Well fellas it’s that time of year again. I’ve been busier than a……..(insert your pun here)!
Getting equipment ready, making repairs, and working in the field on this years first cutting hay crop.
The hay is looking nice I’ve got it cut and raked and fingers crossed I’ll be making bales tomorrow!
I thought I’d share a few pictures of the going’s on around here.
- Getting the mowers ready to hit the field.
- Herbie the truck fired right up after sitting for quite awhile. It doesn’t want to idle very good though. Need a little more work.
- Tractors, tractors everywhere!
One sad note. The old hay rake has breathed its last.
I believe I paid $50 for it when I got it. Every part of it was worn beyond belief but it still made a nice windrow. Not bad for a piece of equipment that is between 80 and 90 years old. Unfortunately it was in such bad shape it really didn’t make sense to try and rebuild it. I only found one place in the US that had tires for it, and they were very proud of them. They cost much more than the old rake is worth. So we been running on borrowed time with a lot of grease some mechanics wire and a few prayers!
This is a ground driven unit but the tires are so rotten it just skids along instead of turning so I made a hasty repair to get it rolling again
I’m willing to bet this is the only time you will ever see snow chains on a hay rake!
But it worked like a charm gave it plenty of traction. One of the bars finally broke so my 4 bar rake became a 3 bar rake.
The poor old thing did a fine final raking job even though the tires are all but gone and it’s missing a bar.
I really do love working with the old stuff but it’s time to retire this one. Who know how many thousands of acres it’s been across in its life or how many cows and horses it helped feed.
So now I’m putting feelers out for new old rake to bring home.
even came out and helped scoop up the stragglers.
