Land owner rights(w/a pic or 2)?!?

First off, I do appreciate advice & Thank you in advance!

Ok, I don`t think I`m what some of ya`all have called "yuppies"....I`m just green. I Do hope that was Funny!

To give a quick(yeah right) background story, I`m a guitar picker that moved out to the country, TIRED of the road( hats off to ya Allen(NE), & yer a perty good picker!!!). Anyway, I`ve been try`n to learn this farm owning thing for a little while now w/o the education I SHOULD have grabbed when I had the chance!!! I didn`t take FFA `cause I didn`t EVER see me living on a farm. I Have had some good "luck" raise`n a few cows, not myown at the start but a perty good friend that had a farm living background.....& that my Dad liked! Both have since passed, Dad Waaaay early at 65 & the same for my friend "Chop" at about 45. he`s the 1 that brought the first cows out here, we set up the `lectric fence & I was the "rentee", but chop always stopped past of an even`n.

Well dang, so much for quick story....lol. OK, last year we had a gent take over our hay cutting, we`d always had to pay to get it all done.
Last year an `ol boy did it on a 50-50 split....now we`re talk`n a 10 acre patch(thats what we got charged cut`n rack`n) & its just mixed grass hay, nothing special. Anyway, the "FELLER" picked the WORST freak`n time ta come get his bales(pix ta come). He BURIED his D-17 in the field, good thing he had a back-up....JD 4020(MAN, I wish I had 1 of those big tractors). Anyway, again....it should be HIS fix`n the ruts now shouldn`t it?!?!? After he got his bales out, he asked me if I had a disc....I DO have a disc but my only tractor(MF to35) ain`t want`n to lift very well & the "Feller, `ol boy" KNEW that too....`cause he "tried" to help me rebuild the hydraulic pump.....Ok, I`ve ranted, just wondered ya`alls thought on HIS responsiblity of fixing HIS ruts?!!?!!? BTW, I "hear" he`s not going to cut me & my brothers(YEOP, screwed up his field too) hay this year....thats a story lil `bro would have to type, `bout the same deal on ruts I guess.
`preciate the imput, good `er bad & I`ll do my best get`n a pic `er 2 up



Gilbert
PS, you`ll see he was "greedy" try`n to get 2 bales at a time....when he just had 1 on the back, the front tires didn`t "dig" ta China!!!!!!!!

missed the pic

well, I`m not have picture luck

1 more pic....

In a perfect world, he'd fix the ruts.

In this world, if you didn't like the job he did baling & picking up bales, you likely won't like the job he does of 'fixing' the ruts either.

So, might just want to fix them yourself & get it right. Then you can go on to making more hay, intead of waitring around on things and ending up being 'right' but another cutting or 2 lost along the way....

--->Paul

You are the land owner so you own the ruts. LOL I was wondering why would you move the hay off of the field and put it where you have to drive back across the field to use the hay????? I have some places that I rut the h out of getting the hay out of but it is close to the road and not across the hay field. I just watch in the spring and close the ruts up as they dry out.

Given your background/lifestyle/life experiences/knowledge and if I were you, I'd sue him over fixing the ruts. Things may have changed, but it usta be that FFA wasn't a course that one 'took', but was a club/organization to which one belonged.

He made the mess, he should have promised to fix it. He didn't, so I guess you'll find someone else to cut your hay next year.

Vocational Agriculture used to be the course in school & FFA was the orginazation we belonged to. Just wondering, who's property is it (yours). Who should have told him where to store the hay (you). So I guess the responsibility lies with (YOU)

If you don't like the way someone else does it, spend the money, buy the equipment & do the work yourself. Sorry no sympathy here, Just chalk it up to experience & get on with it, in a year like most of us have had with rain, the fields do have wet spots in them. Just my thoughts, Keith

In an idea world he would fix the ruts. If he was a nice fella he would offer to fix the ruts (since he decided to drive across the middle of the field instead of the edge).

But i very seriously doubt he will fix them. You could sue him, but after the lawyer fees, court costs etc you would be cheaper to have fixed the ruts yourself. Talk with him, be firm but not an a-- hole about it and see what he says.

If he tells you to take a hike then well-- Chalk this up to lesson learned the hardway. Next person you get to bale the hay, tell them to take the hay off the field and away within a few days of it being baled. If not then have them place the rolls at the edge of the field.

I think it's fair that he bales again this year. Let him bounce across those ruts and think about why they're there.

Do you really want to know what is like to live in the country? I'll tell ya. Just kick the dirt on your way to get the tractor and disk hooked up and go fix the ruts. Then the next time you run into the guy give him a big handshake and ask him how things have been going and mean it. Life it too short and there are too few people out here to fight with everybody over everything. Forgive, but dont forget and just move on, it makes life a little nicer.
bill

I'm with Bill. I don't think he INTENDED to get his tractor mired in to the axles...so since it was an ACCIDENT, treat it as one, and move on. Life's too short for feudin', fussin', and fightin', especially with someone whose services you apparently NEED.

The way I look at it my hayfields are MY hayfields, weather I own them or not. The landowner pays the taxes but I make the decisions about what goes on with the top six inches. I have been doing some fields for nearly 25 years, so of course I take care of them. When you said 50% I thought "Wow! how can anyone make hay giving half of it away? well it looks like maybe this new old gent is not legit. Maybe it's like anything else in life. "Ya gets what ya pays for". A friend who has bought hay for a few years, last year decided to jump in himself. Let's just say it didn't work out and now he has no equipment. He called recently wanting me to come hay this field he just got. Well he got this field by making big promises, which of course he wasn't able to keep,to the owner. She's expecting lots of $$$ and the guy who had been doing it got a dear John letter, and it's looking like no ones going to be happy.

