My daily bicycle ride was a little later than usual. It was getting dark a little over three miles from home when, after two vehicles had passed me, a skunk decided to make a dash across the road in front of me. I saw the skunk before it saw me. It was in my lane so I veered to the other lane. When the skunk saw me it whirled around to face me with its claws scratching/skittering on the pavement. Before it could whirl around again I was gone as I started to pedal harder once I saw the skunk and realized I could get around it.
A close encounter.
By the way, today I have finished mowing the weeds in the middle pasture. I even mowed half the yard before the lawn mower ran out of gas and it got too hot (mid 90s). I surprised Daisy, and she surprised me, as when mowing the back yard she came running out from under one of the piles of boards as I mowed near it.
When checking my pocket gopher traps in the hayfield this evening the neighbor's horses came to the corner that meets with the hayfield and south pasture. The calves all came over crowding into the corner to look at the horses.
I checked on Buster. The bands are still on his horns. I doubt the bands will come off, or be rubbed off, as they are now sunk into his horns pretty good. The bands do not appear to be bothering Buster as he is acting as normal as before.
Still moving irrigation pipes across the field each day.
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Friday, July 28, 2017
Haybine flat tire
The fun never ends. Now that I have my haybine's universal joint fixed ($170), the attention now turns to fixing the end splines on the haybine's PTO shaft. Wyatt thinks he can fix it this weekend.
This afternoon I planned on driving the haybine over to Wyatt's place. I was pulling the haybine with my tractor down the road when I partially turned into a neighbor's driveway to allow room for a truck and trailer behind me to pass by. As they passed me by they told me the haybine's right tire was flat and about to come off the rim. That would explain why the haybine seemed a little more bouncy than usual as I pulled it on a paved road. I think the tire's inner tube blew when I raised and lowered the haybine in order to set the transport pin in order to pull the haybine without needing to rely on hydraulics to hold the haybine up off the ground. I remember the right side suddenly moved more than usual. I put it down to perhaps a sudden movement in raising/lowering the haybine.
I turned around and pulled the haybine home. After I got into the NE pasture and circled around to park the haybine the tire came completely off the rim. Fortunately the tire was not damaged.
I had to dig some ground away in order to get a jack under the haybine's wheel arm. This spot had not been watered so the ground was very hard.
The inner tube had been patched several times before. Of course pulling the haybine on a flat tire, then no tire, ruined the inner tube even further.
I had an hour left before the Les Schwab tire center closed. The good news was that they had an inner tube for my haybine's wheel in stock!
$24 and the tire and tube were put together and inflated by the time they closed at 6 pm. Once the tire was back on the haybine I pulled the haybine over to Wyatt's place. Wyatt just shook his head in amazement when I told him my continued run of luck was the reason I was late in bringing the haybine over.
This afternoon I planned on driving the haybine over to Wyatt's place. I was pulling the haybine with my tractor down the road when I partially turned into a neighbor's driveway to allow room for a truck and trailer behind me to pass by. As they passed me by they told me the haybine's right tire was flat and about to come off the rim. That would explain why the haybine seemed a little more bouncy than usual as I pulled it on a paved road. I think the tire's inner tube blew when I raised and lowered the haybine in order to set the transport pin in order to pull the haybine without needing to rely on hydraulics to hold the haybine up off the ground. I remember the right side suddenly moved more than usual. I put it down to perhaps a sudden movement in raising/lowering the haybine.
I turned around and pulled the haybine home. After I got into the NE pasture and circled around to park the haybine the tire came completely off the rim. Fortunately the tire was not damaged.
I had to dig some ground away in order to get a jack under the haybine's wheel arm. This spot had not been watered so the ground was very hard.
The inner tube had been patched several times before. Of course pulling the haybine on a flat tire, then no tire, ruined the inner tube even further.
I had an hour left before the Les Schwab tire center closed. The good news was that they had an inner tube for my haybine's wheel in stock!
$24 and the tire and tube were put together and inflated by the time they closed at 6 pm. Once the tire was back on the haybine I pulled the haybine over to Wyatt's place. Wyatt just shook his head in amazement when I told him my continued run of luck was the reason I was late in bringing the haybine over.
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| The other tire. What the haybine's tire looks like. |
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Mowing yarrow
Late this morning I mowed some of the yarrow weeds in the middle pasture. I can never seem to get time to spray the weeds and the yarrow has come to seed. It may be too late, but the fastest way to prevent further seed development is to mow the weeds now. And it mowing make it easier to later spray the remaining now ground level plants, as with my irrigating, the yarrow is not drying up and going dormant like it usually does right now.
The mowing also cuts some pasture grass around the yarrow, but the cattle don't really eat the tall grass right now as it is drier and tough, unlike the shorter and tender grass which they favor.
Half of the cattle walked the river around the fence and moved from the south to the middle pasture. The rest of the cattle left in the south pasture mooed and complained until I opened the gate to let them into the middle pasture. So while I mowed, for a while, a number of cattle gathered around to watch me before getting bored and moving on.
I cut one full gas tank's worth of weeds. By then it was after 1 pm. Starting today the county is under fire restrictions due to how dry it is. No fires, and no off road use of gas powered engines between 1 pm and 1 am, other than for agricultural use. While my pastures are irrigated and green, I decided to quit mowing after using one tank of gas, and on yet another hot day, take a nap in the afternoon.
I believe I have one more gas tank of mowing before I get all the yarrow cut. Tomorrow - or the next day - as I already have a number of other tasks I need to do tomorrow.
The mowing also cuts some pasture grass around the yarrow, but the cattle don't really eat the tall grass right now as it is drier and tough, unlike the shorter and tender grass which they favor.
Half of the cattle walked the river around the fence and moved from the south to the middle pasture. The rest of the cattle left in the south pasture mooed and complained until I opened the gate to let them into the middle pasture. So while I mowed, for a while, a number of cattle gathered around to watch me before getting bored and moving on.
I cut one full gas tank's worth of weeds. By then it was after 1 pm. Starting today the county is under fire restrictions due to how dry it is. No fires, and no off road use of gas powered engines between 1 pm and 1 am, other than for agricultural use. While my pastures are irrigated and green, I decided to quit mowing after using one tank of gas, and on yet another hot day, take a nap in the afternoon.
I believe I have one more gas tank of mowing before I get all the yarrow cut. Tomorrow - or the next day - as I already have a number of other tasks I need to do tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Dehorning my holstein calf
Monday I put rubber bands on Buster's, my Holstein calf's, horns. Donna helped me.
First I had to immobilize the calf. I used my calf table as I am not sure if the calf was big enough for the regular head gate to hold him well.
Then Donna used an electric razor to remove the hair from around the calf's horns.
I used the same bander tool to put the bands over the horns as when I band to castrate steers. The problem I had this time was that the bands wanted to roll down and off the horns. To solve that problem I used a small file and filed a groove around each horn where the hair ends. After all one doesn't want to remove the horn too close to the skull.
The calf wasn't bothered by my filing on his horn. I didn't want to file too much as I can imagine too much would become raw. Once I had a small groove I slipped each band into place. The area where I filed the groove, while very firm to hard, was not hard, hard where no hair grew. I waited a bit and the band settled and compressed into the groove for a firmer fit. While my filing didn't bother the calf, as the band began to constrict against his horn, the calf began to react.
Once I was certain the band would not roll off on its own I released the calf from the calf table. The calf then walked around shaking his head. He would lay down and lay his head on the ground for a while. Then he would get up and walk around shaking his head before laying down again and rubbing his head on the ground.
After I bit I let him out of the corral to be reunited with the rest of the cattle. I checked up on him three hours later and he was walking around grazing on grass and no longer shaking his head. Today I checked on him several times and he seems fine. Understandably he was wary of me when I approached close enough to make sure the bands were still on his horns. They were. I think he is now comfortably numb from the bands. Now I wait to see how long it will take before the horns fall off. The previous time I dehorned a calf with bands, the horns were much larger and it took almost eight weeks. I expected that it will not take as long this time.
