Second Cutting

Nancy and I got our second cutting of hay over the holiday weekend.

This is a mix of Cheyenne Bermuda and Coastal Bermuda.

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Started out with 'Easy' the 46A and the #5 mower.

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Turned out the grass was a little thicker than the #5 could handle.

Came back and finished with 'Big John' the 55 70 Diesel and the 350 mower.

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Nancy inspected the entire meadow and removed the undesirable cuttings.

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Used 'Vernon' the 56 70 Gas and 640 hay rake.

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Probably more tractor than was necessary, but 'Vernon' is new to the work group and got the call.

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Nancy followed with her 'fork' and improved several of the wind rows.

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Came back with 'Big John' and the Krone 260 baler.

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Will need to sharpen the knives. Had 4 mistied bales.

Finished up loading and stacking with the 2810 Ford.

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We got 31 4x5 bales from 7 acres. This is the largest number of bales ever from one cutting.

Glad to be back at work so I can get some rest!

Thanks for the pics, James. I hear alot of whoas about haymaking on here, but I can't wait for my perennial peanut to be ready to cut. We sprigged 10 acres this spring, it wont be ready until next year. Nice 3910, got one myself. Wish I had the loader, though.

That Ford looks like one stout Tractor. Good lookin" crop of hay. Wish I had all those toys to make my own. Just have to buy it again this year.

Nice photos- thanks for putting them on. I have some memories of mowing with a #5- most of them unpleasant. I switched to a Taarup disk mower in 1976, and, aside from quitting haying altogether, was the best move I ever made. I still have the equipment, and maybe after I retire in a couple years, may get back to it. Or I may just lie down for a few minutes til the urge passes.

Growing and baling your own hay is a nice, but expensive and hard work. It will be a very long time, if ever, before we reach a break-even point on the cost of the equipment, fertilizer, and seed.

What James didn't say was that cutting and baling this time was a nightmare. Had many, many problems because the grass was so thick and tall. It took some very hard work to get this cutting in.

It took 5 days, but we finally got the job done. We now have 31 bales of some pretty nice stuff and learned some very valuable lessons.

Those sure are nice pictures! It looks like you replaced every bolt in that rake when you painted it. Didn't you have a John Deere M ? That should make a nice little hay raker, lots easier on gas than the 70 I'm sure.

Hey, I use a 640 rake just like yours except mine has a scratch on it somewhere and maybe a speck of rust too. And it has nowhere near as many teeth.

Thanks for the compliment. We like to take alot of pictures and share them with everyone on this forum.

The 640 hay rake was a total rework.

Took it completely apart and replaced all nuts and bolts.

All new rake teeth

All new bearings and grease fittings.

The gearbox was rebuilt by Deere - very expen$ive.

Yes, that is 'Sparky' Nancy's 51M.

Bought it for Nancy for our 20th anniversary.

Paid more for 'Sparky' than for 'Vernon'.

Use 'Sparky' to mow the yard around the house and shop.

Fun little tractor after riding on the 70's all day.

This rake was uglier than my stepmother before I started 'sprucing' it up.

Had to straighten several of the strippers to keep the teeth from rubbing.

It is basically a 'new' rake and it does a good job.

Have another 640 that came with it.

Will eventually get it back in service, but will not do a total rework on it.

Thanks for the compliment on the pictures. We like to share our photos with everyone on this forum.

If I had to do this for a living I would starve to death.

This is WORK and I have the greatest respect for everyone that grows and harvests hay as their livelyhood or for their livestock.

That is probably why my dad lived to be 87 - he did not cut, rake, and bale his own hay for his cattle.

The Ford 2810 has really been a workhorse for the last 25 years.

My dad bought this tractor new in 1983.

I was a banker at that time and loaned him the money to buy it.

Once Nancy and I determined that square bales kept getting heavier after each birthday, we decided to put a front end loader on the Ford and switched to round bales.

This decision should have been made 25 years ago.

Sure does make working around the farm much easier.

yes, the modern digital camera brings so many great pictures to us. Thanks for sharing.

Some nice old Iron too!

Thanks James and Nancy for the fine photos!

