Making round bales on hill sides story

I was reminded by the post below of a few interesting stories.
One of my first experiences on hills was on what I thought was not to steep Bale got kicked out and when I came back the other way there was no bale. Someone had stole it was my thought as there was a fence down below and it was still standing. all the trees and scrub in it were untouched. this was a 3/4 mile long field and the driveway to the field was only 50 ft from where the bale should be. Being i had driven down the other side and around a few bushes it was at least 15 minutes before I came back. Some joker could easily have picked it up and moved it for fun. after asking the rest of the family if they had moved the bale just for kicks and no one had, we went to see what happened. Near as we could tell the bale had hit a small mound about 15 ft from the fence. Jump 6 ft high over the fence and scrub rolled another 2oo ft into the pasture where it ended in a small patch of scrub hidden from view. bale looked a little frazzeled but was still in 1 peice.


On one of the fields I now farm the haybine runs out of oil as the hill is so steep that the pump gets air. this is a hesston 14ft with the oil in the tongue. First 4 rounds around the field I didn't know why the haybine stopped. I thought my tractor pto was slipping when it had to work so hard climbing and cutting. That hill now gets cut down hill only.

When driving on side hill plowing with 1650 cockshutt the up hill tire lost all traction and I was sitting on the fender. Verry stupid move on my part never to be repeated.

I have baled side hill where the round baler was dog tracking so bad that I had to drive with front tire of tractor on the middle of the swath just to get it in the baler, don't do that no more.

I have also broke the front rims off because of side hill driving. I have come to the conclusion that hills can be farmed but sometimes they are not worth the cost or the risk. Land like this is made for pasture and that is what it is slowly becoming. I have areas I rent I have quit farming because it is to steep. I even got a combine down in a hill once that it could not drive out of. I had to drive through some bush and scrub to get around so I could get back on the field. That doesn't get farmed no more either.

Had a 1070 that the rim started slipping in the holders. drove up the hill and it stopped going forwards, started rolling backwards and ended up in the bush. Brakes couldn't hold it and was lucky it stayed on its wheels.

Hills are dangerous and common sense must be used ALL the time.

Your story reminds me of someone I know who was baling with a IH986, and he was driving up hill and it quit pulling, rolled backwards, with no steering, or brakes. Luckily it turned out OK. He was low on hydraulic/tranny fluid but it was still on the dipstick. The tractor has a hydraulic TA, and when it stopped getting fluid, it stopped pulling. These tractors are known to be ok to run overfull and that is what I would do of I owned one and used it on any hills at all. Mark.

Yep , i use to do custom combing . I was shelling corn for one guy and i got in one of them as i call them cork screw hills where they seam to twist . I was just getting the field open as i had the head lands open and was making a center path . The combine was a Massey 300 and on the narrow side . I was about half way down the field with the cab on the down hill side and and almost full bin when she just stopped moving forward and sat there . Now what did i break a drive belt ??if something happen in the transmission the final drives , did the drive shaft fall out ??? I stepped on the left brake pedal and nothing happened , then i stepped on the right and she learched forward and leaned a little more to the down hill side and with that i never shifted into rev so fast and turned the back end down hill and run over a bunch of corn getting down to the flat . To get that field done it was a one way operation with the cab on the up hill side and the unload auger out and filled with corn as a balance pole and me standing out on the platform ready to jump . A bit nerve racking to say the least .
Next fun filled deal was building a drilling rig location on the side of a steep hill with a 750 John Deere Dozer that is hydastatic drive and have it suck air in the drive system and one min. you moving forward and in half a blink of and eye your full travel rev and you never moved the control lever and it decides to make a quick turn also . . That big caution decal up on the dash telling you to always ware the seat belt was NOT LYING to you . Think of a 22 ton SKID STEER and how they react to fast control movement .

I watched as a neighbor tried to tackle a steep hill on a gravel county road with his Case/IH 1660, 6 row head, no brakes and a weak hydrostat.
He thought he could top the next hill with speed alone, West Central Iowa hills are steep. He ran out of hydrostat and tried a 2nd gear to 1st shift on fly!
Missed the gear shift, and when I saw him he was standing outside the cab, looking backwards steering with his left hand while the combine gained speed. He had to have been going 45 mph at the bottom of the hill backwards.

I'm so glad he made it.

Beagle