First I had to immobilize the calf. I used my calf table as I am not sure if the calf was big enough for the regular head gate to hold him well.
Then Donna used an electric razor to remove the hair from around the calf's horns.
I used the same bander tool to put the bands over the horns as when I band to castrate steers. The problem I had this time was that the bands wanted to roll down and off the horns. To solve that problem I used a small file and filed a groove around each horn where the hair ends. After all one doesn't want to remove the horn too close to the skull.
The calf wasn't bothered by my filing on his horn. I didn't want to file too much as I can imagine too much would become raw. Once I had a small groove I slipped each band into place. The area where I filed the groove, while very firm to hard, was not hard, hard where no hair grew. I waited a bit and the band settled and compressed into the groove for a firmer fit. While my filing didn't bother the calf, as the band began to constrict against his horn, the calf began to react.
Once I was certain the band would not roll off on its own I released the calf from the calf table. The calf then walked around shaking his head. He would lay down and lay his head on the ground for a while. Then he would get up and walk around shaking his head before laying down again and rubbing his head on the ground.
After I bit I let him out of the corral to be reunited with the rest of the cattle. I checked up on him three hours later and he was walking around grazing on grass and no longer shaking his head. Today I checked on him several times and he seems fine. Understandably he was wary of me when I approached close enough to make sure the bands were still on his horns. They were. I think he is now comfortably numb from the bands. Now I wait to see how long it will take before the horns fall off. The previous time I dehorned a calf with bands, the horns were much larger and it took almost eight weeks. I expected that it will not take as long this time.
Monday, July 24, 2017
Getting up early
I got up two hours earlier than I normally do. I hadn't gone to bed earlier, I just slept two less hours. I got up earlier to get more stuff done and to beat the heat. I figure I could take a nap in the afternoon to catch up on my sleep.
I got the rest of the sprinkler line laid out. I also needed an extra 1/2 length pipe along the north side of the ranch, and of course the pipe was along the fence on the south side.
The pipe I bent and damaged last week, I cut the bad end off. It was four feet cut off. Later I will fix the end.
I picked up two more pickup loads of hay from the hayfield so I could then irrigate the hayfield today.
After the one pickup load the side door in the barn was full. I still have a little room through the main barn door and I unloaded the second load there. I have one more load of hay to rake and store in the barn tomorrow and then that will be it for hay for now. There are also a few areas of loose hay south of the irrigation mainline but those areas will get wet and go back into the soil as I can't get to them using my pickup.
I put rubber bands on Buster's horns in order to dehorn him. More on that in a future post.
I then ate breakfast at 3:30 pm. I had been up and working since 8 am.
I fell asleep for 20 minutes then woke up and went out to start up the irrigation pump. I had three sprinklers acting up and not working. Two I was able to run a wire through its nozzle to open the flow. The third sprinkler I had to take off in order to remove a small bit of wood. While doing that I had a geyser twice my height until I could screw the sprinkler back on. Fortunately it was a hot day to get wet.
As this line runs along the road then turns and goes along the north fence in the NE pasture, I had to readjust a few sprinkler locations to avoid getting the road wet and also to miss the hay bales in the NE pasture. Again, fortunately it was a hot day to get wet.
I also removed the grass and weeds that got sucked against the intake pipe's screen.
So I have very good water pressure.
But now it was after 6 pm, the time of the day when I have energy. So much for taking a few hours nap to catch up on my sleep.
I went out and set my five pocket gopher traps as a number of pocket gophers have moved in from the neighbors and it has been driving me crazy, especially since I had no time to set the traps earlier.
Then I rode my bicycle for 18 miles until dark.
I think I'll sleep in tomorrow.
I got the rest of the sprinkler line laid out. I also needed an extra 1/2 length pipe along the north side of the ranch, and of course the pipe was along the fence on the south side.
The pipe I bent and damaged last week, I cut the bad end off. It was four feet cut off. Later I will fix the end.
I picked up two more pickup loads of hay from the hayfield so I could then irrigate the hayfield today.
After the one pickup load the side door in the barn was full. I still have a little room through the main barn door and I unloaded the second load there. I have one more load of hay to rake and store in the barn tomorrow and then that will be it for hay for now. There are also a few areas of loose hay south of the irrigation mainline but those areas will get wet and go back into the soil as I can't get to them using my pickup.
I put rubber bands on Buster's horns in order to dehorn him. More on that in a future post.
I then ate breakfast at 3:30 pm. I had been up and working since 8 am.
I fell asleep for 20 minutes then woke up and went out to start up the irrigation pump. I had three sprinklers acting up and not working. Two I was able to run a wire through its nozzle to open the flow. The third sprinkler I had to take off in order to remove a small bit of wood. While doing that I had a geyser twice my height until I could screw the sprinkler back on. Fortunately it was a hot day to get wet.
As this line runs along the road then turns and goes along the north fence in the NE pasture, I had to readjust a few sprinkler locations to avoid getting the road wet and also to miss the hay bales in the NE pasture. Again, fortunately it was a hot day to get wet.
I also removed the grass and weeds that got sucked against the intake pipe's screen.
So I have very good water pressure.
But now it was after 6 pm, the time of the day when I have energy. So much for taking a few hours nap to catch up on my sleep.
I went out and set my five pocket gopher traps as a number of pocket gophers have moved in from the neighbors and it has been driving me crazy, especially since I had no time to set the traps earlier.
Then I rode my bicycle for 18 miles until dark.
I think I'll sleep in tomorrow.
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Irrigation and hay work continues
Each project would be enough to do on a hot and windy day, but I had two big projects today.
The first project was to move the north sprinkler line from the far west side of the ranch over to the far east side. A long way. Also for this new location, the line wraps around to also water part of the NE pasture, so more pipes needed to be added to the sprinkler line. I haven't hooked up the pipes once the line crosses the driveway as I plan to do that just before I open the valve to begin watering using that line. I haven't laid all the pipes yet because of the other major project of the day: cleaning up the loose hay in the NE pasture from the failed attempt to re-bale several broken bales.
This area may not look like much but it is two bales worth of hay spread out, and once I raked and loaded it into the pickup, the hay filled the pickup bed four times.
Normally I keep some open space in the barn for an unforeseen event. The first was when Donna decided to completely clean out her hayshed of the old hay. I would take her old hay for bedding for the cattle this Winter and if they ate some of the hay, fine. She had more than I expected, but I could handle it.
But then I had this year's problems with my hay crop. I had four pickup loads of loose hay from what was in the NE pasture. I still have probably a pickup load or two of loose hay still in the hayfield. While I have some room left in the barn the space is getting small and I have to pile the hay up high. The smaller area means more work to make the hay fit instead of just shoveling the hay out of the pickup and into the barn.
Below is the result of one pickup load of hay.
It was dark by the time I unloaded the fourth pickup load. The NE pasture was now open to having irrigation pipes and watering. However, some of the loose hay in the hayfield is where the water would go if I turned the sprinklers on. I just couldn't that area cleaned before dark.
So, I turned off the irrigation pump for the night. The current area being watered had been watered a few hours over one day, and one day of water is plenty.
So the plan for tomorrow is to get the rest of the loose hay raked and put into the barn and then the irrigation turned back on. It is hot and dry and the ground needs watering. While it is eastern Montana that is in a severe drought, we are not. Yet. The weather forecast is for 90s all this coming week and no rain. So we are heading in the direction of drought. While my photos show green, when riding my bicycle I see a number of fields in the area drying up and turning brown.
With the heat and wind and work today I stopped a number of times and took time to drink and drink and drink water. With all the water I drank I still hardly peed.
The first project was to move the north sprinkler line from the far west side of the ranch over to the far east side. A long way. Also for this new location, the line wraps around to also water part of the NE pasture, so more pipes needed to be added to the sprinkler line. I haven't hooked up the pipes once the line crosses the driveway as I plan to do that just before I open the valve to begin watering using that line. I haven't laid all the pipes yet because of the other major project of the day: cleaning up the loose hay in the NE pasture from the failed attempt to re-bale several broken bales.
This area may not look like much but it is two bales worth of hay spread out, and once I raked and loaded it into the pickup, the hay filled the pickup bed four times.
Normally I keep some open space in the barn for an unforeseen event. The first was when Donna decided to completely clean out her hayshed of the old hay. I would take her old hay for bedding for the cattle this Winter and if they ate some of the hay, fine. She had more than I expected, but I could handle it.
But then I had this year's problems with my hay crop. I had four pickup loads of loose hay from what was in the NE pasture. I still have probably a pickup load or two of loose hay still in the hayfield. While I have some room left in the barn the space is getting small and I have to pile the hay up high. The smaller area means more work to make the hay fit instead of just shoveling the hay out of the pickup and into the barn.
Below is the result of one pickup load of hay.
It was dark by the time I unloaded the fourth pickup load. The NE pasture was now open to having irrigation pipes and watering. However, some of the loose hay in the hayfield is where the water would go if I turned the sprinklers on. I just couldn't that area cleaned before dark.
So, I turned off the irrigation pump for the night. The current area being watered had been watered a few hours over one day, and one day of water is plenty.
So the plan for tomorrow is to get the rest of the loose hay raked and put into the barn and then the irrigation turned back on. It is hot and dry and the ground needs watering. While it is eastern Montana that is in a severe drought, we are not. Yet. The weather forecast is for 90s all this coming week and no rain. So we are heading in the direction of drought. While my photos show green, when riding my bicycle I see a number of fields in the area drying up and turning brown.
With the heat and wind and work today I stopped a number of times and took time to drink and drink and drink water. With all the water I drank I still hardly peed.
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Peas
Today I found a pea plant at the edge of my field that survived my haybine. There were small pea pods on the plant. I ate the peas. They were good.
I cleaned the baler and put it away.
I have raked some of the leftover hay from when I tried to re-bale the broken bales. I still have several areas to rake.
Tonight the north end of the irrigation reached the river and tomorrow the pipes must be moved back to the east end of the ranch. The irrigation is making a difference. There are a few small areas in the north pasture where the water didn't overlap. One can easily tell where they are due to the poorer condition of the grass.
Yesterday I let the cattle into the north pasture to eat the grass there.
Last night I saw Buddy stand near cow #80. Hmmm. Tonight I saw cow number #80 nuzzle and lick Buddy. I haven't seen Buddy act like she is in heat.... so far. This past Spring cow #80 didn't have her calf until five weeks after the first calf was born. She apparently missed her first heat cycle last year. Looks like the same thing has happened again.
I cleaned the baler and put it away.
I have raked some of the leftover hay from when I tried to re-bale the broken bales. I still have several areas to rake.
Tonight the north end of the irrigation reached the river and tomorrow the pipes must be moved back to the east end of the ranch. The irrigation is making a difference. There are a few small areas in the north pasture where the water didn't overlap. One can easily tell where they are due to the poorer condition of the grass.
Yesterday I let the cattle into the north pasture to eat the grass there.
Last night I saw Buddy stand near cow #80. Hmmm. Tonight I saw cow number #80 nuzzle and lick Buddy. I haven't seen Buddy act like she is in heat.... so far. This past Spring cow #80 didn't have her calf until five weeks after the first calf was born. She apparently missed her first heat cycle last year. Looks like the same thing has happened again.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Irrigation and Wyatt's hay
Today I completed extending the mainline irrigation pipe, moving the two active sprinkler lines, and moving the backup sprinkler line from the south pasture to the hayfield. This took much of the day. The nice thing is the pump started right up pumping water when I re-started the pump.
I was about to hook up the extended mainline when I seen Wyatt picking up a load of hay bales he just made. I waited and then had him deliver me one load using a path through the south pasture then the hayfield to reach my barn. This way I could avoid Wyatt driving through the middle pasture where the cattle currently are located. The cattle are in the middle pasture because they elected yesterday to walk in the river around the south/middle pasture fence.
I was able to only put the top row of eight bales into the barn this evening before dark. The rest will be moved tomorrow.
I have the ladder and several long boards against the hay bales as the top bales in the outside rows kind of wanted to lean outward.
I was about to hook up the extended mainline when I seen Wyatt picking up a load of hay bales he just made. I waited and then had him deliver me one load using a path through the south pasture then the hayfield to reach my barn. This way I could avoid Wyatt driving through the middle pasture where the cattle currently are located. The cattle are in the middle pasture because they elected yesterday to walk in the river around the south/middle pasture fence.
I was able to only put the top row of eight bales into the barn this evening before dark. The rest will be moved tomorrow.
I have the ladder and several long boards against the hay bales as the top bales in the outside rows kind of wanted to lean outward.
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Hay bales and irrigation continued
Today my goals were:
Once I dumped the bale, I cleared the loose hay from around the baler and then decided to run the baler to drop the loose hay in the baler out the back.
Gee... the twine that wouldn't go in the baler when the bad bale was inside somehow got sucked into the baler when the baler was empty. I had to get a knife and cut the twine along the roller as the twine was tightly stuck.
- Move the remaining 8 hay bales from the hayfield over to the NE pasture,
- Cleanup the hay flakes left in the hayfield and re-bale the four totally broken hay bales,
- Extend the mainline irrigation pipe across the hayfield,
- Move the two sprinkler lines
What I got done...
I moved the eight hay bales. It went well. Only one bale flaked once. I finished moving the bales by noon.
I cleaned up the hay flakes then turned my attention to re-baling the broken bales. From the hay flake pickup I had about a fifth of a bale made. I re-baled two broken bales and used a little from the third bale before I had a full hay bale made. I know I lost a little hay in the re-baling from the broken and fine hay too fine to be picked up by the baler, but it wasn't that much lost. I put down most of the 'shrinkage' due to the new bale being more compressed than the old bale.
It was now 3 pm. It took me three hours to clean the field and re-bale two bales. I went to work on the last two bales. They were a challenge. Once I finally got all the hay re-baled I had about a half of a bale. More shrinkage.
I tried to wrap twine around the bale. The twine would not go into the baler. There was either too much loose hay in the baler or the hay to go into the baler was too fine. I tried using some hay that had not been re-baled yet. But then I used the wrong lever. I started to open the back door and not move the twine tube. I didn't open the door but I must have moved it just enough because the bale would no longer spin in the baler. All the bales I made this year and this was the first time I used the wrong lever.
So I had to dump the bale. But then it would not come out of the baler. I had to use a long crowbar and pry the bale out of the baler. Other than it really wasn't much of a bale but a collection of hay "glommed" together. The bale came out in pieces.
It was now 5 pm. I would have better off just using a pitchfork and loading the hay in my pickup to be offloaded in the barn as loose hay. Because that is what I will have to do tomorrow. In addition I will have to rake up the chewed up hay spread around the field as I attempted to re-bale the last broken bale.
What a mess. And I still have work to do with hay tomorrow.
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| The remains of two full bales |
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| What a mess. |
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| The hay bale once I pried it out of the baler. |
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| Look a how fine the hay became after I re-baled it. |
Once I dumped the bale, I cleared the loose hay from around the baler and then decided to run the baler to drop the loose hay in the baler out the back.
Gee... the twine that wouldn't go in the baler when the bad bale was inside somehow got sucked into the baler when the baler was empty. I had to get a knife and cut the twine along the roller as the twine was tightly stuck.
I did a quick check of the belts. They were all in the right spots. The bottom belt that had jumped the divider yesterday was also still in its spot. I did noticed the left side of the belt that goes under the metal in the far lower left side of the photo was out of the metal and starting to ride on top of the metal. So I used a smaller crowbar and pried the belt back under the metal.
Then after a late lunch I turned my attention to the irrigation pipes. I moved the two sprinkler lines. The northern line I moved over one valve. The south line was at the western end of the ranch. I drug all its pipes to the very eastern end of the ranch to start watering the hayfield again. For now I am leaving on the third line in the south pasture that I have used to relieve water pressure when switching lines.
By the time I got the pipes moved it was getting dark. And I was running low on energy. The mainline extension and sprinkler line addition will have to wait till tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Hay bale and irrigation blues
This hay is getting on my last nerve. I've about had it. I should have been done with this a week ago and here I am still struggling with the hay.
Today I planned on moving all the hay bales to the NE pasture. All didn't get done. I had problems with loose twine, hay flaking off of bales, and bales falling apart. Some twine was only partially wrapped around bales and I ended up wrapping by hand some ends back around and around some bales. All this took time.
I drove slow carrying bales to reduce parts from being shook off the bales. Some bales fell apart when I lifted them up and I had to leave them in the field. One bale flaked and flaked until I reached the gate and a small bump caused the bale to fall completely apart. I was left with a small core around the bale spear. The bale blocked the gate so I had to spent some time moving the hay out of the gate and to the side. Some of this bale's flakes were "sheets" of hay. Mixed with loose hay it can be hard to move the "sheets" of hay.
I have 8 bales left to move from the hayfield.
Then when I took a break to move the sprinkler lines I encountered two sprinkler pipes I couldn't unhook. The hooked part was at the top of a high point which put pressure on the hook. The pipes in each direction dropped and then rose by their ends. That trapped the water in the pipes making them hard to move. I was able to unhook the second pipe from the third pipe but raising the center hooked area did not drain the water. Turning the hooked area to the side to relieve pressure did not work. Nothing worked. So I drug the hooked section over to try to get away from the higher area.
Dumb move. With my strength I easily moved the pipes. But the one pipe end didn't move and the pipe kinked badly. So badly as to ruin the pipe. Maybe I can salvage the pipe by cutting off the three feet to the kinked section.
So I had to go get an unused pipe. More time wasted when I need to get the hay bales moved. I am at the river end south of the mainline and tomorrow I need to move that line of pipes back to the hayfield. Which has hay bales, broken bales, and flakes here and there. Tomorrow I need to move the rest of the bales, then get the baler out to re-bale the flakes and broken bales. Then lay the mainline pipe across the hayfield, then move the one sprinkler line.
Right. You know with the luck I am having now this won't go as planned.
Today I planned on moving all the hay bales to the NE pasture. All didn't get done. I had problems with loose twine, hay flaking off of bales, and bales falling apart. Some twine was only partially wrapped around bales and I ended up wrapping by hand some ends back around and around some bales. All this took time.
I drove slow carrying bales to reduce parts from being shook off the bales. Some bales fell apart when I lifted them up and I had to leave them in the field. One bale flaked and flaked until I reached the gate and a small bump caused the bale to fall completely apart. I was left with a small core around the bale spear. The bale blocked the gate so I had to spent some time moving the hay out of the gate and to the side. Some of this bale's flakes were "sheets" of hay. Mixed with loose hay it can be hard to move the "sheets" of hay.
I have 8 bales left to move from the hayfield.
Then when I took a break to move the sprinkler lines I encountered two sprinkler pipes I couldn't unhook. The hooked part was at the top of a high point which put pressure on the hook. The pipes in each direction dropped and then rose by their ends. That trapped the water in the pipes making them hard to move. I was able to unhook the second pipe from the third pipe but raising the center hooked area did not drain the water. Turning the hooked area to the side to relieve pressure did not work. Nothing worked. So I drug the hooked section over to try to get away from the higher area.
Dumb move. With my strength I easily moved the pipes. But the one pipe end didn't move and the pipe kinked badly. So badly as to ruin the pipe. Maybe I can salvage the pipe by cutting off the three feet to the kinked section.
So I had to go get an unused pipe. More time wasted when I need to get the hay bales moved. I am at the river end south of the mainline and tomorrow I need to move that line of pipes back to the hayfield. Which has hay bales, broken bales, and flakes here and there. Tomorrow I need to move the rest of the bales, then get the baler out to re-bale the flakes and broken bales. Then lay the mainline pipe across the hayfield, then move the one sprinkler line.
Right. You know with the luck I am having now this won't go as planned.
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| An example of a bale that needs to be re-baled. |
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| Some of the bales that were good enough to be moved, still are in poor shape. |
Monday, July 17, 2017
Baler cleaning and more blues
I cleaned my baler this afternoon. What I thought would take an hour or so took all afternoon. Initially I planned on doing minor cleaning as I plan on cutting and baling another neighbor's field once my haybine's u-joint is fixed. But I got carried away and did a thorough cleaning.
During the cleaning I noticed one chain was wrong. The chain was on the wrong side of a pulley. The following photo was taken after I fixed the problem. The right red arrow shows the pulley. Since the pulley was not tensioning the chain, the chain rubbed on a piece of metal (shown by left arrow).
The chain fix wasn't too bad to do. The next problem was more difficult.
Once I finished cleaning the baler, I opened the baler door to do a last check inside. That is when I noticed the problem with one of the bottom belts. The rightmost belt was under the next belt.
How the belt got across the disc divider (shown by the red arrows) is a mystery. I looked in the baler's manual and their only solution was how to remove everything in order to change bottom belts. Unlike the top belts, the bottom belts do not have "stitches" one can remove to take a belt off. For a bottom belt one must take off:
So the baler is clean and put away for now. But for not as long as I had planned. This evening I started to move the hay bales to the NE pasture. Some bales were loose, others were not twined well. To wrap twine around a bale, I tie the end of the twine to some hay, toss it into the pickup, then run the baler to suck the twine and a little more into the baler, then keep the bale spinning so the twine wraps around the bale. It seems as if on some bales the starting twine with hay did not 'stick' well and the twine wrapped loosely. I picked up a couple bales and part of the bale fell down. On one bale so much hay fell that the twine fell too and then the whole bale fell apart. Other bales only lost small chunks when lifted. Most bales are holding together but I drive slowly as I am afraid a big bump may shake some of the bale loose.
On some bales the end of the twine did not stick to the bale, and when I drove the tractor, twine got caught under the tractor's tire and then the twine started to come off the bale. For all bales I now check for a loose twine end after I lift the bale, further slowing my work down.
I only got ten bales moved before dark. Once I get all the bales moved I'll see how much of a mess I will have to clean up.
For the one bale that fell mostly apart I will have to re-bale it. Oh joy. The fun never ends with this barley, oats and pea hay.
During the cleaning I noticed one chain was wrong. The chain was on the wrong side of a pulley. The following photo was taken after I fixed the problem. The right red arrow shows the pulley. Since the pulley was not tensioning the chain, the chain rubbed on a piece of metal (shown by left arrow).
The chain fix wasn't too bad to do. The next problem was more difficult.
Once I finished cleaning the baler, I opened the baler door to do a last check inside. That is when I noticed the problem with one of the bottom belts. The rightmost belt was under the next belt.
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| View from the front of the baler. |
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| View from inside the baler. |
How the belt got across the disc divider (shown by the red arrows) is a mystery. I looked in the baler's manual and their only solution was how to remove everything in order to change bottom belts. Unlike the top belts, the bottom belts do not have "stitches" one can remove to take a belt off. For a bottom belt one must take off:
- the twine box in order to reach bolts, nuts, and cotter pines behind the box, then
- the pickup bar (the faded yellow seen in a previous photo), then
- the roll bar, then
- the bar with the disc dividers.
Man, o man! A lot of work!
Maybe there is some way I can pry the belt back into the correct place. I was able to unhook the tensioning bars for the disc divider. That gave me a little more play. Still the belt had to go over the one disc divider.
I had gotten my neighbor Curtis to come over and look in case he had other ideas. With both of us using crowbars we worked and worked and finally got the belt back into place. Since the belts were on top of one another they were pinched by two roller bars (seen in photo with the yellow pickup bar). Curtis used a crowbar to pry the rollers apart while I worked the belt sideways until they no longer were on top of one another. Then I used a smaller crowbar to get the edge of the belt over the disc divider. Then more working and prying and pulling to get all of the belt over the divider.
I re-tensioned the disc divider and hope that prevents this from happening in the future.
In the photo with the yellow pickup bar you can see one bottom belt has a tear. I think I can still use the belt for now - as replacing the belt would be a major undertaking.
