Tuesday I took Donna and Kari out for their birthday lunches. Their birthdays were the end of June and the beginning of July. Both are Cancers, like me. This was the first time we could all get together for a lunch. Later on Tuesday I got the parts of the middle and north pastures cut like I wanted to do in order to get rid of some tall stemy grass. I was going to cut a small grass strip by my neighbor's driveway to help him out but I couldn't get a hold of him. So I started pressure washing to clean my mower-conditioner.
Today, Wednesday, I finished pressure washing / cleaning mower-conditioner and then parked it for the year. I also noticed the conditioner's blade are getting dull. Either I will have to replace them or sharpen them if that is possible. Two years and now dull blades. The salesman mentioned they could probably only last a couple of years before they got dull. He was right. Something for my to-do list before next year's cutting.
Then I drove the tractor to the gas station to fill up the almost empty diesel tank. $139, and 43.5 gallons later, and the tank was full.
Then I raked the hayfield. Two windrows into one. Then again to turn the rows over. It was very windy this afternoon and the wind moved parts of some windrows.
They windrows are 99% dry. Time to start baling as rain is in the forecast by Saturday. First I reset / adjusted the baler's sensor. My baler makes 4.5 foot bales when it should be 5 foot bales. I tried adjusting the baler last year and it didn't work. Earlier this year I talked with Jack at the John Deere dealership about adjusting my baler. The way he and the book recommended was the last way I did adjust the baker. I'll try again.
This time I noticed a different way to do a step. The step mentioned to lock the baler before raising the belt tension arm. But a sticker next to the lock says not to lock the baler before raising the tension arm and opening the gate as it could cause damage. I looked online to set if there was more info that made sense. Nope. So I locked the baler and then raised the tension arm. I then adjusted the sensor so that it read 173. That is the number the manual said to set it to. Before adjusting the sensor the monitor said it was 155. I adjusted the sensor so the monitor said it was 173. Then off to baling hay.
Once a hay bale was made I measured it. It measured 4 feet. What? Smaller, not larger? So I readjusted the sensor to 150. The next bale was 53 inches (4 ft 5 inches). I readjusted the sensor to 140. The next bale was 57 to 58 inches. I readjusted the sensor to 130. The next bale was an oversized bale. I got a warming on the monitor. Before off-loading the baler I tried to netwrap it. I unloaded the bale and the bale was partially netwrapped. Not good enough. The bale size was 62-63 inches. Anything over 60 is an oversized bale as the max size for a bale is 60 inches.
I re-adjusted the sensor to 136. I unrolled by hand the oversized bale. I will have to re-bale it tomorrow as it was now getting dark.
It is odd. Who knows why the manual says 173. The odd thing is this evening when I looked up the manual online to double check, the number is now 208 with slightly different wording for the steps. For the same model of baler.
And to increase the bale size is to go with a lower number? None of this is making sense. When I talked with Jack earlier he showed me the same description as my physical manual and mentioned 173. He didn't know why it would be 173. It is just what the manual says.
I hope the baling all goes as planned tomorrow. I had hoped to get more baling done today as late tomorrow afternoon is a 'Shakespeare in the Park' outdoor play I am planning on watching along with Donna and Kari.
I'll see how much baling I get done tomorrow.
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