Відео

Thanks!! The straw definitely was fun. Getting a little R&R, but hoping to hop back to it asap! How are you doing?

That makes sense, I think it’s proven itself enough now to earn some new tines. Really not too many wheel rakes in these parts though - too many rocks and uneven and wet ground, though I know a few people still use them. Funny how rake choice really varies around the country like that. Thanks for tuning in!

I agree! Though there’s no conditioner on it, so that is probably a solid part of the quietness. Also the cutterbar is shaft drive rather than a host of intermeshing horizontal gears, which I imagine is quieter too? Thanks for watching!

Yeah, the regional variation is pretty wild! I wish I knew more about warm season grasses. A 42 day cycle is impressive!

A Hybrid Coastal is a Hot season grass, It grows best on sandy soil, and i likes Conditions that also favor Cotton, Hot and Dry.... Cool season Buncn grasses, will grow in the Upstate, nu the Sun burns the up here

Oh, that’s a good idea! I think it crossed my mind back in March when I was trying to get the rake adjusted in my driveway, but then it left the ole noggin. I’ll try it! Much appreciated.

Thanks!! Totally agree 😊

Most fields are a mix of orchardgrass, timothy, perennial rye (my favorite), and other native grasses. I haven’t planted any of them - most have settled into an equilibrium of what grows well there, with good fertility and haying. (I have rehabbed a lot of them). All but one field hasn’t seen a plow or replanting in 25-50+ years.

Thanks!! Hope yours went well! Just had a marathon here this week

@@windrowfarm it went superbly well, now to repete those results at the next field haha

Thanks!! And haha, I know the tedder gets a bad rap, but at least in grass hay it’s all how you use it, in my eyes. As the hay dries, slowing down the RPM’s and a faster forward speed keeps it gently moving - I always cringe when I see almost-dry hay being tedded anywhere near 540 😅. Anyway, appreciated! And thanks for watching!

Thanks! That’s my rationale too. Sometimes the weather cooperates, other times it’s a challenge 😅

@@windrowfarm to right, and you have a good old MF 165 , i spent many hours on one we had , ploughing , fertlizer spreading , muck spreading and bailing great tractor in its day

@@jamesmarsh4957 thanks! I love the 165 - such a solid, comfortable tractor. Now that it has new tires again, I’m hoping to bale with it more!

Yeah, I know it varies a lot around New England. Granted, a lot of people in my area say it's too early too, but I think as the climate shifts and summers continue to be crazy, trying asap has its benefits. Thanks for watching!

Nice! That sounds like a great combination. Do you do hay also?

Yes, we do a little hay, im in Westerb New York. Most of our fields are leased for ethanol corn.

Thanks!! I totally agree 😊

Thanks!!!

Thanks!! What do you have for Masseys?

Have a 1960 massey 35 and a 375

Thanks so much! Do you have Masseys too?

@windrowfarm right now the only one I own is a 1970 MF 7 garden tractor. Where I used to work I ran a 230, I've really grown to like running these tractors

Nice!! Ha, maybe the US and UK drawbars are different? Mine seem to be pretty rugged, all said. I’ve always wondered about the multipower slot on my 165 - it definitely doesn’t have multiplower though. Thank goodness, I don’t want a freewheeling option on the hills I have (especially with other people driving the tractors sometimes). I keep saying whoever invented it and decided to use freewheel as the way to overcome the hi to low multipower shift must have been a flatlander 😂. Thanks for watching!

Yeah, that’s always been the traditional start. But with these crazy summers, and the fact that I keep picking up fields, I’m never upset to get an early start. A lot of folks missed the amazing May hay weather last year because it was “too early”, and then we had a horrendously wet summer. With the climate shifting, I think the old “June 1st” rule of thumb is going to need to shift too (or already is). Thanks for watching!

@@windrowfarm I agree with you! I am hour and 45 min south east of you and its been a wet may over here. Most of the fields just about drying out as long there is no random thunderstorms. Most rain we have gotten in years over here.

@@GEisele0606 oh jeez! I didn’t realize May has been so wet down there. I hope that changes for you soon! Things have dried really nicely out this way after how saturated things *still* were after the winter. I’ve been telling folks I don’t want to hear the phrase “we need the rain” unless we actually enter a drought 😂

@@windrowfarm ya! maybe ill be moving out your way in the next couple years. Little bit more country or just move south to hotter weather hahaha

Thanks so much!! Do you have Masseys too?

@@windrowfarm I am retired now. But when I farmed I had 1 165 diesel, 2 Massey Harris Ferguson 50’s, one of them high clearance, 1 utility with loader, I Massey Harris 44 special, Massey rakes, planters ,sickle bar mower, cultivator. The tractors are King in my book.

@@christinamoneyhan5688 wow, that’s great! I definitely agree (aside from PTO issues 😅)

Hey, thanks so much!! Fingers crossed about this year 😅

Thanks so much! Yeah, non-ideal all the way around, but glad I finally got it up. And ha, believe it or not it couldn’t have been the wedding - I started to feel the symptoms well before 48 hours after the wedding (just had a naive hope of “allergies” until I tested 😅.). But yep, it’s a roulette game! Helpful to know about your rake too - what model do you have? Thanks for watching!

It’s a mix - some orchardgrass, timothy, other “native grasses”. Some sweet vernal grass has moved in in spots (but thankfully not too much), and the upper “plateau” is more reed canary (but thankfully comes out pretty nicely when mowed this early.). I bet the field hasn’t been reseeded in 50+ years (not an easy feat with the topography and rocks, I’m not about to try). But good fertility and diligent haying has been improving it over the years. Thanks for tuning in!

@@windrowfarm thanks. I just subbed

@@jdoconnor8883 oh whoops, and I actually misspoke on grass types (I didn’t realize which video this was). No reed canary in this stuff (or sweet vernal). Mostly orchard/timothy and finer grasses though.

@@windrowfarm yes sir I live on 10 acres that I eventually want to produce hay with. Im from South Texas, down here the coastal grasses are the most produced. The land I purchased was used in the past for cane, and shorgum and the current bluestem on it is not to good of quality.

@@jdoconnor8883 that’s right, sorry that I forgot! UA-cam doesn’t have an easy cheat for me to go back and remember who has commented what in the past. Thanks!

Thanks, that’s helpful to hear! I bet I’ll get up to that speed once I have the muscle memory of where the rake is at any given moment. Thanks for tuning in!

Thanks, that’s really helpful!!

Thanks!! Hoping that was the toughest batch of the year - we’ll see 😅

Thanks!!! Totally agree 😊

Thanks so much, and right back to you! 😊

Sure! It's an FX2000, which can be used both for a constant monitoring function in-baler, as well as with a hand probe to check individual bales. The kit came with a nylon plate to install in the bale chamber with two carriage bolts that are then wired all the way up to the tractor to connect to the meter. So essentially as the hay slides by those two insulated bolts, the meter measures the conductivity between them and calculates % moisture. It then gives a live readout, alternating between the average moisture in a 4-second window, and the highest moisture it saw during that 4-second window. (I know I have shaky-cam going on, but it alternates between those two numbers. The average says "A") Important to remember while baling that you're only getting a sample from one side of the bale. But it's nice data to have. (I did a video about when I first got it and installed it, if at all helpful. ua-cam.com/video/KfJ11_kPDU0/v-deo.html) Thanks for watching!

Thanks so much! I had used one a bit when I worked at UMass at their research farm, and so was really intrigued about making nice fluffy, aerated windrows after the horribly wet year we had last year. So far so good, I think! But I agree, I'm curious to see how it moves the needle throughout the season. Thanks for tuning in!

Thanks so much! That means a lot - so glad you appreciate me sharing my hay craziness 😆

Thanks!! (You too, if applicable! 😊)

Hey there! Oh gosh, welcome to the club! It’s an excellent mower, but ack, the strip! I had the same problem!! The right tire is too wide and tramples the un-cut edge of grass. Fought with it all of 2022 - then last year I got a narrower tire (and rim) - just about entirely solved the problem, along with getting the swath board add-on (which I think helps too, making more space for the left shoe to ride on the next pass for a cleaner cut on anything that did get trampled). If you want to email me, I can try to find details of exactly what I ordered, if at all helpful. windrowfarmconway@gmail.com. Such a frustrating issue on an otherwise *great* mower. I hope you enjoy it once getting this settled. But ugh, I sympathize!