So the baler is clean and put away for now. But for not as long as I had planned. This evening I started to move the hay bales to the NE pasture. Some bales were loose, others were not twined well. To wrap twine around a bale, I tie the end of the twine to some hay, toss it into the pickup, then run the baler to suck the twine and a little more into the baler, then keep the bale spinning so the twine wraps around the bale. It seems as if on some bales the starting twine with hay did not 'stick' well and the twine wrapped loosely. I picked up a couple bales and part of the bale fell down. On one bale so much hay fell that the twine fell too and then the whole bale fell apart. Other bales only lost small chunks when lifted. Most bales are holding together but I drive slowly as I am afraid a big bump may shake some of the bale loose.
On some bales the end of the twine did not stick to the bale, and when I drove the tractor, twine got caught under the tractor's tire and then the twine started to come off the bale. For all bales I now check for a loose twine end after I lift the bale, further slowing my work down.
I only got ten bales moved before dark. Once I get all the bales moved I'll see how much of a mess I will have to clean up.
For the one bale that fell mostly apart I will have to re-bale it. Oh joy. The fun never ends with this barley, oats and pea hay.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Irrigation pipe switch and fix
Now that the baling is over life is calming down. I was able to do some chores put off by the baling, such as, taking a shower, buying groceries, washing clothes.
I also worked on my irrigation system. It appears a pipe near the beginning came apart enough to reduce the water pressure enough to cause the pump to turn off. I had a problem once before with this pipe separating a little and leaking. So this time I replaced the pipe.
The replaced pipe was similar to the one in the following photo. Minus the clamp (and stick). The old pipe fit into the pipe in the second photo with the valve. To keep the two pipes together I wired the pipe without the clamp to the opening for the hook. I have a few pipes in the mainline like this. The difference is those pipes are more inside the mainline and not near the end. The other pipes in the mainline keep the wired pipes from slipping out.
Oh, the reason for the stick is to keep the pipes from slipping. While the design should allow the pipes to move enough to where the clamp holds against the lip and not have a leak, sometimes that movement is enough to allow a small leak to occur where the pipes come together.
I had one pipe available where Dad had replaced the half circle clamp with a hook as the half circle clamp doesn't work on pipes with valves and hook openings. This hook setup will hold the pipes together.
I also reinforced the elbow. I had some metal pipes and posts around the elbow but over time the pipes and posts moved. The elbow has a small leak which softens the ground. I added a two by four board between the tree and pipe next to the elbow. I'll watch to see if these changes stops the pipes near the elbow from moving in the future.
I moved the two sprinkler lines and started my pump. It started pumping water right away. So it does appear my pump packing tightening solved my pump starting problem.
Before I started the pump I added some mainline pipe a little over a third across my hayfield. In about three to five days I will complete watering the pastures. I am going to move the sprinkler lines back to the hayfield. The cut hayfield has stayed green and looks to be wanting to grow so I will see how much grows if I add water to what I just cut. Why I added only a third of the mainline pipes was to break up the task of carrying all those heavy steel pipes into multiple days, and I haven't moved the hay bales out of the hayfield yet.
I got my electric bill for last month's irrigation. I didn't irrigate the entire month. My electricity cost came to $300. Plus almost $49 a month as the basic charge for the privilege of being connected to the grid.
I also worked on my irrigation system. It appears a pipe near the beginning came apart enough to reduce the water pressure enough to cause the pump to turn off. I had a problem once before with this pipe separating a little and leaking. So this time I replaced the pipe.
The replaced pipe was similar to the one in the following photo. Minus the clamp (and stick). The old pipe fit into the pipe in the second photo with the valve. To keep the two pipes together I wired the pipe without the clamp to the opening for the hook. I have a few pipes in the mainline like this. The difference is those pipes are more inside the mainline and not near the end. The other pipes in the mainline keep the wired pipes from slipping out.
Oh, the reason for the stick is to keep the pipes from slipping. While the design should allow the pipes to move enough to where the clamp holds against the lip and not have a leak, sometimes that movement is enough to allow a small leak to occur where the pipes come together.
I had one pipe available where Dad had replaced the half circle clamp with a hook as the half circle clamp doesn't work on pipes with valves and hook openings. This hook setup will hold the pipes together.
I also reinforced the elbow. I had some metal pipes and posts around the elbow but over time the pipes and posts moved. The elbow has a small leak which softens the ground. I added a two by four board between the tree and pipe next to the elbow. I'll watch to see if these changes stops the pipes near the elbow from moving in the future.
I moved the two sprinkler lines and started my pump. It started pumping water right away. So it does appear my pump packing tightening solved my pump starting problem.
Before I started the pump I added some mainline pipe a little over a third across my hayfield. In about three to five days I will complete watering the pastures. I am going to move the sprinkler lines back to the hayfield. The cut hayfield has stayed green and looks to be wanting to grow so I will see how much grows if I add water to what I just cut. Why I added only a third of the mainline pipes was to break up the task of carrying all those heavy steel pipes into multiple days, and I haven't moved the hay bales out of the hayfield yet.
I got my electric bill for last month's irrigation. I didn't irrigate the entire month. My electricity cost came to $300. Plus almost $49 a month as the basic charge for the privilege of being connected to the grid.
Saturday, July 15, 2017
Baling finally done
This year baling my field has been a nightmare. Earlier I had mentioned the problems the first day of baling with my John Deere 510 baler. Yesterday started out bad. Almost immediately one of the small belts started migrating over and under the wide belt next to it. I dumped the small bale. I remembered last year when I cleaned the baler I saw twine wrapped around some of the baler's rollers. I thought it was from twine accidentally sucked into the baler. Now I wondered if it was to help keep the belts from migrating on the very smooth rollers.
I crawled into the baler and wrapped some twine around a roller between the wide and next small belt.
I tried again, and again the small belt started migrating. I dumped that bale and crawled into the baler and wrapped twine around a few more rollers.
In the back I noticed the brackets for most of the belts - to hold them from migrating - were worn through (most likely due to friction from the bets over the many years) and it was possible for a few belts to migrate out of their bracket. But that was only one spot in a baler with a half dozen rollers. Still it may be good to close the gap. Curtis welds and I checked if he was available. Not at the current time.
I tried making another bale. The belt started to slip but then I started going around a corner and went off the windrow and the belt slipped back into the correct position. I was able to make a bale.
Then on the next bale the belt didn't slip, but looking back I noticed the area under the right wide belt had much less hay than the rest of the bale. Can this be why a wide belt twists? I then remembered the manual talking about weaving when beginning to pick up hay. I hadn't need to do it before. I started picking up hay on the right side of the baler and then the bale went to being consistent all the way across.
From then on I weaved while picking up hay until the bale was a decent size in the baler. Then weaved occasionally after that. This worked. I did have a few times later in the day when one or the other side ended up with a little less hay. No belt twisting but wrapping the bale with twine wasn't as good. I never noticed this until I dumped the bale from the baler. If I suspected that one side seemed less I would pick up hay on that side until the bale looked consistent. However, with all the dust floating in the air and landing on the tractor's window, the light on the dust at times made it difficult to see into the baler from the tractor.
The hay by now was very dry as the air was dry and the temperatures were in the mid 90s. The hay would break down when baling, especially when rotating to wrap twine around the bale. I usually had plenty of chaff left after dumping a bale.
Later I was able to adjust the drive speed/gear in relation to the PTO speed and reduced the amount of chaff. The speed adjustment reduced the amount of loose hay in the baler but not under the belts and that usually was what got ground up when rotating during twining.
I had a number of twine issues. A roll of twine has two ends sticking out of the roll: one to the baler and the other to tie to the next roll of twine. When I finished one roll and started a new roll, there was just enough resistance in the new roll to break the twine. I was partway through twining a bale and had to start over after I re-threaded the twine through the baler's stays and tube.
Then for a while whenever I cut the twine when done, the twine would shrink back inside the tube where I could not reach it. I would have to crawl under the baler and push a wire through the tube. Finally the spring-back quit.
