathers changed and I need the tractor for something else, OK half an hour and it's ready for a different job.

That is just part of the reason the full mounted equipment never really took off.
It was to hard and time consuming to put on and take off.
My point of view, having done so.
More tractors, when you have a tractor for each implement you have almost enough.

 

[Creamer]

There was a few major reasons that it never caught on. It seems good on paper, but until you have had
the pleasure of mounting a mounted corn picker on a tractor in the fall you have no idea what you have missed.

To start with depending on what you had been doing with that tractor one of the first things you would likely have to do was change the wheel spacing at least the rears and if a wide front most likely the fronts also.

Then you had to find and gather up all of the mounting brackets and little pieces that like to hid over the 10 months or so since they had been used last. Especially all the nuts and bolts.

Then it was time to start getting ready to mount the large pieces, of course those large pieces are excellent nesting places for bees and or mice and maybe even a snake or two.

Once you have all the parts and pieces together and are going to get started you will likely have to find the manual to figure out what you did last year or just get after it because there is never time to plan for crop operation switching. And so you are going great things are lining up good and your going to get it mounted in one afternoon and then oh hell that piece has to go on before all these other ones, yank them all off and start over.

Oh heck it's getting dark, can't see and haven't even started evening feeding and chores. Well better get that done we'll finish this tomorrow.

The next day you finish getting it mounted and hooked up, greased and oiled and ready to go.

Now of course that tractor is now completely tied up for that job which may take a week or a month or longer. Oh that last hay field is ready now also well I guess we will be down one tractor so that will take twice as long as normal.

And then you notice how nice and snugly all the moving noise making vibrating equipment is all wrapped around you.
Now how in the heck do I get on or off this thing, damn can I even check the oil, I've got to climb on top of it to fill the fuel tank.

Now lets go out and run this contraption for 8-10 hours either sweating or freezing our butt off.

Now do you still want that fancy mounted equipment or one that you can back up to drop in a hitch pin, hook up a pto shaft, grease, lube and go to work with.
Oh the weathers changed and I need the tractor for something else, OK half an hour and it's ready for a different job.

That is just part of the reason the full mounted equipment never really took off.
It was to hard and time consuming to put on and take off.
My point of view, having done so.
More tractors, when you have a tractor for each implement you have almost enough.

Great explanation of reality versus concept!

 

[ovrszd]

Dad had a two row mounted Oliver corn picker. Used a 77 for the tractor. It was a great innovation. He did a LOT of custom work with it.

Imagine only pull type pickers and/or combines. You have two choices. Tromp down a LOT of corn opening a field. Or hand shucking a LOT of corn opening a field.

Increased productivity and efficiency was incredible.

 

[JethroB]

There was a few major reasons that it never caught on. It seems good on paper, but until you have had
the pleasure of mounting a mounted corn picker on a tractor in the fall you have no idea what you have missed.

To start with depending on what you had been doing with that tractor one of the first things you would likely have to do was change the wheel spacing at least the rears and if a wide front most likely the fronts also.

Then you had to find and gather up all of the mounting brackets and little pieces that like to hid over the 10 months or so since they had been used last. Especially all the nuts and bolts.

Then it was time to start getting ready to mount the large pieces, of course those large pieces are excellent nesting places for bees and or mice and maybe even a snake or two.

Once you have all the parts and pieces together and are going to get started you will likely have to find the manual to figure out what you did last year or just get after it because there is never time to plan for crop operation switching. And so you are going great things are lining up good and your going to get it mounted in one afternoon and then oh hell that piece has to go on before all these other ones, yank them all off and start over.

Oh heck it's getting dark, can't see and haven't even started evening feeding and chores. Well better get that done we'll finish this tomorrow.

The next day you finish getting it mounted and hooked up, greased and oiled and ready to go.

Now of course that tractor is now completely tied up for that job which may take a week or a month or longer. Oh that last hay field is ready now also well I guess we will be down one tractor so that will take twice as long as normal.

And then you notice how nice and snugly all the moving noise making vibrating equipment is all wrapped around you.
Now how in the heck do I get on or off this thing, damn can I even check the oil, I've got to climb on top of it to fill the fuel tank.

Now lets go out and run this contraption for 8-10 hours either sweating or freezing our butt off.

Now do you still want that fancy mounted equipment or one that you can back up to drop in a hitch pin, hook up a pto shaft, grease, lube and go to work with.
Oh the weathers changed and I need the tractor for something else, OK half an hour and it's ready for a different job.

That is just part of the reason the full mounted equipment never really took off.
It was to hard and time consuming to put on and take off.
My point of view, having done so.
More tractors, when you have a tractor for each implement you have almost enough.

A neighbor farmer had a two row John Deere cotton picker he mounted on his JD 4010 back in the 70’s. I’m sure it was a bear to mount. It rested on a stand 50 weeks a year. Drove the underneath tractor backwards while picking. Similar to this: