Cutting Donna's hay

Now that I finished baling my hay last Tuesday the weather forecast changed.  Before I finished baling, rain kept popping up in the forecast at the last minute.  After I was done baling the predicted rain for Friday and other days was dropped.  No more rain.  So on Wednesday morning Donna called and asked if I could cut her hay that day.  Sure.

So I spent the afternoon and part of the evening cutting her hay.  I could cut her field faster than my field, but not by much.  Her field ranges from normal to light.   Another problem with the light part of her field was that grass was not tall.  So the grass would lay on the haybine's metal deck after being cut and not get pulled out the back through the rollers. 

What gets laid on the deck and not pushed through and out the back.

Once enough grass lay there the rotating tines could then reach that grass and push it out back.  Having all that grass lay on the deck also interfered with the cutting teeth.  So not all the grass would get cut.  I had to drive the slowest to give the cutting teeth more of an opportunity to cut the grass.  Even then the windrows were light.  After 6 hours of cutting it was getting late.  And the amount of grass (hay) was not worth the effort.  So I left a fourth to a third of her field standing.

And parts of her field had lots of pocket gopher dirt mounds and that dirt would also get left on the deck and interfere with cutting the grass.   Not the greatest to have to stop at times to clean the grass and dirt from the deck.

Probably just as well I didn't cut all of her field.  Today Donna, her daughter and son-in-law spent time baling her hay.  And she had major baler problems and had trouble baling the hay.  It should have gotten all baled today, and I don't think it did.  2020 is not a good year.


The view when cutting Donna's field.   The canola is her neighbor's field.