The more important thing was the narrower right tire that I installed last year. I think the swath board helps a bit, but having a tire that doesn't trample the un-mowed edge of hay turned out to be crucial. Thankfully the problem is really minimal now - I only notice it occasionally in ultra-thick first cut, and only in certain spots. Leaps and bounds better than it was the first year.

Nice I’m considering getting a TM710.

@@MrRanger518 nice! I really, really like the 610, despite the frustrating trample issue. Now that that’s solved, mowing is a joy, and my gosh the thing is rugged. Shrugs off these new england rocks like they’re nothing and mows through thick hay like butter. I also wonder if the trample issue is somehow unique to the 610 - they’re so much less common, and maybe the frame/wheel placement is better on the 710. (I’m not sure, it might even be the same frame with a wider cutterbar, which would explain the 610’s problem). My working theory is Vermeer didn’t test the 610 enough on thick enough hay. Not to speak poorly of them, but too many people seem to be having the same problem.

Nice!! I'll look forward to that.

Always so hard to decide when to start! I don’t really know of anybody else in my area trying dry hay this early. Most people are at it with haylage/baleage. I just always try as early as I can on principle, since I’m the nut who keeps taking on more fields 😂. Thanks for watching, and hope you’re doing well!

@@windrowfarm I forgot to ask how do you like baling behind the rotary rake vs the roller bar? I know when I bale behind the rotarys I notice the hay doesn't suck into the baler quite as forgiving as the "roped" windrows of the roller bar. That said that's why the hay should dry better in the wind row.

@@TF-ok2zd oh, I’ve been wondering that too! My baler did seem to like it, though I had so much “scatterings” left on the field after working it so much it was a little hard to gauge. But I did feel like it fed awfully nicely, and I’m even wondering if this will allow me to bale doubled windrows more often without the baler bogging down on a “wad”. But I’ll have to see once I get into a more normal yield (and hopefully drying process) of first cut

Thanks so much! And awesome!! Fingers crossed that weather holds out! I'd be jumping on it too if I wasn't recovering from Covid *and* with an important family gathering this weekend 😅. Good luck!!

Nice! How did it do for you? There are indeed surprisingly few grease zerks on the 124 (and assuming the 100 series in general). I just double checked the manual (worth picking up a reprint on ebay!) - and it's the PTO driveline, gauge wheel, and knotters. (There's one on each knotter itself, which annoyingly are only accessible every other time it ties a knot, since they only rotate 180 degrees per tie. Then three on the shaft above the knotter). Other than that I spray fluid film on the chains (right or wrong - I'm sure something like graphite might be better, though I haven't noticed buildup of crud on them with fluid film). And I spray penetrating oil on the packer fork pins and a few other places that there's no grease/bearings. I was surprised too at first, yet knock on wood I haven't noticed any wear/problems otherwise. Hope that helps!

Thanks, compared to my old New Holland it has no grease zerks Lol. I will be buying a manual for it before I start the next season but last season it worked great. Only missed a bale when it switched roles of twine. I was surprised to not find any the packer fork, I was worried that the pins would be something I would have to replace every once and a while but I’ll just make sure to keep them well lubed.

@@groomfamilyfarm that makes sense! Packer fork pins seem to hold up well with some lubrication.

