I respect your honesty when you make an error. Alot of channels do not admit to mistakes. when you make a mistake, not only do you learn from it ,but so do we I, Iove that. thank you!
I agree. I used to watch Stoney ridge farmer a lot but rather than admit mistakes he just contradicts himself and then acts like an expert on everything. Comes off disingenuous.
You just do what you need to do when you can get to it and don't worry about some one's opinion. It is your farm, so do what you think is best and It is hard to work full time like you and Rebecca do and still try to run a farm, but you manage to do both and I enjoy your videos.
You do great work Evan! Your videos and insights are inspiring. From an outsider looking in, your NH 451 runs well with all your work and adjustments over the years! :)
I have to say, Evan, I have been totally in awe of your maintenance skills. You seem to be able to fabricate anything you need to make repairs to your equipment. That is an invaluable ability on a farm especially when utilizing older equipment. I've also been impressed with the TYM tractors. Granted they are new for all intents and purposes, but they seem to be well designed, comfortable to operate and more than capable to do the job they are designed to do. TYM should be pleased with you showcasing their products. Live and learn. We never had a field that was hay only year after year. My Dad did a four crop rotation so three of the four years any particular field was having nutrients put back even if it was being grazed part of the year. You're doing fine. Don't beat yourself up. Just learn something from every day and move on.
Doing something is the first step in the right direction. Learning from those steps will help you to make more informed choices down the road. It's good that you can acknowledge the steps you need to take to improve your field. Best of luck, hang in there, enjoyed watching, thanks. Have a nice end of week!
You are a Good Metal Fitter / Fabricator. Don't you just Love the way a sickle mower cuts. I use to use our sickle mower trim ditches & embankment of levees
Everyone makes mistakes. We learn from them and then move forward. I am probably 20 years older than you and I have made some whopper mistakes on my property. You are doing a great job with your place.
You are definitely right. You're taking more off than you can put back. Would do a soil test next spring to see what type of fertiliser you need to put on. Adding more clover will help. Great video. Hope the winter is not too hard for you. All the best 🇬🇧.
To do this job the best way possible you need a brush hog or better yet, a flail mower that you can set to cut at 6 inches. The problem is the sickle bar cuts so short that you have pretty much chopped off all of the chlorophyll producing leaf. Now is the time when the root system of your grasses wants to be storing fuel before they go dormant for the winter (days getting colder and shorter). So cutting it so short cut off the carbohydrates prematurely. Not likely you will get any growth to speak of between now and frost. The second problem is the cuttings. The long pieces of grass that you get with a sickle bar is great for hay - you want all you can harvest. But in terms of feeding green manure to your soil - these long single pieces take too long. The decomp begins where the leaves are cut. If you had used a flail mower or a brush hog, you would have little tiny chips of grass that would settle into the taller pasture grass, be sheltered from sun and wind, stay damp longer and decompose faster. Not a great loss, you are down to the fine tuning. Don't worry about composting the manure. Keep it in a pile, covered if you can and get it out on the pasture as early as you can. If you want to spread it around, space your manure spreader rows so you cover the whole pasture. Then run the entire field with your tedder and fling the manure around. Tedding the manure will help it decompose and benefit the soil faster, too. All the best, Evan! 👍
The brown grass that you cut went dormant it's not dead. Also, that grass has already gone to seed. I agree with some fertilizer and maybe some lime will for next year. Also, don't cut the grass so short if you want to grow thick. Next year you might to mow with a bush hog. That will keep the grass longer and help the younger grass to grow and come up. The roots are there you just need to give them a chance.
Nice job as usual man. It can be tough catching the grass at just the right time. We had a pretty bad drought here and that messed up my hay cutting, but I'm going to strip graze the cattle on it an basically use them to harvest standing hay.
I farm 3500 acres, 1200 acres of pasture, with 50yrs experience. If I were you, I'd put my P, K & Sulfur on this fall. Redux Corp makes a real good product called, H-85 soil conditioner. Works great on hay and pasture, but takes 2yrs to work with an application every yr after that. Don't use Urea nitrogen fertilizer, use ammonia sulfate.
