Hay Baling roulette in this cold & dreary June (2023)
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- Опубліковано 22 чер 2023
- After an amazing start in May, haying has been at a standstill since June 1st. Two solid weeks of cold, cloudy, showery, and sometimes rainy weather - with hardly a pair of dry days to try something.
Starting to lose my mind at all of the waiting, and had to try something... risky business to chip away at what we possibly could.
(Sorry for some fast-pan camera work, especially as this went on. Really started to lose my sense of finesse by the end...)
Thanks for tuning in!
~~~
(As always, these videos are mostly a video diary for myself as I wind my way through each haying season - and yet I've come to realize that others enjoy them too, in this niche youtube hay community. I'm by no means a perfect videographer, and when in doubt, I tend to leave footage in for my own future enjoyment. I hope you enjoy this too, but please recognize I'm not aiming to be a professional youtuber :) )
(We are a 53-acre haying operation in Conway, MA - making all small square bales for the local food, fiber, and livestock community. Learn more about our farm at windrowfarmconway.com, or follow us on instagram @windrow.farm)
Equipment List:
Massey Ferguson 275 Tractor
Massey Ferguson 165 Tractor
Massey Ferguson 135 Tractor
Vermeer TM610 disc mower
Vicon RS410T Tedder
New Holland 256 hay rake
Massey Ferguson 124 baler (with New Holland 70 bale thrower)
Four kicker wagons
Delmhorst FX-2000 Hay Moisture Meter
Sundown Fertilizer Spreader
Good job 👏.
Love riding tractors as a kid. Rounded up cows!
nice hay. :)
Thanks! I'm definitely happy with the yield and quality in this moment :)
I have a small hobby farm in SW Pennsylvania. I only have about 5 acres, but I run into the same weather issues every year, too. Best hay I made last year was Memorial Day weekend, then my last cut was early October. Less daylight, but warm and breezy. Crazy.
Hey there! Glad to hear you’re in the hay game too, at whatever scale. (My motto is “someone is always doing more, someone is always doing less”. It’s hard work regardless! Sorry to hear you had the same rough year, what a roller coaster! Did you get three cuttings in that case?
Thanks for tuning in!
@@windrowfarm ... Thanks for the reply! I only got 2 cuts...baler went down during 2nd cut in July. I sell my hay to a local horse farm. They have multiple suppliers, but they like my hay just the same! Here's a link to my baling set-up. Feel free to check-out my page for all my antique equipment! ua-cam.com/video/eye_BbJHgvM/v-deo.htmlsi=kojS1i_odGBjK3wK!
Great video !
Thanks!
That reminds me so much of when I used to try and fight the weather in Ireland 🇮🇪 . We had to make silage instead. It was not worth loosing the crop. I think now that shoe is on the other foot because of climate change . We seem to get earlier warm hay weather. But now all the hay equipment has all but disappeared. It is really hard going to work every day not knowing where you stand weather wise. Keep going man . Love the MF fleet.
Hi there! Shucks, that sounds so difficult. That's what I always gathered about Ireland, the UK, etc, re: rainy summers and a switch to wrapped or chopped feed. Really hoping that's not a shift for New England, though this is the third bizarre summer in a row (too wet, too dry, now cold/cloudy). So who knows what's coming. I sell all of my hay, and so only really have a market for dry hay (and mostly squares, at that.) So it'll be interesting to see what happens, to say the least. I'm not sure I could justify the $$ to invest in a round baler, loader, wrapper, etc - just to get less $$/acre for the product (and not sure who the buyers would be, given how many horse, and small-scale sheep, goat, etc customers I have.)
Anyway, thanks so much for watching - and glad to share the Masseys with folks! :)
That was some thick grass! It’s either dry and easy to get hay in like we had but with minimal yield. Or like you with rain and good grass but struggling to get enough dry weather to get it baled. That was a lot of work but you got it done! Enjoyed the video.
Thanks! And you’re right, it seems to be one or the other 😅. Desperately hoping for some actual summer soon, hope all’s going well with you!
Buenas soy de Cuba que variedad de pasto es el que esta sembrado
Do you fertilize every year to replace nutrients your removing. I'm in the Palmer/Brimfield area and most of the fields are horrible. I think it's going to rain all summer El Nino.
