Raking an Baling Bahia Grass

Nancy and I took a day off last Wednesday to rake and bale the Bahia grass on the Hunt Place and Long Hill.

Used <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZfxzVHjY0g">"Sam" our 51MT</a> to pull the JD 640 hay rake.

Worked "Sam" at least 5 hours and only used about 1 gallon of gas!

First two photos were taken on the Hunt Place.

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These two photos were taken from the top of the Long Hill.

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Started baling with "15" our 53 70 gas tractor and KRONE 260 baler.

Hydraulics worked good at the shop, but failed to open tailgate on first bale.

Drove back to the shop and ditched "15" and hooked up "Big John" our 55 70 diesel tractor.

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Hydraulics were good and unloaded first bale behind the shop.

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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H129H_ngJU8">"Big John"</a> did just fine as usual powering the KRONE 260 baler.

Managed to get about 10 bales made before an "operator error" caused an electrical problem with the automatic tying system.

Don't ask - don't tell.

Called it a night and headed back to Dallas.

Saturday morning repaired the automatic tying system and finished baling the Bahia grass.

Ended up with 32 4x5 round bales.

Ah. Blue sky. _Dry_ hay.

Not happing 'here' this year.

did an experiment today. See just how much moisture it takes to combust a round bale. Baled 5 bales. First 2 might end up ok. The next 3 are progressively wetter. See which goes to ashes first.

This is a swamp, typically I can bale it in dry July, but no such luck this year. Cut 1/2 of it last Wed, but it rained 2 days ago, the humidity doesn't allow it to dry, the swamp is returning to water from the light rain, my access to the swamp is turning to mud, and it is to rain this evening.

So, I baled a few just for fun.

Your setup looks nice. Not familiar with anyone running a narrow front tractor with a round baler, would mash the hay into the damp ground around here, not so good.

--->Paul

really nice pictures . The weather looks right on for hay

Same would happen here, I had to use 4wd with both front and rear diffs locked to get through part of the field in our 100 hp. Its on big michellin R1W rubber so the ruts aren't too bad.

How much does that little bale of grass weigh? I'm going to gues about 700 lbs?
Is that the only cutting for the year?

Gordo

I’m not familiar with the Hunt place. Does that belong to Lamar?

Lamar was a very "distant" cousin to this family.

Here's a good name for you; Anglo Saxon Hunt owned the property and built the house in 1907.

Have a couple of good stories about Mr. Hunt, but will tell them another day.

Hunt House is long gone, but lumber from it was used in our current farm house built in 1967.

The rest of the 100+ year old lumber is still stored in the "potato house" that sits on the edge of the property.

Your guess is as good as mine on the bale weight.

Unless we get some much needed rain this month, this will be the one and only cutting this summer.

Had some nice, hot ( 104^o ) days to cure the hay.

After it was turned by the rake, the grass on the bottom had a nice, light green/grey color.

Nancy did a good job on these photos.

Last year I baled this same area a little too soon.

Raked and baled after two days; not all the cut Bahia grass was cured.

Some of the bales got really "warm"; but thankfully none ignited.

They were still "warm" when sold and loaded a week later.

Sorry to hear about your unfavorable baling weather; sometimes nature does its best to work against us.

Nice pix and vids as usual.

Looks like Nancy quit feeding ya, i think your loosing weight . Wish I could

Glad you enjoyed the photos and videos.

Doesn't take long out in +100^o weather for the pounds to start "melting" away.

Skip breakfast, a Subway sandwich for lunch, and 2 [b:654c4848f0]ibuprofen[/b:654c4848f0] for dinner.

By the time the day is over, not really interested in food.

What's the 2 ibuprofen for? Headache caused by not eating ?--- does happen. Your body requires fuel same as the tractors.

That kind of heat index Id be drinking more liquid than the John Deere. Hydration is the only way to stay cool.

(quoted from post at 18:03:44 08/09/10) What's the 2 ibuprofen for? Headache caused by not eating ?--- does happen. Your body requires fuel same as the tractors.

That kind of heat index Id be drinking more liquid than the John Deere. Hydration is the only way to stay cool.

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ertainly more than that Ford at 5 hours on one gallon!!!?? At that rate the 10 gallon tank ought to keep the old girl running for 2 days, 24/7. Send that dude to Detroit, maybe they can find that elusive 100 MPG carb on her! :wink:

The [b:654c4848f0]ibuprofen[/b:654c4848f0] is mostly for aches and pains from bouncing around on those tractors; the only headache I have is my convict step-brother.

Nancy makes a lot of GatorAid and adds extra electrolites to the mix.

I do drink a lot of the GatorAid and cool down with cold wet towels.

We were really surprise about the fuel consumption.

Filled the tank up to the neck before I started raking.

Took a break after 5 hours and decided to fill up for another round.

Got the 2 gallon gas can and poured in maybe half the can.

It filled up the tank to the neck.