I sickle bar mow my hay fields and let it lay down in mid to late September. I took soil samples a few weeks after i cut them. The sample that had been cut tested much higher than the sample that was taken from the uncut section of the exact same field. I would make a habit of cutting both your fields to recycle it back yearly. A simple cutting can make a big difference. Enjoy your videos!
Enjoyable video. I would tell you how to do it and what you are doing wrong; but the last time I checked, I don't pay property taxes on land in Illinois. It takes thick skin to put your self out there for all to see. Murfreesboro, TN
Sept 3rd we did our 3rd/last cut of the year. All the eqpt is put away for winter. The fields are now back to +/- 10”. Not worth taking the eqpt back out. I use my 60” zero turn lawn mower, set at 5”. I put the headphones on and listen to music while I cut the fields (we only have about 12 acres so doesn't take too long to mow). Takes a few days, but the fields look great and the clippings are great green manure. I don’t spread manure on the fields anymore. It seemed like it introduced too many weeds. I have a service spread lime and fertilizer. The fields have never looked so good. Evan, you and Rebecca do an outstanding job. I really enjoy watching you learn as you go. This was me 10 years ago, except you’re much more handy and skilled with tools. Keep up the great work. God bless.
With grass fields to get the most bang for your buck is to apply nitrogen. Roughly 100-200 pounds per acre in early spring. Chicken manure is the best organic route, but synthetic works just as well and you will get less weeds..
I agree totally! I’ve had excellent luck bringing back fields with a late season, high nitrogen application - usually about Thanksgiving time depending on weather - make sure the field has gone dormant. I think it’s more productive than an early season application, way more root growth over winter, especially with his climate. He might be able to flush out the summer grasses and weeds with profuse early grass and clover growth that way, taking the field back
I have the same issue with my small hay field. I put a small amount of manure on it but not near what it probably needs. So I will be watching and interested in what type of fertilizer you use in the spring. I like watching you fix things, cuz it helps me with ideas when I need to fix things. Thanks for all your videos.
Just a stupid question but here I go...Have you had a soil test done? I think you can get one done by the University and that will tell you what you need to do to make your soil more productive. Just a thought
I love y’all’s videos! I live in Vincennes and went to Robinson all the time. Really cool to see y’all are from this area. Living the dream! I retire from the Army soon and want to be just like y’all.
If you’re interested, keep your eye open for a trailer more, it has two wheels, the size of car tires, it hitches up to the tractor hitch and toes behind. We had an Oliver trailer more and it was fantastic. We could drive about 8 miles an hour. We cut 45 acres of alfalfa three times a year plus doing trimming around the farm and it required very little repair or maintenance. I think John Deere also made it trailer more.
Agree, and have noticed that whenever possible Evan improves and makes the whole connection stronger on whatever broke, instead of just doing a patch job on part of it.
in the future you might try to figure out how to do some sort of livestock integration on your hay fields. For example, you could put up electric fencing around one or both of your fields and then rotate your animals however I understand the biggest challenge would be a water source.
Agree with adding a livestock rotation. It would take some pressure off the paddocks back at the farm. Downside would be fencing costs. It would be interesting to see the effect of animals on half the field compared to half looked after the way you are doing it now.
Don’t beat yourself up about learning life lessons by doing. Many folks never “do” and therefore never learn like they could. You are just learning lessons about farming that generations of farmers discovered before you. And the good news is that you can be the beneficiary of those lessons already learned. There are now many good organic fertilizers available to improve your hay and pasture fields. And will make your job easier. Keep up the great videos. By the way. You have wonderful problem solving and mechanical skills! Have a blessed day😊
After hay season is over we turn our cattle loose (of course our entire property is fenced and the fields are fenced off as well) on our hay fields for the winter, we usually take them off the fields around march, this cuts down on the amount we feed them over the winter and they fertilize the field. After we take the cattle off the fields during the spring summer growing season we run a pasture rake across the field, this spreads the good stuff around as well as dethatches the plants allowing air and water to get to the hay. root system It has worked awesome for us for years this way, now eventually the fields do need added fertilizer and lime to maintain as well as we do an over seed once every five years or so to help maintain the field health
Hi there did you know when you weld on the tractor with battery connected you are risking your all electrics and welding your bearings together I seen it done
You're doing fine! I do one cutting of hay and keep it mowed down the rest of the season to keep weeds out. The following first cut of the year is always a big one. We don't fertilize.
Enjoy watching your videos. Awhile back you were saying you needed more pasture for your cattle and sheep. Why not put them on the hay field for a few months? Even if you just did a section to test how much it helps. We ran out cow / calf’s on ours in the winter with just one hot wire. Just food for thought . Good luck with the hay fields !
There is no fencing around the Hay field. And i feel that coyotes would be an issue back there. so since we don't have a livestock guardian, I wouldn't put the sheep back there to graze
A question in total ignorance: Can you not turn the livestock out on the hay field after the last harvest? That would give you a more direct fertilization. You could split the field up and move the cattle a la Greg Judy.
Yes, you can, as long as the timing is right so that they don’t damage the grass. Cattle only like to eat grass three inches tall and above. Also this won’t help with the weed problem since cattle are selective grazers and will only eat the stuff that tastes good and not the weeds.
Greg judy has livestock guardians to protect the sheep. We don't, so I wouldn't put the sheep back there. If we had a livestock guardian, it would be a different story.
@@CountryViewAcres Interesting, from the uk I assumed sheep would be fine in the fields, as here (lambing is different). Do they need to be protected where you are?
We grow orchard grass hay in southern Illinois, we put our P & K on now in the fall. N (AMS) in about February. Each ton of hay removes approx. 13# of P205 and 50# of K2O per acre. Jason
now you have a new problem. the grass will act as mulch and further degrade the production of the field. my suggestion would be to rake and bale. round or square depends on if you can rent a round bale shredder or a square bale shredder. shred the bales on to a pile to decompose and then spread the compost back onto the field.
Hey Evan and Rebekkah! We love your videos. We have been watching you guys for a very long time. I’m just a little curious about this particular video. Couldn’t you have put the cows out there and let them eat that instead of cutting it down?
We grow hay in Texas and have for years. My best suggestion is soil Test your fields. And see exactly was nutrients you are lacking and apply that. They are fairly inexpensive and you can have your local co-op blend what you need and not apply things that you don't.
Have you thought about placing a perimeter fence along the property line and then rotationally grazing with wire instead of doing the paddock things and just buying supplemental hay. From what I've seen others do that tends to be the better long term plan.
Nice cutting and is need to be done,✅ can you bale this stuff. Or some way to get redo it or deep plow that field, now before winter. You can never plow too much. And cross this season. With clover. ☘️ Then wait and manure in spring. Can you
Evan, good catch on finding the bracket was broken. the welder new bracket looked good. might be a good ideal to mount a spare belt to ur sickle mower just in-case.
You are learning a lot about hay. To me that field is too far gone to salvage, but you can try. I think you might consider starting over. That mower fix was well done. You have a talent for restoring old equipment. I would love to see you buy more used equipment and bring it back to life. I like that old farm equipment. It is only useful on today's small farms.
Check with your county extension agent. You should have information that helps you in your area. I was in central Minnesota and how are you do things there are totally different than how you do things in central Illinois.
I think you should look into an old fail chopper to keep your fields mowed down. Take the shoot off and take off the auger to the chopper part and only have the knifes left as a big mower. You can find the old John Deere 16A flail chopper at auctions possibly. Love watching your videos. Avid subscriber for over a year now and enjoying it every movie this far. Keep it up
You are definitely learning as you go along. And this year, being so dry did not help at all. And as far as should have mowed, you do what you can, when you can, Farming and working does make it difficult, so let it go.
Normal repair for these jobs is old tines knock it back in shape and weld old tine over the top with 7018 just bend as your welding ,mild steel plate tends to wollow out in time hope this tip helps
As long as you learn from your mistakes that's all you can ask of yourself. 👍
I respect your honesty when you make an error. Alot of channels do not admit to mistakes. when you make a mistake, not only do you learn from it ,but so do we I, Iove that. thank you!
I agree. I used to watch Stoney ridge farmer a lot but rather than admit mistakes he just contradicts himself and then acts like an expert on everything. Comes off disingenuous.
Hi..... Evan thanks you for showing your video homestead bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋👍👍👍
When employed at a full time job, you accomplish the farm tasks when you have a chance.
Don't beat yourself up Evan...."Just do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Came over from Just a few acres. Love it
Just a small safety tip, keep a small cheap paint brush with your drill press to wipe away the chips
You do a wonderful job on your farm , always enjoy your refurbishment of antique machinery ! ❤
You just do what you need to do when you can get to it and don't worry about some one's opinion. It is your farm, so do what you think is best and It is hard to work full time like you and Rebecca do and still try to run a farm, but you manage to do both and I enjoy your videos.
I really appreciate your logo and name on the side of your thumbnail. Makes it easy to spot first.
Great job mate thanks again
Thanks Evan
Nice job on the sickle mower repair real nice
smart man good job
You do great work Evan! Your videos and insights are inspiring. From an outsider looking in, your NH 451 runs well with all your work and adjustments over the years! :)
Is it Sickle bar repair season already? My how the time flys… 😂
I have to say, Evan, I have been totally in awe of your maintenance skills. You seem to be able to fabricate anything you need to make repairs to your equipment. That is an invaluable ability on a farm especially when utilizing older equipment.
I've also been impressed with the TYM tractors. Granted they are new for all intents and purposes, but they seem to be well designed, comfortable to operate and more than capable to do the job they are designed to do. TYM should be pleased with you showcasing their products.
Live and learn. We never had a field that was hay only year after year. My Dad did a four crop rotation so three of the four years any particular field was having nutrients put back even if it was being grazed part of the year. You're doing fine. Don't beat yourself up. Just learn something from every day and move on.
So you learn with what you do. At least it is yours to learn from. 😊❤🙏
Nice job on your hay mower repair looks like it worked good for you Evan thank you for sharing blessings to you and your family
That was a great live stream
thx
Making mistakes are how we learn. You are learning!
Doing something is the first step in the right direction. Learning from those steps will help you to make more informed choices down the road. It's good that you can acknowledge the steps you need to take to improve your field. Best of luck, hang in there, enjoyed watching, thanks. Have a nice end of week!
You are a Good Metal Fitter / Fabricator. Don't you just Love the way a sickle mower cuts. I use to use our sickle mower trim ditches & embankment of levees
Everyone makes mistakes. We learn from them and then move forward. I am probably 20 years older than you and I have made some whopper mistakes on my property. You are doing a great job with your place.
You are definitely right. You're taking more off than you can put back. Would do a soil test next spring to see what type of fertiliser you need to put on. Adding more clover will help. Great video. Hope the winter is not too hard for you. All the best 🇬🇧.
You're gonna be fine great job
I just love watching how the sickle bar mower mows ! Something so satisfying . Right up there with raking...tetting and plowing ! 😊
To do this job the best way possible you need a brush hog or better yet, a flail mower that you can set to cut at 6 inches.
The problem is the sickle bar cuts so short that you have pretty much chopped off all of the chlorophyll producing leaf.
Now is the time when the root system of your grasses wants to be storing fuel before they go dormant for the winter (days getting colder and shorter). So cutting it so short cut off the carbohydrates prematurely. Not likely you will get any growth to speak of between now and frost.
The second problem is the cuttings. The long pieces of grass that you get with a sickle bar is great for hay - you want all you can harvest. But in terms of feeding green manure to your soil - these long single pieces take too long. The decomp begins where the leaves are cut. If you had used a flail mower or a brush hog, you would have little tiny chips of grass that would settle into the taller pasture grass, be sheltered from sun and wind, stay damp longer and decompose faster.
Not a great loss, you are down to the fine tuning.
Don't worry about composting the manure. Keep it in a pile, covered if you can and get it out on the pasture as early as you can. If you want to spread it around, space your manure spreader rows so you cover the whole pasture. Then run the entire field with your tedder and fling the manure around. Tedding the manure will help it decompose and benefit the soil faster, too.
All the best, Evan! 👍
The brown grass that you cut went dormant it's not dead. Also, that grass has already gone to seed. I agree with some fertilizer and maybe some lime will for next year. Also, don't cut the grass so short if you want to grow thick. Next year you might to mow with a bush hog. That will keep the grass longer and help the younger grass to grow and come up. The roots are there you just need to give them a chance.
Good advice. I agree.
@@greghamann2099 Thanks Greg! 👍
Over seed and load up with fertilizer. Get a soil sample
Order a tri axle load of compost from a landscape supply. Might cost a bit but is a lot of long term fertilizer fast.
Good repair job Evan
Nice job as usual man. It can be tough catching the grass at just the right time. We had a pretty bad drought here and that messed up my hay cutting, but I'm going to strip graze the cattle on it an basically use them to harvest standing hay.
I farm 3500 acres, 1200 acres of pasture, with 50yrs experience. If I were you, I'd put my P, K & Sulfur on this fall. Redux Corp makes a real good product called, H-85 soil conditioner. Works great on hay and pasture, but takes 2yrs to work with an application every yr after that. Don't use Urea nitrogen fertilizer, use ammonia sulfate.
Great job Even. You can do what you can. ❤
I sickle bar mow my hay fields and let it lay down in mid to late September. I took soil samples a few weeks after i cut them. The sample that had been cut tested much higher than the sample that was taken from the uncut section of the exact same field. I would make a habit of cutting both your fields to recycle it back yearly. A simple cutting can make a big difference. Enjoy your videos!
Good job
Enjoyable video. I would tell you how to do it and what you are doing wrong; but the last time I checked, I don't pay property taxes on land in Illinois. It takes thick skin to put your self out there for all to see. Murfreesboro, TN
Sept 3rd we did our 3rd/last cut of the year. All the eqpt is put away for winter. The fields are now back to +/- 10”. Not worth taking the eqpt back out. I use my 60” zero turn lawn mower, set at 5”. I put the headphones on and listen to music while I cut the fields (we only have about 12 acres so doesn't take too long to mow). Takes a few days, but the fields look great and the clippings are great green manure.
I don’t spread manure on the fields anymore. It seemed like it introduced too many weeds. I have a service spread lime and fertilizer. The fields have never looked so good.
Evan, you and Rebecca do an outstanding job. I really enjoy watching you learn as you go. This was me 10 years ago, except you’re much more handy and skilled with tools.
Keep up the great work. God bless.
You are doing good cutting and leaving on the ground. It will help feed the ground. Blessings🙂
I'd like to know what it's like in the cab as you do these things. Just a 20 min of you being in the cab showing us what your experience is.
With grass fields to get the most bang for your buck is to apply nitrogen. Roughly 100-200 pounds per acre in early spring. Chicken manure is the best organic route, but synthetic works just as well and you will get less weeds..
I agree totally! I’ve had excellent luck bringing back fields with a late season, high nitrogen application - usually about Thanksgiving time depending on weather - make sure the field has gone dormant. I think it’s more productive than an early season application, way more root growth over winter, especially with his climate. He might be able to flush out the summer grasses and weeds with profuse early grass and clover growth that way, taking the field back
I have the same issue with my small hay field. I put a small amount of manure on it but not near what it probably needs. So I will be watching and interested in what type of fertilizer you use in the spring. I like watching you fix things, cuz it helps me with ideas when I need to fix things. Thanks for all your videos.
Just a stupid question but here I go...Have you had a soil test done? I think you can get one done by the University and that will tell you what you need to do to make your soil more productive. Just a thought
A soil test wouldn't hurt. Great idea. Without a test he is just guessing as to what is needed.
Yes, I sent soil samples off a few weeks ago, and have the results for each field. we'll base the fertilizer requiresment off those samples.
Glad to hear that. You are really on top of things.@@CountryViewAcres
That’s a really good looking and modern tractor 👌🏼 my dream come true to buy a modern handsome tractor 🚜
I love y’all’s videos! I live in Vincennes and went to Robinson all the time. Really cool to see y’all are from this area. Living the dream! I retire from the Army soon and want to be just like y’all.