My routine was to always tie the end of the twine to the grill guard.
Tying the twine was because last year the twine slipped from the tube while picking up hay and a lot of twine got sucked with the hay into the bale. It took me over a half hour to pull the twine out of the bale when I fed the bale to the cattle.
Well, once again the twine got sucked into the bale. I always tie the twine after cutting but apparently must have forgotten once. This Winter I will find out how much twine got sucked into the bale.
A number of times the bale didn't want to come out of the baler when the back door was opened. I would have to close and reopen the door several times. If that didn't work, then put the tractor in gear and make a quick start. One bale was especially hard to get out. I ended up breaking the hydraulic that open/closes the baler.
There is a bolt holding the hydraulic arm to the baler door. The bolt came out enough that the hydraulic arm came off the arm.
I had to unhook the tractor, put on a bale spear and use that to lift the baler door up so I could use a new bolt to reattach the hydraulic arm to the baler door.
I don't know if the old bolt (now with stripped threads) had a nut. But I put a nut on this new bolt.
I then had to use the bale spear to "pull" the bale out of the baler. This resulted in a bale with hole in the side and some hay puffed out.
I hooked up the tractor to the baler and went out to bale more. I forgot the rope used to cut the twine from the tractor. When I looked for the rope I found the end of it on the baler lever. The rest was broken off when it was sucked into the baler. I had to find a new rope.
In the afternoon I had the left small belt slide under the wide belt next to it. I had to dump the bale (and re-bale it). After I fixed the belt by sliding and maneuvering it back into place I set off to bale. I forgot to close the baler's door and went around part of the field for a while before I noticed a bale was forming. Then I noticed the door wasn't closed.
For a while it seemed as if every bale had some sort of problem. Off and on I doubted I would get all the hay baled on Friday. But in the evening the problems disappeared and I made progress.
I was down to three windrows left and enough time to bale everything before dark.
I counted my chickens before they hatched. I baled one row but shortly after I started on the second (right) row I noticed extra hay coming out the front of the baler. I stopped and looked. The bale was not uniform and the left side under the belt was much less than the rest of the bale and belts. The left belt was very slack. Then I saw where the belt was twisted.
I had 2/3 to 3/4 of a bale and I decided to try to twine it. I got much of the bale twined before it appeared the belt was starting to catch in the baler. So I dumped the bale. The bale didn't want to come out, but since I was near the house, I got a crowbar and pried the bale out enough that when I drove forward the bale fell the rest of the way out. I think I have enough twine to hold the bale together.
Some hay jammed between the brackets and a roller. Was the reason for the problem?
I had to take the belt apart. Then I pulled the belt out of the baler. Then I had to rethread the belt back in the baler over and under rollers and through brackets. Then wire the belt back together. It was dark by the time I was done. So much for finishing all the baling by dark.
The 20% chance of rain on Saturday was for the afternoon. After 9 am Donna called me to warn me that blue rain clouds were to the West and coming. So much for sleeping in. The last two rows made 1 and 1/2 bales and I had no problems with it. I then went around the field picked up odds and ends of missed hay, mostly on the corners. I also went by some funky bales that had loose hay around them due to being poorly twined or misshapen or both.
One bale was so bad that I decided to re-bale it. The twine was barely tight and the bale was very misshapen. Since things had been going well the rain clouds were going north around the ranch - like what usually happens in the Summer.
The bale only partially unrolled. Other parts clumped together and other parts were just a thick loose mess. I tried spreading the hay out, picking up some with the baler, then spreading out more hay. Two times I had thick clumps that jammed in the baler's intake. I had to stop and pull all the hay out I could so the intake would work again.
Yesterday I had to use a rag to clean the back tractor window each time I got out as the dust collected on the window. There was no wind yesterday and I wished for a breeze. I got a breeze today and regretted it. When spreading the hay or unclogging the baler the hay would blow into my face.
Then the hay to be re-baled was already broken down and short and often as the baler's twines would spin to pick the hay up off the ground and into the baler's rollers the hay would blow to the side of the baler. Back and forth and back and forth - over and over - before I finally got all of the former bale into the baler.
When things looked bad then more rain clouds would form or drops started to fall. When things got better and started working again the clouds went around and the drops stopped. Mother Nature would cruelly keep the pressure on.
Now I started with almost a half bale in the baler. Once I re-baled the former bale I ended up with a little over three-fourths of a bale. At the end of the re-baling a little of the former bale was on the ground due to the pieces being so small the baler couldn't find it up, but it wasn't all that much. Where did almost three-fourths of a bale go? Was the former bale so loose it wasn't a true full bale?
I haven't done an extra count but I think I ended up with about 50 bales.
I am so glad I am done as baling oat hay, barley hay and peas was a nightmare.
Once I finished baling I parked the tractor and baler and went in the house to eat breakfast. It was now after noon. I was tired and laid down just after 1 pm. I woke up at 4:45 pm after a hard sleep. I was that tired.
I crawled into the baler and wrapped some twine around a roller between the wide and next small belt.
I tried again, and again the small belt started migrating. I dumped that bale and crawled into the baler and wrapped twine around a few more rollers.
In the back I noticed the brackets for most of the belts - to hold them from migrating - were worn through (most likely due to friction from the bets over the many years) and it was possible for a few belts to migrate out of their bracket. But that was only one spot in a baler with a half dozen rollers. Still it may be good to close the gap. Curtis welds and I checked if he was available. Not at the current time.
Then on the next bale the belt didn't slip, but looking back I noticed the area under the right wide belt had much less hay than the rest of the bale. Can this be why a wide belt twists? I then remembered the manual talking about weaving when beginning to pick up hay. I hadn't need to do it before. I started picking up hay on the right side of the baler and then the bale went to being consistent all the way across.
From then on I weaved while picking up hay until the bale was a decent size in the baler. Then weaved occasionally after that. This worked. I did have a few times later in the day when one or the other side ended up with a little less hay. No belt twisting but wrapping the bale with twine wasn't as good. I never noticed this until I dumped the bale from the baler. If I suspected that one side seemed less I would pick up hay on that side until the bale looked consistent. However, with all the dust floating in the air and landing on the tractor's window, the light on the dust at times made it difficult to see into the baler from the tractor.
The hay by now was very dry as the air was dry and the temperatures were in the mid 90s. The hay would break down when baling, especially when rotating to wrap twine around the bale. I usually had plenty of chaff left after dumping a bale.
Later I was able to adjust the drive speed/gear in relation to the PTO speed and reduced the amount of chaff. The speed adjustment reduced the amount of loose hay in the baler but not under the belts and that usually was what got ground up when rotating during twining.
I had a number of twine issues. A roll of twine has two ends sticking out of the roll: one to the baler and the other to tie to the next roll of twine. When I finished one roll and started a new roll, there was just enough resistance in the new roll to break the twine. I was partway through twining a bale and had to start over after I re-threaded the twine through the baler's stays and tube.
Then for a while whenever I cut the twine when done, the twine would shrink back inside the tube where I could not reach it. I would have to crawl under the baler and push a wire through the tube. Finally the spring-back quit.
My routine was to always tie the end of the twine to the grill guard.
Tying the twine was because last year the twine slipped from the tube while picking up hay and a lot of twine got sucked with the hay into the bale. It took me over a half hour to pull the twine out of the bale when I fed the bale to the cattle.
Well, once again the twine got sucked into the bale. I always tie the twine after cutting but apparently must have forgotten once. This Winter I will find out how much twine got sucked into the bale.
A number of times the bale didn't want to come out of the baler when the back door was opened. I would have to close and reopen the door several times. If that didn't work, then put the tractor in gear and make a quick start. One bale was especially hard to get out. I ended up breaking the hydraulic that open/closes the baler.
 |
| Broken baler door now resting against the bale. |
I had to unhook the tractor, put on a bale spear and use that to lift the baler door up so I could use a new bolt to reattach the hydraulic arm to the baler door.
I don't know if the old bolt (now with stripped threads) had a nut. But I put a nut on this new bolt.
