The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[LHF2019]

Yes, they can be hazardous for sure. On the farm we still use self unloading wagons into an ag bagger for haylage and silage. So you are often standing between the tractor and wagon with the pto shaft spinning engaging and disengage the wagons drive until the feed table is cleared out, then the apron chain is engaged and the speed is set. Until a large clump comes over the beaters and you have to hustle to prevent clogging or stalling something.
So 2 pto shafts and the wagon one's are connected and disconnected frequently during the course of a day.
I think the newest wagon is 20 years old the others are up to 40.
My favorite tractor end pto guards are the larger flip up ones that will flip up out of the way to get those heavy pto shafts and couplers in.
The fender mount pto switches come in real handy, you really miss them when you are using one of the older tractors and have to climb 2-3 steps up onto the platform to reach the pto and flip it on or off, lots of moving and twisting and turning in a small area.
And then the bagger keeps moving forward as the bag is filled, so up on the unloading tractor to keep the discharge chute were it needs to be, about a foot of back and forth play to maintain.
Those 100+ hp rated pto's get pretty substantial.
I won't say that we get lax but we certainly avoid floppy clothes and especially for me the hair isn't an issue.

When filling silo as a youngster we were taught to grab the pto shaft of wagon to stop it spinning. We would cross over it. Stand on tongue watching the silage with it spinning between our legs. I still have one of the wagons. To this day I do all those things. Old JD and Papec wagons. Not the smartest thing we were taught by my father and uncles.

 

[LouNY]

Mostly Dion, a couple of deere's and some Meyers and a couple of old papec's.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

A few rafters on the river.

Funny different perspectives you see, making you wonder what they are thinking when they see you running the equipment.

It's rare to see a passenger train on these rails, so I took a pic. . .

Then noticed some were taking a pic of us mowing!

 

[Lastkidpicked]

When filling silo as a youngster we were taught to grab the pto shaft of wagon to stop it spinning. We would cross over it. Stand on tongue watching the silage with it spinning between our legs.

There are safety training videos on youtube where they take a scarecrow and lay it's arm on the PTO.

It spins and shreds that thing in seconds! Any time a new person comes around, we show them those videos. They stay back for sure!

 

[5030]

Yes, they can be hazardous for sure. On the farm we still use self unloading wagons into an ag bagger for haylage and silage. So you are often standing between the tractor and wagon with the pto shaft spinning engaging and disengage the wagons drive until the feed table is cleared out, then the apron chain is engaged and the speed is set. Until a large clump comes over the beaters and you have to hustle to prevent clogging or stalling something.
So 2 pto shafts and the wagon one's are connected and disconnected frequently during the course of a day.
I think the newest wagon is 20 years old the others are up to 40.
My favorite tractor end pto guards are the larger flip up ones that will flip up out of the way to get those heavy pto shafts and couplers in.
The fender mount pto switches come in real handy, you really miss them when you are using one of the older tractors and have to climb 2-3 steps up onto the platform to reach the pto and flip it on or off, lots of moving and twisting and turning in a small area.
And then the bagger keeps moving forward as the bag is filled, so up on the unloading tractor to keep the discharge chute were it needs to be, about a foot of back and forth play to maintain.
Those 100+ hp rated pto's get pretty substantial.
I won't say that we get lax but we certainly avoid floppy clothes and especially for me the hair isn't an issue.

Neither of my M's came with fender mounted pto linkage but they both have it now care of Kubota parts. Something I feel should be standard on any ag utility tractor. They have nice flip up shields, problem is the shields aren't large enough to accomodate the CV joint and housing on the end of the shaft. I considered removing the housing but the only way to remove it was cutting it off and being a new bailer, I decided not to go that route. PTO shafts have become pretty complex today with all the 'safety' related junk on them.

 

[Hay Dude]

Some bales to gather after yesterday’s furious baling session.
I’m getting tired. Could use a few days off.

Up to the stacking area. I’m running 2 at a time. I know the loader can handle it, but the front tires & operator (me) are taking a beating. Luckily, this field is nice & smooth in most places.
I brought in 68 bales in about 2.5 hours.

Once I finished stacking these bales, I headed back over to where we left off cutting and resumed cutting hay. About 1.5 hours of rain fell, then I got back in the cutting tractor. This is a pretty little spot to cut/rake/bale. The stone spring house, stream and pond are nice to look at while mowing. Steep hill though. In the background, you can see the bales we made Saturday’s afternoon, July 5th. I have to stack them.

I wrapped-up about 8:30. Sun is going down. Another 12+ hour day.
The 7495 has seen a lot of cutting. Holding up well so far. Knock on wood.

 

[5030]

Sure glad I got smaller at this point at least and cutting down the road miles also cut down the maintenance costs as well.

Rained here almost all day, how exciting.

 

[Hay Dude]

As most of you know, we do all types of large property maintenance.
We’ve had weeks of rain, so along with falling behind on hay, we’ve fallen behind on rotary mowing.
Almost all my hay is in bales, maybe only 20 acres on the ground, so I decided to get one large rotary mowing customer done today.
This is a 7 hour cut. One hour after finishing, it rained like a sumbitch.

 

[EddieWalker]

How often do you have to change your blades? Do you ever sharpen them?

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Some bales to gather after yesterday’s furious baling session.
I’m getting tired. Could use a few days off.

This is why I respect you, @Hay Dude
It's easy to do it in early spring, and when you are fresh at it.
Harder to do it when tired.

Definitely respect your hustle, and thank you for being generous with your time to share your experiences with us!