????????????????

Those look like fall/winter pictures.

Wouldn't someone have taken hay off by now and either bounced thru the ruts or fixed them???

If it was me renting the land i would have fixed them after I pulled my tractor out. Father in laws land where I have Christmas trees hasn't been farmed in 25 years but still has ruts from the last time spmeone picked corn out of that field.

Around 'here', baling 'on the halves' i.e. for 50% of the crop, either literally or for half the value in dollars, has been the 'standard' for years and years.

Assuming the ruts weren't made a lot worse by pulling it out, that ground looks soft enough you could have probably stomped about half of 'em in with a boot at the time. Now the ground is hard, you're going to have to disc them shut. If I had made them, I would have repaired them. If I owned the field and had the equipment, which you apparently do, I'd just fix it and move on. No big deal, no great loss, no use getting anyone mad over it. Go have some fun with your tractor and disc and fix the darn things. IMHO.

(reply to post at 02:43:58 07/22/10)

Click to expand...

Attempting to decipher that hurt my head.

Well if it was me and I had hopes of haying it again I would try to fix the mess if it were me that made it in the first place.

He should fix the ruts - but then he also should have had his hay picked up 3 months earlier. I'd fix the ruts because he'll do the same half arsed job fixing them as he did putting up the hay - if he does it at all.

Tell him to go to H*** and find someone else to put up your hay.

Bad choice of timing on his part as to when he got his hay out and the general conditions. If it was as wet here as it was last year that may have been as good as it gets getting hay out. Plus, for 10 acres, I dont get too excited about either getting there to do the custom work or to get stuff moved out. Theres just not enough money there.

Now, as to the ruts, getting stuck, etc. I dont know a custom operator in 3 counties who doesnt bill the landowner for pulling out stuck equipment. Be it tractor, dozer, dumptruck, etc. I've paid more than one bill to get a lime truck pulled out of a soft spot and billed for more than one stuck tractor and truck. Last winter I had to make it clear on hay deliveries that if I left the paved road any tow bills were on the customer. Sometimes they can run into real money.

So....the custom operator gets himself stuck and bills the landowner for his mistake? That sure wouldn"t fly around here. We just help each other out, and don"t have dollar signs in our eyes.

That wouldn't fly here either - you drive the rig where you think you can, you are in control. I'll supply a tractor & chain & help you out for free, you hook it to where you think your equipment will take the strain. Anything goes wrong is on you. If you prefer a wrecker, your bill. You can also refuse to drive where I point to, of course.

Just how it is 'here'. Different expectations. We help each other, not bill each other.

But you might deal with more horse people, that might be a different game....

--->Paul

--->Paul

It looks like this might be a good time to get the TO-35 hydraulics back in shape again. The guys on the Harry Ferguson and Massey Ferguson boards can probably give you some help on that.
After you disc it up if you have a landscape rake or a drag harrow you can get it almost perfect again.

I wonder if I roll my tractor over on the back side of a terrace if I can bill for those repairs too.

If the guy was doing it on shares its his job to fix it.All you have to do is set and watch him hay and put your share away. Around here I get 1 out of 3 bales,but its all his responsibilty

50/50 is normal here as well.

I guess Id like to know what the field looked like after the 4020 got done pullin 'er out??

Yep

In Southern Il. I don't think you can find anyone to
Mow Rake and Bale for half. We bale little patches
for all the hay, and they are happy because they
don't have to hire anyone to mow it. Even then when
you just get 20 or so bales your gross is $450 and
you have drove over there with 3 pieces of equipment
used up two days loaded the bales on a trailer then
unloaded them. two trips for $450. You have to like
it. Make it clear from now on to move bales within a
couple of days. Or you do it.

Pretty common in NE Kansas too.

Thank You Gentlemen for your answers & info!

Yes, the pictures are from last fall/winter...prob`ly more winter, I remember I had my coveralls on, trying to help him get it out.
The 4020 didn`t rut it up, the d17 did ALmost make it to the edge of the field where its harder ground.

I "thought" the `ol boy knew what he was doing as he & past family have farmed....Infact, he was the AG teacher at the local high school for a year at least, I`ll have to find out how long FOR Sure!

Thank you again for your input!

I think its a combination of custom and clientel. I didnt used to bill for hazards, I'd always paid the tow bills for lime trucks, dump trucks, and dozers. I can see it both ways. Guy cleaning out my pond grosses two thousand for 20 hours work. He gets stuck and has to get someone else to bring in a bigger machine to pull him out and gets hit with an 800 dollar bill for 4 hours work. Setting that second machine was part of the job of cleaning the pond.

First time I really realized that most people here expected to get that bill was when I lost a tractor into a sinkhole. Aweful mess to mow, 8-10 foot tall weeds, lots of undergrowth, hadnt been mowed in 2 years and no livestock. Dropped the whole front end into a sink hole, if the mower hadnt wedged on the ground it would have flipped forward. Took a triaxle Kenworth to winch it out. Landowner was waiting there to pay before they left. My total bill on the job was 400 bucks and the tow truck charged 300. I appreciated his paying them but it still set my teeth on edge when he said, oh yeah, I meant to warn you about that.

But, as you say, local dynamics have a lot to play with it. Here, I can count the full time farmers on one hand. Its a pretty even three way mix of absentee landowners with a part time farmer renting, part time farmers with off farm jobs, and rural residences with horses or cows.