This meadow was originally a cotton field dating back to the 1920's.

My dad bought this 120 acre tract in 1939 and sold the cotton to pay the note.

One of my neighbors told me that as a young man he plowed this cotton field with a mule.

My grandaddy 'sprigged' this field with coastal bermuda in the early 1950's.

It was an 'established' field for many years, but suffered many years while it was leased.

Nancy and I 'took over' the field 3 years ago and have built it back up to our satisfaction.

There are peanut farmers in our area. Do not know much about the popularity of this crop.

The majority of our farm is sandy loam that will support just about any reginal crop.

The front end loader is one of the best investments I have ever made.

I know that there are still a lot of uses that it will do for us.

Your welcome. We like to take 'action' photos of various 'work' or projects around the farm.

We also enjoy all the photos that others post here on these forums.

They 'show' us different parts of the country we may never get to visit.

There are also alot of interesting tractors and equipment that we enjoy learning about.

You are exactly right about the digital camera.

The camera is so easy even I can take a decent picture.

Since there is no film to buy and process, the only expense is the original purchase price.

With several web sites available to 'host' your photos, it is so easy to upload and share with others on the web.

The only hard part is deciding which photos to post and share with everyone.

Thanks for the compliment on the 'old iron'.

We really enjoy using these old tractors and old equipment.

Yes it takes a lot work to refurbish and maintain it.

Bringing a fence-row/scrap yard piece of equipment back in to service is worth it for me.

I owned one of those 350 mowers , 7 fooot and had a few problems with it. I installed all new double guards, smooth faced. Then bought a new knife with under serrated bolted sections. Set the tilt to almost level. Acted like a totally new and different machine.
SO what did I do? I just sold it to swithch to a 9 footer.

Gordo

Nice pictures.Nice looking fleet of tractors.
Randy In Iowa

Thanks for the compliment on the pictures and the tractors.

Nancy is the photographer most of the time.

She can operate all of the tractors, but only some of the equipment.

We have at least one or two 'backups' for all our tractors and equipment.

Sometimes you have to 'change horses in the middle of the stream' to get things done.

This 9' 350 did a good job considering how thick the grass had grown.

I put a new top serrated knife on before this cutting.

Made sure to register the knife, set the knife clips, and set the new wear plates.

Only had to adjust one knife clip after I started cutting.

It has the double guards without ledger plates.

It also has a non-clog guard next to the inner shoe.

I will probably replace this non-clog guard with a standard guard before the next cutting.

Had what I call 'rooster tails' where grass was not cut near the inner shoe.

I will take your advice and adjust the tilt.

Embarrassed to admit it, but this was the worst mowing job I have ever done.

Oh well, guess whatever didn't get cut this time will get cut next time.

Thank you for not mentioning my 'lack of vocabulary' when I 'lost my religion' on more than one occasion.

James. You mentioned you have a M. Do you need a service manual for it? I bought my farm about threee years ago and there was a M sitting here. I didn't think to include it on the contract and the previous owner sold it about a week before we took possesion. It was pretty complete with a sickle mower and wheel weights front and rear. They got the tractor but didn't get the manual in the trailer. Let me know if you can use it.
Barry
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We had a 640 rake when I was growing up. Don't remember that the teeth were on in sets of three. Did it come with them evenly spaced or did I just forget that ours was like that?

James and Nancy-great pics. Dont mean to be picky but the perifery (right and left sides only-middle seems fine) of your pictures seems blurred. A shame given such good subject to be shooting. What sort of camera are you using?

Send some more pictures anyway.

Regards

Mitch

The camera is a Canon A520. I"ve had to send it back for repairs three times. Twice because the lens cover wasn"t opening properly. After the second repair to the lens cover, the left side of the pictures was out of focus. I sent it back immediately, but its never been the same. It used to take really good pics, with good focus, but now the left side is fuzzy.

You remembered correctly. There is an option on the 640 of how many teeth you can use - two widely spaced teeth, two closely spaced teeth or three evenly spaced teeth. When James refurbished the rake, he used only two spaced close together, then this year decided to add a third.

It is also set up with 4 bars.

It can be set up with 5 bars.

Sent you an email via YT.