Wish these were longer videos 🙂
If you’re interested, keep your eye open for a trailer more, it has two wheels, the size of car tires, it hitches up to the tractor hitch and toes behind. We had an Oliver trailer more and it was fantastic. We could drive about 8 miles an hour. We cut 45 acres of alfalfa three times a year plus doing trimming around the farm and it required very little repair or maintenance. I think John Deere also made it trailer more.
Shoot no you can’t ever cut too late. Might just have to cut often next spring but it’ll all work out. Looks good.
Before you plant the clover, have you thought about burning the field off to try and kill some of the weed seeds??? Luv ya's from Kentucky!!!
Live and Learn. Everyone makes mistakes. Your field looks nice Evan.
Evan, welding in the new top link adapter was impressive. Particularly since you used material, tools and skills that were already in your shop.
Agree, and have noticed that whenever possible Evan improves and makes the whole connection stronger on whatever broke, instead of just doing a patch job on part of it.
I'm not a Farmer, but I'd guess that adding some fertiliser now would help the grass survive the winter better, then maybe again in the Spring.
I like those mowers better than swathers. Good job getting that old one going again.
Thanks Evan for sharing the repairs and the mowing today. Worked like it was built to. Stay safe around there. Fred.
Interesting 👍👍👍
Easy fix. Go with much thicker on both sides.
Great job
in the future you might try to figure out how to do some sort of livestock integration on your hay fields. For example, you could put up electric fencing around one or both of your fields and then rotate your animals however I understand the biggest challenge would be a water source.
Agree with adding a livestock rotation. It would take some pressure off the paddocks back at the farm. Downside would be fencing costs.
It would be interesting to see the effect of animals on half the field compared to half looked after the way you are doing it now.
Don’t beat yourself up about learning life lessons by doing. Many folks never “do” and therefore never learn like they could. You are just learning lessons about farming that generations of farmers discovered before you. And the good news is that you can be the beneficiary of those lessons already learned. There are now many good organic fertilizers available to improve your hay and pasture fields. And will make your job easier. Keep up the great videos. By the way. You have wonderful problem solving and mechanical skills! Have a blessed day😊
Don't forget to keep up on lime spreading. Test your soil to determine PH values, this will really help crop next year.
Sounds like you got a plan moving forward for next year. Great work
Great job Even, i think it's time for a disc job on field 👍🏻🥃
Nice repair job!
After hay season is over we turn our cattle loose (of course our entire property is fenced and the fields are fenced off as well) on our hay fields for the winter, we usually take them off the fields around march, this cuts down on the amount we feed them over the winter and they fertilize the field. After we take the cattle off the fields during the spring summer growing season we run a pasture rake across the field, this spreads the good stuff around as well as dethatches the plants allowing air and water to get to the hay. root system It has worked awesome for us for years this way, now eventually the fields do need added fertilizer and lime to maintain as well as we do an over seed once every five years or so to help maintain the field health
Hi there did you know when you weld on the tractor with battery connected you are risking your all electrics and welding your bearings together I seen it done
That's amazing and I never would have thought about that!
Ask the neighbors if they have manure they want to get rid of. Some that just have horses are looking to get rid of it.
You're doing fine! I do one cutting of hay and keep it mowed down the rest of the season to keep weeds out. The following first cut of the year is always a big one. We don't fertilize.
Enjoy watching your videos. Awhile back you were saying you needed more pasture for your cattle and sheep. Why not put them on the hay field for a few months? Even if you just did a section to test how much it helps. We ran out cow / calf’s on ours in the winter with just one hot wire. Just food for thought . Good luck with the hay fields !
There is no fencing around the Hay field. And i feel that coyotes would be an issue back there. so since we don't have a livestock guardian, I wouldn't put the sheep back there to graze
I have that exact mower! Took me awhile to figure how to hook it up, but it does great!😂
A question in total ignorance: Can you not turn the livestock out on the hay field after the last harvest? That would give you a more direct fertilization. You could split the field up and move the cattle a la Greg Judy.
Yes, you can, as long as the timing is right so that they don’t damage the grass. Cattle only like to eat grass three inches tall and above. Also this won’t help with the weed problem since cattle are selective grazers and will only eat the stuff that tastes good and not the weeds.
