The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[Hay Dude]

Thanks. I've never been there. It sure is nice looking with those open areas and rolling hills. Hopefully it still looks like that today.

Still is mostly in my area. Land here is protected from development except for a few private lots. Now I did get a little scare when the Bamster started talking about requiring townships with open space to start building low income housing on them or lose their federal aid….

 

[Hay Dude]

I love these old pictures of your family working with their tractors!!! Where was this at?

Me, too. Almost make me cry. DesertEagle’s mom and dad look like the TRUE salt of the earth.
They could be on the cover of a magazine.
I hope God blessed them eternally and the honor they must have felt of having a son who served in Vietnam.

 

[Hay Dude]

Today was good, then turned bad.
Got to my next property to bale, hay was cut 8 days ago and rank as puke.
Sometimes you get caught with unexpected rain and it turns a normal haying job into a rescue mission. Teddered from 8-10 AM. Broke out the rake at 10 and started raking. This wheel rake is so fast, it makes one-man raking & baling of large acreage possible. My son took a well needed vacation with his girl, so I’m on my own through the 4th.

Made about 30 big bales, then the forecast changed to rain in a few hours. I was about 5/8ths done. Started to hurry and while baling the perimeter last outer edge (damp & crappy) I plugged the baler and the slip clutch warning went off. Packer fingers jammed and the slip clutch hammering away. Also broke off 2 springs (happens in bad jams like that sometimes).

With no parts available, I went a few miles down the road to our locally owned amazing mom & pop hardware store. Still open Sunday at 4:45! I could not believe I found 2 roughly comparable springs. Took them back and installed them, busted up some knuckles trying to stretch one to hook on.

Thought I still had a chance to finish up, but the baler was still jammed. I climbed down inside the baler and began the hot & dusty task of unclogging. Fellas, you aint never seen how jammed a baler can be until you jam a Krone big baler. It takes a LOT to jam one. That’s what I get for hurrying before the rain. I took a sawzall and a 10” blade and actually began sawing the plugged up mess, then the rain hit.

Well, back to the tedder. Some more normal, hot weather scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday. I hope to get this obstruction cleared tomorrow. Hopefully I will be back in action haying again by then!
Baling hay to make a living is a tough game. Makes a man out of you and you sacrifice a lot of time when you’d rather be playing golf, fishing or vacationing.

 

[K5lwq]

I have a hand full of springs in my truck that look like the would be perfect for that. They are used on a ADS conveyor dishwasher. They hold the centric blocks against a cam follower bearing. Definitely a bear to hook back when one breaks! Surprised the hardware store had one. I have never had good luck finding one at a hardware store.

 

[LouNY]

Yea, we have all the old adages such "haste makes waste" but it looks the weather is fixing to turn so we turn the wick up and start pushing and it happens every time something goes wrong. Then we have to spend an hour or two sweating and getting dirty dusty and perturbed, especially as while we are fixing our screwup we are telling ourself yep, just slow down abit back off a gear and sit on our butt in the AC and get the job done while staying clean and comfortable.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yea, we have all the old adages such "haste makes waste" but it looks the weather is fixing to turn so we turn the wick up and start pushing and it happens every time something goes wrong. Then we have to spend an hour or two sweating and getting dirty dusty and perturbed, especially as while we are fixing our screwup we are telling ourself yep, just slow down abit back off a gear and sit on our butt in the AC and get the job done while staying clean and comfortable.

I‘m weeks behind. People are being fairly patient, but ROH is the mantra here this summer.

 

[Hay Dude]

So back to the plugged baler.

Took me 11 HOURS to clear the jam from the baler. Hay packed in like concrete. I used a sawzall with a 12” blade to cut the hay out a little bit at a time. Imagine a 4’ x 4’x 12” thick flake of hay packed in at 1400lbs/sf. It’s like cutting wood.

Worked inside the baler chamber. Hot & dusty. My hands & forearms look like I was in a street fight.

I also opened the hatch on the bottom of the baler and cut upwards with the sawzall. After about an hour, I’d get in the tractor, reverse the flywheel then try to “bash” the stuck wad of hay.
After about the 10th try, listening to the banging of the slip clutch, it finally pushed through at 5pm.

A lost day. I could have baled an entire field, but had to give that up to make repairs. I did make about 12 bales from 5:30-7.

Then you guessed it, it rained again….

 

[groundcover]

Day like that could make you question career choices. !

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Day like that could make you question career choices. !

Nah, you'd have to be sane for that.

Lol.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

So back to the plugged baler.

Took me 11 HOURS to clear the jam from the baler. Hay packed in like concrete. I used a sawzall with a 12” blade to cut the hay out a little bit at a time. Imagine a 4’ x 4’x 12” thick flake of hay packed in at 1400lbs/sf. It’s like cutting wood.

Worked inside the baler chamber. Hot & dusty. My hands & forearms look like I was in a street fight.
View attachment 809323


I also opened the hatch on the bottom of the baler and cut upwards with the sawzall. After about an hour, I’d get in the tractor, reverse the flywheel then try to “bash” the stuck wad of hay.
After about the 10th try, listening to the banging of the slip clutch, it finally pushed through at 5pm.

View attachment 809324


A lost day. I could have baled an entire field, but had to give that up to make repairs. I did make about 12 bales from 5:30-7.

Then you guessed it, it rained again….

In years past I have had days like that, when it rains it pours.