I then had to use the bale spear to "pull" the bale out of the baler. This resulted in a bale with hole in the side and some hay puffed out.
I hooked up the tractor to the baler and went out to bale more. I forgot the rope used to cut the twine from the tractor. When I looked for the rope I found the end of it on the baler lever. The rest was broken off when it was sucked into the baler. I had to find a new rope.
In the afternoon I had the left small belt slide under the wide belt next to it. I had to dump the bale (and re-bale it). After I fixed the belt by sliding and maneuvering it back into place I set off to bale. I forgot to close the baler's door and went around part of the field for a while before I noticed a bale was forming. Then I noticed the door wasn't closed.
For a while it seemed as if every bale had some sort of problem. Off and on I doubted I would get all the hay baled on Friday. But in the evening the problems disappeared and I made progress.
I was down to three windrows left and enough time to bale everything before dark.
I counted my chickens before they hatched. I baled one row but shortly after I started on the second (right) row I noticed extra hay coming out the front of the baler. I stopped and looked. The bale was not uniform and the left side under the belt was much less than the rest of the bale and belts. The left belt was very slack. Then I saw where the belt was twisted.
I had 2/3 to 3/4 of a bale and I decided to try to twine it. I got much of the bale twined before it appeared the belt was starting to catch in the baler. So I dumped the bale. The bale didn't want to come out, but since I was near the house, I got a crowbar and pried the bale out enough that when I drove forward the bale fell the rest of the way out. I think I have enough twine to hold the bale together.
Some hay jammed between the brackets and a roller. Was the reason for the problem?
I had to take the belt apart. Then I pulled the belt out of the baler. Then I had to rethread the belt back in the baler over and under rollers and through brackets. Then wire the belt back together. It was dark by the time I was done. So much for finishing all the baling by dark.
The 20% chance of rain on Saturday was for the afternoon. After 9 am Donna called me to warn me that blue rain clouds were to the West and coming. So much for sleeping in. The last two rows made 1 and 1/2 bales and I had no problems with it. I then went around the field picked up odds and ends of missed hay, mostly on the corners. I also went by some funky bales that had loose hay around them due to being poorly twined or misshapen or both.
One bale was so bad that I decided to re-bale it. The twine was barely tight and the bale was very misshapen. Since things had been going well the rain clouds were going north around the ranch - like what usually happens in the Summer.
The bale only partially unrolled. Other parts clumped together and other parts were just a thick loose mess. I tried spreading the hay out, picking up some with the baler, then spreading out more hay. Two times I had thick clumps that jammed in the baler's intake. I had to stop and pull all the hay out I could so the intake would work again.
Yesterday I had to use a rag to clean the back tractor window each time I got out as the dust collected on the window. There was no wind yesterday and I wished for a breeze. I got a breeze today and regretted it. When spreading the hay or unclogging the baler the hay would blow into my face.
Then the hay to be re-baled was already broken down and short and often as the baler's twines would spin to pick the hay up off the ground and into the baler's rollers the hay would blow to the side of the baler. Back and forth and back and forth - over and over - before I finally got all of the former bale into the baler.
When things looked bad then more rain clouds would form or drops started to fall. When things got better and started working again the clouds went around and the drops stopped. Mother Nature would cruelly keep the pressure on.
Now I started with almost a half bale in the baler. Once I re-baled the former bale I ended up with a little over three-fourths of a bale. At the end of the re-baling a little of the former bale was on the ground due to the pieces being so small the baler couldn't find it up, but it wasn't all that much. Where did almost three-fourths of a bale go? Was the former bale so loose it wasn't a true full bale?
I haven't done an extra count but I think I ended up with about 50 bales.
I am so glad I am done as baling oat hay, barley hay and peas was a nightmare.
Once I finished baling I parked the tractor and baler and went in the house to eat breakfast. It was now after noon. I was tired and laid down just after 1 pm. I woke up at 4:45 pm after a hard sleep. I was that tired.
Friday, July 14, 2017
Irrigation blues and more baler blues
I woke up to find my irrigation sprinklers were not running. I walked out to the irrigation building to find the pump not running. The pressure gage read over 100 lbs. I tried to restart the pump. It started up. The pressure gage went up to 130 lbs. I wasn't sure if water was being pumped. I flipped the problem switch to on and the pump turned off. Either too much pressure or not enough pressure. I had a field to bale so I left it be. On the way home I removed the end cap to a sprinkler line and not much water ran out. Too much pressure probably not the problem. A problem to be solved another day.
I am falling asleep as I type this so I will make this short. Baler/haying problems started right off, kept up much of the day, and ended the day before sunset. I have two rows left to bale. I was sooo close before a belt twisted on the baler again. This has been a nightmare field to bale.
95 degrees is no fun, even in an air conditioned tractor cab. The air conditioner struggles to keep up in this heat and in a cab of all windows. 20% chance of rain on Saturday. If I don't get these last two rows baled it will surely rain on my field.
I am falling asleep as I type this so I will make this short. Baler/haying problems started right off, kept up much of the day, and ended the day before sunset. I have two rows left to bale. I was sooo close before a belt twisted on the baler again. This has been a nightmare field to bale.
95 degrees is no fun, even in an air conditioned tractor cab. The air conditioner struggles to keep up in this heat and in a cab of all windows. 20% chance of rain on Saturday. If I don't get these last two rows baled it will surely rain on my field.
Thursday, July 13, 2017
More baler blues
The "fun" doesn't end...
Today I baled my barley hay, oat hay and pea crop. I figured I could get it all baled today. Easily. Then I thought it would take me until dark. Then... I got only less than half the field baled.
I didn't start baling until 12:30 pm. First Wyatt planned on coming over in the morning with my rebuilt carburetor but he didn't show. Then it took a little time to re-hook up my baler to my tractor. The color coding the hydraulic hoses and quick-connects worked great. But in the day since I parked the baler in order to use my rake, the bale hitch sank a few inches lower to the ground and I had to readjust the height before hooking it to the tractor. Also the PTO hookup to the tractor was a major pain as usual.
Initially the baling went fine. The crop was dry after the recent rain. Actually a little too dry. It was so dry it was brittle as it would break into smaller pieces easily. And slippery as these are grain crops. So I had to drive at a lower speed that usual else some of the crop was ground into chaff and ended up getting in the way of making a bale. Most of my bales looked fine. Some didn't. I also had to twine the bales more than usual as the hay pieces tended to be smaller than when baling grass and alfalfa.
Then a little after 4 pm I heard a loud squeal. It sounded like metal on metal. I stopped the PTO. After a short investigation I found one of the baler's smaller belts was twisted. How it got twisted is a mystery as it doesn't seem possible it could happen. And why did rubber sound like metal on metal?
I had about a 2/3 size bale in the baler and I had to dump the bale without a chance of wrapping twine around it first as I didn't want to chance the twisted belt breaking. Then I had to figure out how to release tension on the belts so I could work on this belt. I have a manual and that explained how it could be done.
The twist was in the front of the baler so I could reach it. But it was impossible to flip the belt back to the correct position. The manual told me how to take a belt apart. The belt ends have small hooks and a wire runs through the hooks to hold the belt ends together. Kind of a like a zipper but with a wire instead of a zipper handle to hold the two sides together.
I unhooked the belt and then I was able to pull part of the belt out of a couple of the baler's rollers, twist the belt back into normal shape, thread the belt back through the rollers, hold the ends together and reinsert the wire through the 'hooks'.
Success. And I was able to continue baling.
After I successfully made a bale from a windrow I turned my attention to the dumped bale. I tried to unroll the bale but I found the hay to be short and slippery. The hay was shorter than normal due to having gone through the baler once where the dry brittle crop broke even shorter. I half unrolled the bale and the rest was just clumps of hay.
The mess made it difficult to feed back into the baler. I had to make many passes and spread the hay out even more so it would feed back into the baler. I got it all back in the baler, but even with 'good' hay from the windrows at the beginning and at the end, the end bale looked sad.