Greg judy has livestock guardians to protect the sheep. We don't, so I wouldn't put the sheep back there. If we had a livestock guardian, it would be a different story.
@@CountryViewAcres Interesting, from the uk I assumed sheep would be fine in the fields, as here (lambing is different). Do they need to be protected where you are?
Very interesting. We always bail Costal Bermuda hay here in North Texas.
Good video Evan.
Good morning! Good morning! Good morning!
Here in Missouri some guys run the cows in the hay fields periodically
We grow orchard grass hay in southern Illinois, we put our P & K on now in the fall. N (AMS) in about February. Each ton of hay removes approx. 13# of P205 and 50# of K2O per acre. Jason
Look into Sea-90 it's a very good natural fertilizer and will really make the hay grow
now you have a new problem. the grass will act as mulch and further degrade the production of the field. my suggestion would be to rake and bale. round or square depends on if you can rent a round bale shredder or a square bale shredder.
shred the bales on to a pile to decompose and then spread the compost back onto the field.
Hey Evan and Rebekkah! We love your videos. We have been watching you guys for a very long time. I’m just a little curious about this particular video. Couldn’t you have put the cows out there and let them eat that instead of cutting it down?
Some bushings would be a good idea to take up the slack between the top link and your new mounts. Nice repair.
We grow hay in Texas and have for years. My best suggestion is soil Test your fields. And see exactly was nutrients you are lacking and apply that. They are fairly inexpensive and you can have your local co-op blend what you need and not apply things that you don't.
I did soil samples a few weeks ago on all the pastures and fields. 👍
Have you thought about placing a perimeter fence along the property line and then rotationally grazing with wire instead of doing the paddock things and just buying supplemental hay. From what I've seen others do that tends to be the better long term plan.
Watch more Pete 😉
Nice cutting and is need to be done,✅ can you bale this stuff. Or some way to get redo it or deep plow that field, now before winter. You can never plow too much. And cross this season. With clover. ☘️ Then wait and manure in spring.
Can you
Its your farm. Cut it when you want. Make Farming Fun!
That looks like it might be sage grass. The cure for that is lime...A lot of it.
Evan, good catch on finding the bracket was broken. the welder new bracket looked good. might be a good ideal to mount a spare
belt to ur sickle mower just in-case.
Any poultry houses for chicken manure?
The clippings are green manure.
You do have to age that first though. Chicken manure is too hot without aging.
@@ruadhscottygirl2480
Ty. Forgot CM needs to cool before application
You are learning a lot about hay. To me that field is too far gone to salvage, but you can try. I think you might consider starting over. That mower fix was well done. You have a talent for restoring old equipment. I would love to see you buy more used equipment and bring it back to life. I like that old farm equipment. It is only useful on today's small farms.
Nice job!!
I seeded red clover in with my orchard grass it makes some really good hay and chokes out the weeds and most of the annuals
my other hay field is grass
ed clover mix. and it looks amazing.
Some farmers would pull out the duct tape and chicken wire for the usual farmer fix but the weld is way better. Nice work and will last.
Check with your county extension agent. You should have information that helps you in your area. I was in central Minnesota and how are you do things there are totally different than how you do things in central Illinois.
Aven plant alfalfa and Mix it good .
I think you should look into an old fail chopper to keep your fields mowed down. Take the shoot off and take off the auger to the chopper part and only have the knifes left as a big mower. You can find the old John Deere 16A flail chopper at auctions possibly. Love watching your videos. Avid subscriber for over a year now and enjoying it every movie this far. Keep it up
You are definitely learning as you go along. And this year, being so dry did not help at all. And as far as should have mowed, you do what you can, when you can, Farming and working does make it difficult, so let it go.
I wish I could use an old sickle bar! Much of what I cut is fence line and only about 8’ wide, so rotary cutter it is.
Would aerating in early Spring help the field? It would allow water and fertilization to penetrate to the roots.
You could use the zero turn to cut your hay field in cases like this.
Normal repair for these jobs is old tines knock it back in shape and weld old tine over the top with 7018 just bend as your welding ,mild steel plate tends to wollow out in time hope this tip helps