Hey there! How's your season going so far?
Yep, I fertilize each year (twice - once late April, and then on a rotating basis ahead of second cut as I work through first.) I soil test every other year (so do half of the fields each year) and try to hit what they need the best I can, within $$ budget.
Sorry to hear fields by you are so rough! It's sadly becoming more and more common that (not to paint with broad strokes) "old timers" are backing off on fertilizer. There seems to be an old school thought that all fertilizer does is give you more hay, rather than focusing on soil health and grass quality. Drives me bonkers.
Gosh, I sure hope not on the rain-all-summer, but I share that fear! I keep trying to research just what El Nino means for New England, and get really inconsistent answers. All we can do is hope and do the best we can. I might be trimming lime, fert, and 165 tire replacement from the budget pretty quick here though - eesh.
Anyway, thanks for watching and for the support!
At what rpm and speed do you usually bale? Like your videos!
Hey there, thanks so much! I run the baler near or at 540 PTO rpm (I think about 1700 on the tractor's tac) or sometimes a tad under if I'm not in a rush - the 124 makes a good bale regardless of RPM (to a point), and being old enough with my custom bale-thrower addition, I'll maybe run it closer to 500 or so to take it a little easier. Unscientific, for sure.
As far as ground speed, I've never clocked it. But usually low range, 3rd gear on both of my main Masseys (275 and 165). Occasionally 2nd gear in really thick stuff (I think I filmed one or two of those rows in this video) - and in second cut, if it's light, I'll kick up to the 275's 4th gear (165 doesn't have it.)
I would always prefer a faster ground speed and lighter windrows for better drying, rather than huge doubled rows and moving at a snail's pace. Just my preference.
Hope that helps, but let me know any other questions! thanks for tuning in!
@@windrowfarm thanks for the quick and thourough answer 👍
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Hay looks great. Is it time to consider a hay preservative applicator on the baler? MF balers of that era, excellent machines IMHO.
You read my mind! I’m not sure I have the energy and $$ to make that investment this year, but I may apply for a grant to see about adding that option next year. Starting to feel like I need every tool at my disposal…
Though, might start doing some research with this downtime.
I appreciate the idea/validation! (And your info videos on the subject, I’ll likely be revisiting.)
Thanks! (And couldn’t agree more on the baler - nearing 40k bales with me, who knows in the 30+ years before that.)
What size MF are you running with the baler and the wagons behind? We just bought a few wagons and would like to throw them in as we go. Both of our tractors are in the 5-6K lbs range.
I mostly bale with a MF 275 - on tractordata that looks like 6k lbs, plus I have the tires loaded. I also comfortably bale with the 165 (lighter), it just needs new tires before I trust it on the hills again. All about just being smart/sensible - I only have 8x8x16 kicker wagons to keep weigh manageable on terrain, and often don't fill them up all the way, or save flatter parts of the field to top them off.
Our tractor we bale with had loaded tires and 4wd so we should be ok I think. Might just have to start with empty wagons on the steeper sections.
@@codysnow9662 i’d say so!! My biggest concern is always tipping a wagon. Takes creative baling pattern on some fields, but still more efficient than picking up by hand.
How dose youor mower handle on uneven ground?
Oh, it seems to handle great - I would definitely say I have a lot of hilly and bumpy fields. I think I have the flotation setting pretty well dialed in for the ground I cover - I never hear/see it scalping the ground or anything like that. In this thick, heavy, wet, and lodged first cut we have currently, it does leave some uneven stubble depending on if you're mowing "with" or "against" the lean of the lodged grass - but I think that would happen regardless of the mower.
@@windrowfarm Thank you, I am diffently considering looking into getting a mower like this. I currently have a 3 point disc mower, but would love to have a pull type also.
@@stevenwalker8608 Same thoughts when I made the change! Unfortunately this size as pull type seems less common - I like Vermeer, and it was about the only option I could find. New Holland's smallest pull type is about 10 foot (I think). But you can really feel the difference on the tractor's weight, etc, not having a big honking 3 point mower attached. (And my previous 3 point mower was only 5.5 foot!). Especially for hills, etc, I love the change. Takes more maneuvering on smaller fields or tight corners, but that just takes a little fancy driving sometimes :)