Not as tough as I used to be

[jon f mn]

Bales some hay on Thursday. Used my 400 to pull my 200 baler.

Good thing the case baler is not a high capacity baler, after handling 500 bales I felt like I was run over by a truck. Lol. And I switched off with a neighbor kid that helped. Back in my youth 1000 bales a day was just a normal day. Hard to believe I'm that old. Put up 150 bales of nice alfalfa and 350 of really nice grass hay. Hope we get some rain so I get a second cutting so I can sell these bales. If not I'll have to feed them. With hay and corn prices so high I may have to get rid of the cattle and hogs. Lisa expensive to feed them now.
Baling

 

[muleman51]

Nice looking hay. I used to like baling also not near as much appeal as 10 years ago. We had long hay racks like that one of yours. Could get five tiers on them and still have room for a few on the front. Good job done for the day. Hope you get rain, then send some south. Jim

 

[wd9garymn]

Jon, ain't that the truth. When i was 50 i could outwork most guys half my age and now pushing 77 i have to hustle to keep up with guys my age.Been cutting and splitting wood this week in the hot weather for 4 hours in the A M while it is cool, then gotta sit for a bit--too hot to do anything after that. Darn nice hay with good weather for haying, but yes we need rain really bad. Gary.

 

[ChasK]

If you have the hay, they will finish if you lessen the grain. Use that nice alfalfa stuff. Obviously it will just take a bit longer. Just leave them hang in the cooler longer.

My Dad's rule of thumb was 1 day hang for every month live as a min. Mine are usually 18mo and I use three weeks mainly because the help is more available on the weekends!

 

[db4600]

Be glad you found a kid thats as tough as you to help.

 

[Billy NY]

I watched the video, that Case baler makes one heck of a nice bale, what size / weight are they running ?

 

[jon f mn]

I don't know, maybe 50 pounds. Nice dry grass so not heavy

 

[Tony in SD]

That baler brought back memories. Dad & uncle bought a new baler just like that Case. Nice looking hay bales.

 

[rustyfarmall]

Brings back memories of when I was a kid, except the baler was a New Holland and the tractor was a Minne.

 

[IaLeo]

As a teenager, I had the fun of stacking bales on the wagon, but we forgot to chain down the the rack to the front bolster one season. Had a nice row at the back....hill too steep...rack tipped up...Whee! Got to restack them all again..LOL. Leo

 

[chcase]

Jon nice looking hay.Wish I still had my 200 baler.My wife has finally convinced me that it's ok to admit that it takes longer to get the things done that 40 years ago only took half the time to do and can now only carry half the weight I use to carry.I worked the farm, milked cows and had a full time job at the feed mill.and then drilled wells too. (The good old days) keep the postings coming.

 

[fixerupper]

The bales I have seen come out of a 200 Case baler look like yours, picture perfect. Like the others said, I used to be able to bale 1000 bales with another person on the rack with me and sometimes play nine holes of golf walking that evening if I wasn't too tired. I can't admit to being the toughest man around when I was young but I held up pretty well. Not anymore!

 

[Bill VA]

Looks great!!!

 

[Tractorcedric]

I got lucky! The neighbor saw me on the wagon and the wife on the tractor. So he sent over one of the boys he has working for him. I did not do much better at driving the old COOP E3 than my wife was doing. I have a bale lift hooked to the side of my hay wagon and my baler makes the 16x18 bales.

 

[Gambles]

Man, that brings back memories.
I grew up on a dairy farm that had between 50-70 cows. Yes, we fed with small square bales and seems like about every-other week we were baling alfalfa. Two older brothers, myself and dad would put up hay. Except for one time that I can remember, dad did not stack the trailers. He would drive the tractor that ran the baler or he would throw the bales off the trailer on to the bale elevator. (He had a bad heart) We used a John Deere G and a New Holland 269 to bale. For many years, I had no idea what a live PTO was. Two people would be baling and two people would be stacking bales in the shed. We later got some diesel Oliver tractors to help put up hay. It was my job to drive the G, the baler and two bale trailers to the alfalfa field, about 8 miles away from our farm. I also had to drive a very slow Allis Chalmers C to the alfalfa field shed, pulling the bale elevator. Man, that was BORING!
We baled with twine, not wire, and I wore out blue jeans and leather gloves very quick.

 

[Vito]

Thanks for posting the video. Nice to see your operation.

Vito

 

[Billy NY]

That is some high quality hey for sure, nice looking crop !

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Nice looking hay and beautiful bales. That's how we did it up till '19. The wife drove and I stacked the wagons but my daily limit was about 400 with the wagons available. She insisted on first gear afraid of overloading the 273 and I don't think I could keep up any faster anyhow. Having it custom baled since and hire help to put it in the barn.

 

[rick n ohio]

That thing sure makes a nice beautiful bale

 

[Bob N.Y.]

You stack the bales on the wagon the same way we did. We took then off the wagon with a 2 piece 4 tine grapple fork and hay hoist.

 

[jon f mn]

I learned it that way because we had a bale grapple as well that would grab 10 bales stacked like that.

 

[bc]

I may have the chance to make some more small squares next week. What is the trick to make them lighter, say 40 pounders? Adjust to make shorter bales or not pack them as tight? Thinking of something my wife (and me) can handle a little easier. Don't know the model number but it is an old JD baler that I can get. Thanks.

 

[jon f mn]

You need them relatively tight to hold shape, but they don't
need to be bricks. Most just make them shorter. Also
depends on hay type, grass hay will be lighter than alfalfa or
clover hay.