Oh, thanks! yeah, especially with the wetness we keep getting around here, I'm definitely a fan of the disc mower. (Though I know I'm against the grain without having a conditioner, but I know we've talked about that before :) ) The TM610 I believe is 50 hp. If I remember right, the 710 is 55, and the 810 is 60. I went with the smallest due to cost and various field entrance size constraints. Maybe I'm really overdue making a review video. I *love* the mower, now that I installed the narrower tire on the right. Before that, the edge trampling problem I was getting almost cost me my sanity. It feels incredibly rugged and mows through just about anything. I do think that NH has now come out with a similar size pull-type disc mower (also no conditioner) since I bought this, and that would be worth looking into too. Also thanks re: the rake! I'm a little white-knuckled about it at the moment, between the slight axle twist play, and the time/money I now have into the CV joint and the cylinder repair (that's been a saga of lost parts shipments and then wrong parts shipments.) But anyway, it can life nice and high in theory! Excited to see how it does this year. Hope your season prep is going well! When do you think you'll kick off? (By the way, if you want to talk in any more detail about any of the mower details (or hay nerding in general) you're welcome to email me. windrowfarmconway@gmail.com)

Hey there, thanks so much! I so totally agree on the 135 (never ran a Ford 3000, but have often talked about the similarities between Masseys and Fords in the decade(s) following the Ford/Ferguson split). I'm so impressed by the 135, I did everything for my first 4 seasons with it (no kicker yet, but did pull the baler with chute and wagon on hills). Great point about the governor, I've never had that looked at and probably should. I appreciate that idea! The throttle adjustments are really just about terrain (uphill vs downhill), but it has always been a bit of a workout and I always just assumed it was because of a gas engine. On flat land it runs very consistently. Thanks for tuning in!

Nice!! A 124 also?

Thanks so much! Same to you!!

Thanks so much! Yeah, I’ve been eyeing pequa, I appreciate that recommendation! It’s such a game trying to figure out what to buy new (rare!) versus see what I can make out of something used, at my scale. I didn’t say it in the video, but the only reason I bought a new mower is because of how deeply internal those parts are, and how much everything hinges on it. Most other equipment I can clearly see what’s going on and get ahead of a breakdown before it happens, or do something oddball preventatively (like the tabs I had welded on the tedder 😅). But keeping my eye out for a used pequea sounds like a good idea, at least! Thanks!!

@@windrowfarm imma do a review on my channel prolly next week in the pequa Tedder

@@O.KFarmToysdeutzallis6275 awesome! Looking forward to it!

Cannot Agree with your View point We bought the 6 basket Model and It ate both tires , because the mechanism that locks the transport wheels in transport fail to prevent straight rolling.... Using Plastic Bushings where Bronze should have been used..... Best Hay Equip is Krone....

Thanks! You too!!

Totally agree! Any of them affordable by you?

​@@windrowfarm my first 2 steel rack wagons I paid $500 each. My third 20ft steel rack wagon I paid $1800 which was too much but below average price here. 3&4h wagons I picked up are amazing c-channel frame and steel rack with hinges side doors on both sides I picked up for $1500 a piece on really nice jd 720 running gear. The one I'm getting tomorrow is $800 all steel frame and rack but older. Hard to find them under $2000+ around here.

@@TF-ok2zd awesome find! Same story here

Wow, nice!! Thrower and all?

@@windrowfarm with thrower it looks like a pretty decent baler

Great videos and great idea to do a video about leasing land! I’m in RI and have a couple of friends that are willing to let me hay their land( small lots) and I don’t know how much to offer them! Just looking to support my own animals!

@@larrydesormierjr6940 thanks so much! In my experience the majority of New England hay land is in fact free lease, unless it’s in high competition or on good soil quality types, or tied to leasing a whole farm where infrastructure is involved (though, depending, could still be free lease). Mostly focusing on the positive benefits for the landowner - free mowing, fertility and aesthetics, and often current use taxes for farmimg. That said, I’ve heard of $25/acre/year, or even $50 for good ground. It all depends what the landowner needs and what you can afford 🙂

@@windrowfarm thanks so much, I appreciate it, and I'll let you know how I make out. Also looked into the ROPS program. They already called me back and RI doesn't offer it yet, but it is in a new BILL. They took my information and will let me know when it goes through. Larry

Hey there - thanks, glad to hear it! I’m right with you on slower PTO speeds - I’ve just been messing around with making sure this is working okay, but I totally agree and plan to be as gentile as possible with actual hay. I’ll have to see what the sweet spot is between throttle and tractor gear.

Oh I’ll be hanging onto mine too. Old reliable!