First Cutting of Hay Field

Nancy and I went to the farm last Wednesday and cut the hay field.

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Grass was taller in places where the fertilizer buggy "crossed" in the field.

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Was cloudy most of the day and somewhat of a chance of rain, but the rain past us farther north.

"Vernon" our <a href="http://youtu.be/l7iUmB_EZQ0">56 Model 70 and JD 350 sickle mower</a> worked fine with no problems.

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Idled the tractor back and ran in 3rd gear; made <a href="http://youtu.be/IZeRo3y55Mc">one small adjustment on the mower</a> so hay would fall from the non-clog guards.

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Saturday morning we "walked" the hay field and decided it was ready to rake.

We planned to use "Mack" our 51MT to pull the hay rake, but a hydraulic line under the hood started leaking.

Fired up "Sam" one of our other 51MTs and hooked up the <a href="http://youtu.be/zYdXlg987BU">JD 640 hay rake</a>.

Grass was "thin" in a couple of areas and had to make <a href="http://youtu.be/tvf0abLDOTE">a couple of extra passes</a> to make decent wind row.

"15" our <a href="http://youtu.be/FF2ZvzW3LW0">53 Model 70</a> always powers the <a href="http://youtu.be/04ZryimcOHY">KRONE 125 4x4 baler</a>.

Had a couple of tying problems, but finally got it figured out.

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Hay is under the hay shed and now we're just waiting for some rain.

I baled some sq bales yesterday and the wind gusts keep blowing the hay out of the windrow. Ended up running baler tractor right behind the rake. If it doesn't rain some more here that will be the last cutting for a long time.

Glad you got it done James of course good help makes a difference. How you feeling. We are going to start cutting Alfalfa. It looks real good. Glad to see you up and at it.
gitrib

Nice pics as always James -- Glad to see ya posting!

Sure can tell the difference on the hay there.
wish we could have sent down some of our rain.

ground around here is just being planted in the last 2 weeks. One farmer started dropping hay last week.

On the way back to Dallas, Nancy and I were talking about how "windy" it has been the last couple of weeks.

Probably noticed the wind in one of the mowing videos.

Not much rain in sight for now.

We"re watching the weather for a high percentage chance of rain.

Will take a day off and fertilize if the forecast is good.

Everything worked out really good on this cutting.

Nancy is a lot of help because this is hay for her horses.

She is well pleased with the quality on this "cutting".

Just like all the other folks in our 4-state area, we sure could use some rain.

Be sure to post some photos of your award winning Alfalfa when you're done.

Nancy did a good job on both the photos and videos; glad that you liked them.

Been reading a lot more than posting these days.

There are a lot of new folks on the forums and just enjoy what they've been sharing with us.

Also good to hear from the "old timers" as well.

Seems like everywhere we've been the last few weeks that folks are baling hay.