March 20, 2009

[Soapweed]

Tootin' around on the taggin' machine

Collecting twine

Sunflower has turned into a super-good ranch hand this winter.

Rolling out hay to the heavy cows

Okay, when I make this mooing noise, that means you had better sit up and take notice.

Heifer whose calf needed to be pulled

Pairs on the feed row

Pulling the picture in a bit closer

 

[Silver]

Thanks for the pics Soapweed. Looks like the weather is being cooperative, if only you could get that wind to quit.
Is that sisal twine? And if so why do you collect it?

 

[Soapweed]

Thanks for the pics Soapweed. Looks like the weather is being cooperative, if only you could get that wind to quit.
Is that sisal twine? And if so why do you collect it?

We use sisal for the hay we put up here at home. Some of that I feed through a processor. The hay I buy has "biodegradeable" almost plastic type twine. It is better to gather this, because it tends to make a mess if left out on the feed ground. We don't gather the sisal twine. It rots away almost too fast anyway. :roll:

 

[Denny]

Thanks for the pics Soapweed. Looks like the weather is being cooperative, if only you could get that wind to quit.
Is that sisal twine? And if so why do you collect it?

We use sisal for the hay we put up here at home. Some of that I feed through a processor. The hay I buy has "biodegradeable" almost plastic type twine. It is better to gather this, because it tends to make a mess if left out on the feed ground. We don't gather the sisal twine. It rots away almost too fast anyway. :roll:

I used one bale of that biodegradeable twine and it degraded quite fast most bale's the twine was all rotted thru 2 months after it was baled and the bales were tough to move.Now they are even worse I'll stick to sisal twine from here on.My bales are all soft core so they don't handle very well with broken twine.

 

[Richard Doolittle]

I bought some hay with the photo-degradable twine on it this year and love it. The bales hold together and it is very easy to cut. The seller did say that if any hay is carried over, any twine that is exposed to sunlight will be gone by next year.

Denny, I'm surprised that sisal works so well for you. Around here it normally does, but with our above average moisture last year the sisal twine was rotten before the hay was hauled in the fall.

 

[tenbach79]

Hey soapweed, how do you like your calf catcher? We have a guy down here that makes them kind of like that but I didn't know how they would work out in corn stalks. I tagged a few cows this morning that weren't to happy about me tagging their calves. When we first started calving this winter I had a cow put me in the back of the pickup and when I jumped out she decided to put me in the cab the hard way :shock:

 

[Soapweed]

Hey soapweed, how do you like your calf catcher? We have a guy down here that makes them kind of like that but I didn't know how they would work out in corn stalks. I tagged a few cows this morning that weren't to happy about me tagging their calves. When we first started calving this winter I had a cow put me in the back of the pickup and when I jumped out she decided to put me in the cab the hard way :shock:

We really like the calf catcher because it sure makes the job a lot safer. My wife does nearly all of the tagging. The outfit gets around pretty well, unless you try to go through too big of a dip. It goes on steep places as long as you find a gently rolling approach to get there. I laughed when I first saw this deal at a trade show several years ago, but now we would hate to get along without it.

 

[Silver]

Thanks for the pics Soapweed. Looks like the weather is being cooperative, if only you could get that wind to quit.
Is that sisal twine? And if so why do you collect it?

We use sisal for the hay we put up here at home. Some of that I feed through a processor. The hay I buy has "biodegradeable" almost plastic type twine. It is better to gather this, because it tends to make a mess if left out on the feed ground. We don't gather the sisal twine. It rots away almost too fast anyway. :roll:

I use sisal twine and find it works well to take the diamond harrows over the feed grounds in the spring to pick up whats left and scatter the manure at the same time. Because our feed grounds are also our hayfields, this smoothes things out and prevents the left over sisal from wrapping around the rake wheel hubs.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the pics Soapweed. Looks like the weather is being cooperative, if only you could get that wind to quit.
Is that sisal twine? And if so why do you collect it?

We use sisal for the hay we put up here at home. Some of that I feed through a processor. The hay I buy has "biodegradeable" almost plastic type twine. It is better to gather this, because it tends to make a mess if left out on the feed ground. We don't gather the sisal twine. It rots away almost too fast anyway. :roll:

I use sisal twine and find it works well to take the diamond harrows over the feed grounds in the spring to pick up whats left and scatter the manure at the same time. Because our feed grounds are also our hayfields, this smoothes things out and prevents the left over sisal from wrapping around the rake wheel hubs.

What I've found works great for clearing twine or net wrap that was frozen to the bales- and too hard to remove when it was frozen and the temp was 30 below---- is a couple of grandkids and their friends- a couple of 4 wheelers, some old feed sacks, and a few five dollar bills.... :wink: :lol:
Slick as a whistle.....

 

[OldDog/NewTricks]

Strange T handle hook _ I've never seen one like that...

We used T handle hooks (Meat Hooks) in the 40's - killed the second and third fingers

"God"! Thanks for D handle hooks

Question:
What are the "Extras" on that hook for?

Looks like I'd hate to haul hay with those Extras

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

The "EXTRAS" are for cutting the twine and pulling it loose from the bales. Different purpose then the old Bale Hooks used for handling square bales.

 

[OldDog/NewTricks]

Thanks:
I did a Google search "Hay Hooks" (Negative for this style)
Nothing at "Tractor Supply" either.

Those T handles can sure put BLISTERS on the fingers.