I was going to start cutting at 2 pm but that got delayed to 2:30 pm because I discovered one of the cattle's salt blocks was covered in manure. I needed water - and a wire brush - to clean the manure off the salt blocks.
The start of the haying didn't go smooth. The initial area was grass and not alfalfa. And the grass was tall enough to lay on the haybine's bed, and thin enough to not get pushed back by the rotating wheel. So I had to stop a number of times to pull the grass off the bed as all that grass would start to stop the sickle bar from moving. I also had a grassy area at the south end of the hayfield where I had to stop and clear the bed a handful of times.
At one point when restarting the haybine I heard a ping as something flew into the tractor cab through the open window and hit the back of my seat. I found a broken bolt. Where did that come from? I couldn't find out where. So I continued to cut hay. Later Donna found where the bolt came from on the haybine. The PTO shaft has eight bolts where the shaft is attached to the haybine. One bolt is missing. The end of the bolt is still in the haybine and will be a challenge to remove so I can add a new bolt.
It took an hour and a half to make the first pass around the hayfield. I could only go in the lowest gear. The second pass had only one stop for me to clear grass from the haybine's bed. That row took 45 minutes to go around the hayfield. Still, slow going.
On the fourth or fifth row I was able to go in the second lowest gear and made it around the field in 30+ minutes.
On the sixth row the haybine started to make an odd sound. It would only occur when I was moving forward cutting hay, not when the haybine ran when standing in one place. I couldn't figure out what was causing the noise. It sounded like helicopter blades when rotating. Touka... touka... touka...
I needed someone to stand by the haybine when it made the sound. I couldn't tell what was causing the sound when sitting in the tractor. I called Curtis. No answer. I called Wyatt. He had no idea what could cause the sound as he never heard something like that on his haybines, and he wasn't at home. I called Chris. He never heard that sound on his equipment. Donna was coming over to bring me some taco soup for supper. I had her stand by the haybine. She couldn't hear the sound even though I could. And her hearing is much more sensitive to sound that my poor hearing. I get lots of comments from Donna that I talk too loud.
I had Donna drive the tractor so I could stand by the haybine to listen at the sound. But Donna drove slow and the grass was at the level where it lay on the haybine bed and stopped the sickle bar.
So I gave up trying to listen at the sound. The haybine still cut the hayfield though I was now back to the lowest gear.
I had predicted I would cut 14 rows. I only cut 9 3/4 rows. On the ninth row I started encountering "bad" grass areas and had to stop a number of times to clear grass off the haybine's bed. I thought I would be able to cut 10 rows as the last section was taller alfalfa. But the alfalfa started to just lay on the haybine's bed and stop the sickle bar. I couldn't feel dew on the grass and alfalfa, but something was causing everything to fail and lay down. So I quit for the day.
9 3/4 rows in 8 hours of work. Slow work. I had hoped to cut enough of the hayfield today so I could finish the hayfield tomorrow. Maybe not at this rate. If I remember right, it is 34 or 37 rows to cut the hayfield, though the "higher" the row count the shorter the row.
Oh yeah, towards the last few rows, when I again had the "haybine bed" problems, I no longer heard the strange "touka" noise from the haybine.
So I'll see how tomorrow goes. Once again a challenge to cut my hayfield. I am pretty certain I will buy in the future a mower-conditioner (MoCo) and a larger tractor to make my hay cutting easier.
Grass just laying on the haybine's bed and stopping the sickle bar from moving and cutting.
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