Making hay until the sun sets

I worked all day on cutting my hayfield and I'm not done.  With no real dew this morning I started cutting at 9:40 am and quit at 10 pm.

Even though there was no dew the grass and alfalfa was hard to cut.  I had to cut in my lowest/slowest gear until about noon when a breeze picked and the grass/alfalfa changed.  Then I was able to drive in my second lowest gear.  I don't know... but I suspect the grass/alfalfa contained more moisture in the plants until noon and that is why it was harder to cut.  Before going to my lowest gear I tried the third lowest, then the second lowest.  Each time I would have to stop after a short while and clear grass and alfalfa from the haybine then back up a little and recut a short section where part of the grass wasn't cut due to the clog in the sickle blades.   I also had to recut the last (third) row I had cut the night before as a good portion of the row had grass that wasn't cut due to a clog last night.

So.  This slower than usual cutting meant I didn't finish today.  Thinking back, other times it would take me a day then a few hours the next day to finish.  Tomorrow I have about a third of the field left to cut.  A good part of the day.

Slowing me down was a freak accident.  The hayfield has been a hayfield clear of trees since 1941 - almost 80 years.  I have cut hay.  I plowed the field a few years ago.  I planted the oats/barley/peas crops.  I disked the field and then planted my alfalfa crop.  I have harrowed the field every year.   Then where did a stick that looks to be from a tree stump/root come from?  Apparently squeezed out of the ground just to cause me problems.

I hit this with my haybine mid-afternoon in the hayfield.  The haybine has rock guards to help protect the sickle blades but this fit between the rock guard and bent a sickle blade.  I immediately realized something was wrong when the haybine stopped cutting the grass.   The heavy piece of wood bent and did not break the blade, and this stopped the sickle bar from wobbling as the bent blade would not slide in between the rock guards.

Bent sickle blade

Bending the blade back just broke it off.  I have lots of extra blades and got one to replace this blade.  Another blade was partially broke at the end of the blade elsewhere on the sickle bar, and while the blade still cut fine, I replaced it also.

Now, this doesn't sound too difficult, right?  The first blade replacement went quick.  The second?  Not so fast.  This blade was partially protected by a rock guard which meant I had to loosen the guard.  The ratchet wrench that should fit - didn't.  I then got socket wrench and loosened the guard.

When it came time to put the new blade on I couldn't find it.  It was just there and now it was gone.  Also missing was the broke first blade I had replaced.  I looked all around the haybine.  Nothing.  Around the tractor.  Nothing.  The shed where I got my tools.  Nothing.  My scrap iron pile where I toss old  blades.  Nothing.  The path between the shed and the haybine.  Nothing.  Over and over I looked.  For a half hour at least.  I was getting really upset and frustrated.  The blades should be there and they are not.  I have a problem where when doing two things at once the secondary item is on autopilot and in my short-term memory forgotten immediately.  I hadn't a clue where those blade where.  I must have put them somewhere but... where?

Before I went completely crazy (as I was getting really upset by now) I asked my neighbor Curtis to look for me.  The blades - which should be obvious to see as they are large and shiny - must be in plain sight and I just can't see them.  Curtis spent 20 minutes looking and he could not find them.

I have extra blades but I was concerned the missing blades could be in the hayfield and I did not want to drive over them with a tractor tire.  The blades are so sharp they would cut my tractor tire. And with my luck....      But I gave up and got another blade.

The new problem... this blade's holes were not aligned correctly.  I have the extra blades on an extra sickle bar.  I had to use a hammer to remove the blade when normally one just lightly lifts the blade off the bar.  So when it came time to put the blade on my haybine it would not fit over the bolts.  REALLY?!!! Can nothing work right?!!    I had to drill one hole larger (oblong) in order to get the blade on the haybine's sickle bar.

As I was tightning the bolts on the blade I found the missing blades.  They were on the ground under the sickle bar where I had to replace the second blade.  Why neither Curtis or I could see them is strange.  The broken blade - not shiny or new - was on top of the shiny good blade.  And maybe a few small pieces of grass was over the blades?   Again... strange.

Missing blades where I found them under the sickle bar.

So.  All this 'fooling' around cost me several hours for a 20 minute job.

I grabbed some food to eat in the tractor and went back to cutting the field.

This grass and alfalfa is so moisture laden it may take longer to dry.

And not finishing cutting until Saturday?  One day less to dry before next week's predicted rain.  If I get into a rainy period where the hay doesn't dry and begins to mold it would be a disaster.  Especially with such a great hay crop.

Stress level.  High.

But my grass and alfalfa is so thick and high I am struggling to even cut it.  Waiting until July would make it even more difficult to impossible to cut with my haybine.  All around the Valley the hay crops look good this year.  And since I accidently double fertilized my field my crop is even more lush.  Too much of a good thing?