[Jay]

Thanks for the video. Nice rig and horses too. I can see how it might be a bit tippy sometimes, sure makes the going alot easier though… Jay

[Jay]

I rebuilt a JD big 4 last year with regular JD haybine guards and new JD knife from Macnair for Neal Perry. He is using it for all his mowing now and says it is great. Runs smooth and cuts easily through heavy hay. Jay

[Jay]

Nice look at a 9 bar loader in action. We use a 6 bar loader… not as nice for finer hay, but great for longer stemmed 1st cut. Thanks for the video. Jay

[Jay]

I cut some Friday and some more yesterday AM. Great drying air then… Strong thunderstorm in the late afternoon and rain off and on today. Sky tonight says it might be better tomorrow… We’ll see. Jay

[Jay]

I graze my horses 2 hours morning an evening – intensive rotational grazing on 1-2 foot high grass – I think in effect it is mob grazing as I put them on very small areas at a time. Using sheep netting I put 3 adults in an area 1 post (sheep net post) wide by 6 posts long and a single horse in an area 1 post by 3 posts. I am still giving them a flake of hay each at night after grazing, just to keep enough roughage in the system (we’ve had gas colic problems in the past). The rye would be fine for them in shorter time frames would be my take – I’m not sure about the vetch – depends how thick it is. If it’s thick I’d want to make sure it was buffered with some coarse hay and the time on the vetch limited to a few hours after having gotten used to it. Jay

[Jay]

I agree with George, though sometimes when it comes to having to replace some of the wood I briefly think otherwise, but keeping the $ local is pretty important to me and when I can use my own materiels or some from a neighbor, that’s great. Jay

[Jay]

It seems an underlying thing to have an understanding of what is meant by “efficiency”.  Is it just human hours spent which seems to be the most commonly used one or? or? or….?   I guess that’s what we often debate here which is very good.   Jay

[Jay]

Another area of this general discussion I don’t believe I have ever seen adequately addressed is soil compaction.  My filelds have had a tractor on them once in the last 35 years for mowing and baling 2 years ago after I got hurt, otherwise all the manure spreading and haying, etc. has been strictly horse powered- not even a pickup truck.  I recently took my 3/4ton out across the field to pick up something and I could feel the divets every where the truck drove.  My understanding is that 90% of compaction takes place on the 1st pass.   Another factor I wonder about is the vibration from the motor as the wheels are rolling over the ground.  Vibration is used to settle concrete and many other things. In my experience  there is a negative economic impact from the extra compaction caused by the use of tractors on land when animal power could just a easily do the job.  I can feel the difference every time I walk across my fields (and the fields of others).  Jay

 

[Jay]

I just got back from spending the whole 3 days there with team and plow.   Wow! what a great chance to refine what I already new and learn new things as well.  Great group of people and Sam and Erika (and Linda (cook)) are great as well.  We went over the plows on Friday, setting them up correctly, replacing handles, loosening adjusting bolts, etc. Sat morning we did more adjusting till the rain had been gone a while so the land had dried out some.   In the Pm we took to the field with 3 plows and began translating theory into practice.   We laid out a couple of lands and got them about 1/2 done.   Today we finished them off and 2 more teams came and joined in.    All in all a great learning weekend.      I think Erika may have some pictures.    Jay

[Jay]

I put up about 20 acres of mixed grass hay (on dry soils) have for about 30 years and used mostly a New Idea rake – tedder, though I also have a Grimm –  the NI throws the hay to the side somewhat which I really like, particularly when opening a field, or when coming  to the next section that I haven’t cut yet.  I like being able to set the angle of the teeth in both tedding and raking.   One does have to be careful not to drag the NI over to big a hump.   I generally wait till the hay is just about ready before raking.   We put most of ours up loose at home and bale when we are down the road.    Jay

[Jay]

I remember using a teamster 2000 with a big bush hog mower on it – 6′ and my memory is that it had a ratchet or coaster that allowed the pto to keep turning without pushing the cart when you stopped, but it engages again as soon as you start forward.   That was nice.  Jay

[Jay]

Hear! Hear!

Jay

[Jay]

I have used ash for pitmans, though more recently I have used it for poles. You’ll probably want a 14’er for the pole. These days I get pitman sticks from Norm Macknair – they run about $10 +shipping. In my experience, you cant beat that with a stick (so to speak) – as the length is exactly right and the holes all drilled just right. I would recommend a new bearing on the flywheel end of the pitman stick – norm has those also. Macknair’s # is 717-543-5136 Good luck. Jay

[Jay]

Ditto all of the above. I use a NH 66 for some hay – brakes on the forecart are very nice, I can go down a moderate hill without pushing the horses too much. I used to open the hitch to the wide position (the way you would with a tractor) this past year I just left it closed- ment the baler wasn’t trying to crab away and pull me sideways on a side hill. I just run the forecart wheel right next to the windrow. Good luck. Jay

[Jay]

That could well be a name for it. Pole ring in the middle of the chain, 24″ of chain on each side of ring, at the end of chain at each end is a figure 8 piece (an oval with a twist in it) about 6″ long. The spread stick goes in the inner end of the figure 8 and the jocky yoke in the outer loop on each side. With the spread stick about a foot less in length than the chain, (37-8″) it rides about a foot back from the neckyoke ring stop on the pole. Jay

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