After moving my irrigation pipes I baled some more. The fourth bale was a problem. The setting sun made it hard to see the baler in certain areas of the hayfield, especially though dusty windows. I thought the bale was about full but the "STOP" sign wouldn't quite finish. As the sign rides on the bale at the end to the point where all the letters are seen above the marker, sometimes the hay will flake off under the sign's bottom as the bale rotates and a small amount of hay comes into the baler. And I couldn't see due to the sun. When I did see the full "STOP" word the bale may have been a little larger than normal. I don't know. There was a fair amount of hay flaked off and in the baler outside of the belted bale itself.
Something seemed off. I was able to twine the bale. But when I tried to release the bale from the baler it wouldn't come out. I checked and found the left wide end belt under the baler when all the other belts were - and should have been - on top of the bale. The belt was holding the bale in the baler. Then I saw the belt was twisted.
Not again!!!
No metal on metal sound this time. I pulled and wiggled and pulled and finally I got the belt out from under the bale and to the side. Then I could dump the bale out of the baler.
Then I had to fix the belt.
Again the belt should not have twisted. I don't know how it happened but the slipperiness of the hay must have contributed to the twisting.
Again I had to unhook the belt as it was impossible to twist it back to normal. This time the hooked ends were inside the baler. The method to release the belt tension was to open the baler and then put two metal stops in; one against a roller and one against the hydraulic arm. Still, considering how my luck had been bad lately, I didn't want to go inside the baler to unhook the belt. But I did have to. So I called Donna to be a watchout in case stops failed and the baler closed when I was in there.
This belt was much wider and the hooks and wire weren't in the best shape. The wire was bent which made getting it out harder. And the wire was broke into two pieces. When I put the belt back together I used a 'new' wire from my tool shed 'treasure' pile.
Because the belt was twisted in three spots I had to pretty much take belt entirely off to untwist, then rethread the belt back through all the rollers and metal cage. I had to use a ladder in back, crawl inside the baler, and balance on top in the front. But I got it. And I got the belt re-hooked. All before it got dark. Releasing the baler's stops was a problem as the hydraulic stop moved to a spot where it was difficult to release the stop. A hammer fixed that, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
I was able to make one bale before dark and the baler seems to be working again.
This was the bale made the second time the belt twisted. A very sloppy bale but I believe it will hold together long enough for me to store it and then feed to the cattle this Winter. The right side of the bale is where the twisted belt was located.
So... I am not sure of the complete count, but I believe I made a little over 20 bales today. So I got some things done. But I think I have only baled a little under half the field. Saturday the weather forecast predicts a 20% chance of an isolated rain shower. Let's hope I am able to finish my baling tomorrow as if I don't, it will rain on my remaining hay.
My bad streak of luck has got to end soon!
Today I baled my barley hay, oat hay and pea crop. I figured I could get it all baled today. Easily. Then I thought it would take me until dark. Then... I got only less than half the field baled.
I didn't start baling until 12:30 pm. First Wyatt planned on coming over in the morning with my rebuilt carburetor but he didn't show. Then it took a little time to re-hook up my baler to my tractor. The color coding the hydraulic hoses and quick-connects worked great. But in the day since I parked the baler in order to use my rake, the bale hitch sank a few inches lower to the ground and I had to readjust the height before hooking it to the tractor. Also the PTO hookup to the tractor was a major pain as usual.
Initially the baling went fine. The crop was dry after the recent rain. Actually a little too dry. It was so dry it was brittle as it would break into smaller pieces easily. And slippery as these are grain crops. So I had to drive at a lower speed that usual else some of the crop was ground into chaff and ended up getting in the way of making a bale. Most of my bales looked fine. Some didn't. I also had to twine the bales more than usual as the hay pieces tended to be smaller than when baling grass and alfalfa.
Then a little after 4 pm I heard a loud squeal. It sounded like metal on metal. I stopped the PTO. After a short investigation I found one of the baler's smaller belts was twisted. How it got twisted is a mystery as it doesn't seem possible it could happen. And why did rubber sound like metal on metal?
 |
| One view. |
 |
| Another view that shows the belt twisted on both sides of a roller. |
I had about a 2/3 size bale in the baler and I had to dump the bale without a chance of wrapping twine around it first as I didn't want to chance the twisted belt breaking. Then I had to figure out how to release tension on the belts so I could work on this belt. I have a manual and that explained how it could be done.
The twist was in the front of the baler so I could reach it. But it was impossible to flip the belt back to the correct position. The manual told me how to take a belt apart. The belt ends have small hooks and a wire runs through the hooks to hold the belt ends together. Kind of a like a zipper but with a wire instead of a zipper handle to hold the two sides together.
I unhooked the belt and then I was able to pull part of the belt out of a couple of the baler's rollers, twist the belt back into normal shape, thread the belt back through the rollers, hold the ends together and reinsert the wire through the 'hooks'.
Success. And I was able to continue baling.
 |
| Here is the bale I had to dump when the belt twisted. |
After I successfully made a bale from a windrow I turned my attention to the dumped bale. I tried to unroll the bale but I found the hay to be short and slippery. The hay was shorter than normal due to having gone through the baler once where the dry brittle crop broke even shorter. I half unrolled the bale and the rest was just clumps of hay.
The mess made it difficult to feed back into the baler. I had to make many passes and spread the hay out even more so it would feed back into the baler. I got it all back in the baler, but even with 'good' hay from the windrows at the beginning and at the end, the end bale looked sad.
After moving my irrigation pipes I baled some more. The fourth bale was a problem. The setting sun made it hard to see the baler in certain areas of the hayfield, especially though dusty windows. I thought the bale was about full but the "STOP" sign wouldn't quite finish. As the sign rides on the bale at the end to the point where all the letters are seen above the marker, sometimes the hay will flake off under the sign's bottom as the bale rotates and a small amount of hay comes into the baler. And I couldn't see due to the sun. When I did see the full "STOP" word the bale may have been a little larger than normal. I don't know. There was a fair amount of hay flaked off and in the baler outside of the belted bale itself.
Something seemed off. I was able to twine the bale. But when I tried to release the bale from the baler it wouldn't come out. I checked and found the left wide end belt under the baler when all the other belts were - and should have been - on top of the bale. The belt was holding the bale in the baler. Then I saw the belt was twisted.
Not again!!!
No metal on metal sound this time. I pulled and wiggled and pulled and finally I got the belt out from under the bale and to the side. Then I could dump the bale out of the baler.
Then I had to fix the belt.
 |
| One of three spots where the belt was twisted. |
Again I had to unhook the belt as it was impossible to twist it back to normal. This time the hooked ends were inside the baler. The method to release the belt tension was to open the baler and then put two metal stops in; one against a roller and one against the hydraulic arm. Still, considering how my luck had been bad lately, I didn't want to go inside the baler to unhook the belt. But I did have to. So I called Donna to be a watchout in case stops failed and the baler closed when I was in there.
This belt was much wider and the hooks and wire weren't in the best shape. The wire was bent which made getting it out harder. And the wire was broke into two pieces. When I put the belt back together I used a 'new' wire from my tool shed 'treasure' pile.
Because the belt was twisted in three spots I had to pretty much take belt entirely off to untwist, then rethread the belt back through all the rollers and metal cage. I had to use a ladder in back, crawl inside the baler, and balance on top in the front. But I got it. And I got the belt re-hooked. All before it got dark. Releasing the baler's stops was a problem as the hydraulic stop moved to a spot where it was difficult to release the stop. A hammer fixed that, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
I was able to make one bale before dark and the baler seems to be working again.
This was the bale made the second time the belt twisted. A very sloppy bale but I believe it will hold together long enough for me to store it and then feed to the cattle this Winter. The right side of the bale is where the twisted belt was located.
So... I am not sure of the complete count, but I believe I made a little over 20 bales today. So I got some things done. But I think I have only baled a little under half the field. Saturday the weather forecast predicts a 20% chance of an isolated rain shower. Let's hope I am able to finish my baling tomorrow as if I don't, it will rain on my remaining hay.
My bad streak of luck has got to end soon!
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