More Binding Questions! Shocking, huh?

[Anonymous-0]

I'd like to start by thanking everyone for replying to my question about ground speed. It's quite a help. Speaking of help, I am not quite sure on how to shock my oats. I have an old school book (Practical Farming - Power/Kivlin c.1937/1944) here & it gave me a general idea on how to get the shock going but, but I'm not to clear on the cap bundle(s). It says to use 6-12 bundles for your shock using the last bundle for the cap. !? What am I supposed to do with said "cap"? The fuzzy B&W picture that accompanies the text shows a mighty fuzzy shock of oats that may have more than one bundle on top. The photo of barley shocks, on a diffrent page, depicts a clear photo of a bunch of rat's nests in a field. No help here either. (Not to sound frantic, but the simplist things can be frustrating!)
I'm also wondering about sweating the oats. Is there residual moisture that needs to be released for proper threshing? Or, do you have to dry out the weeds?
Is the wind board necessesary on my binder? Mine is just about non-existant.
And lastly, where might one find one of those steering/clutching/braking do-hickeys for my binder (if not all that practical, it at least sounds pretty amusing!)? I'm not exactly sure what to say in a want ad for a steering thingy for my binder or I would have posted one.

 

[VernMN]

We used only six bundles for the shock and never the cap bundle. Usually needs a week or better before threshing to both dry the weeds and also the greener oats. Oats was cut slightly on the green side and it cured in the shock. The greener the oats was cut the lighter it was too. But cutting too ripe, then it shelled out during cutting and shocking. It is same thinking as with swathing the oats for combining.

 

[VernMN]

Oh, and thanks for bringing back the memories. Remember to wear a long sleeve shirt and gloves when shocking.

 

[teddy52food]

In my younger days, we never capped the oats. The neighbor raised some wheat each year. We capped the wheat so the sun didn"t bleach the kernals as much. The wheat had a dark red color when threshed.

 

[HENRY E NC]

Im not sure of the number of bundles in a shck of oats but I do remember spreading it out like a fan the cover the top. I really dont think more than 8 would do. One in the middle five around and 1 on top.. That was about 60 years ago but I still have all those old wonderful memories. Being 75 and not too well sometimes I still long for the days of my early years on the farm.

 

[Sam#3]

When I learned to shock we used ten bundles. Start by setting two side by side slightly leaning toward one another. Set two at a right angle to the first two. Use four to fill the corners. The cap is made by taking two more bundles breaking them across your arm and spreading them to make a cover for the top of the shock. Lay them at right angles to get good coverage. Once you start shocking you will find why you want the bundles tied in the middle (The operators job) and be sure you set the bundle firmly into the stubble.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hi, We used 6 bundles to a shock, set 2 facing each other then add 2 more to each end. I thought of something you need you may not know about. Place a 2 inch wide strip of tin running sideways laying on the main canvas. You will find holes on the left end to anchor it, adjust it so the heads fall on it. This will slow the heads down as they move accross the canvas so it all hits the elevator canvas straight. Good luck, Chuck

 

[teddy52food]

That strip should be long enough to reach the elevator canvas. The end should be curved upwards. This keeps the oats from falling to the ground as it goes from the platform canvas to the elevator.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I haven't followed your posts real good, but something else comes to mind when I read parts of them.

Many folks dump the bundles when it gets a full load in the bundle carrier. The old neighborhood always dumped them in a preplaned system. Some times only one or two, other times more depending on your new formed rows of shocks--90 degree angle to the binders travel direction. After the first few rounds you will get a general idea of how many bundles you will get in a said distance. Learn to dump the bundles so they are in a row --- oposite your travel motion, thus you can cut down on manual labor when making shocks, and cut your travel time down considerably when picking up the shocks--you pick up shocks 90 degrees to your direction of travel when cutting the oats. We have demostrated this a few times when our antique club shocks oats, yea --- some of the old guys insist that they did not do it as kids, and don't want to change. Most of them agree after they see the system, that it saves alot of walking and moving bundles. Steep hills etc can make it less effective, but driving the bundle wagon on a steep hillside is not so sweet either. Our bundles as a kid had no set number of bundles, ten was usualy the first choice, but up to fourteen was allowed if there was not alot of weeds involved.

Snakes seemed to like the shocks, and bees always added to the fun.

On steep hilsides you may have to adjust the shocks a little to keep them level.

Also a tractor with a 3 point can help maintain a good cutting height if you need a little less confusion.