pictures from the last couple days

[R A]

No small square bales.....yet.

started having the nieghbor roll some up for me. I'm losing out there.
I have 42 big bales and the lower part of my barn filled with loose hay. 10 big bales from last year and should have 1000 to 1500 small squares in standing hay if I get it baling this next week. That'll be good.

Had a cow test positive for a March calf never calve??? Took her to the sale.

Been trying to get the equines involved with haying. Been riding to dinner and stuff and jockey'n my tractor and truck back and forth with 'em. Something new for the new mule and colt to see....and they aren't learning much me leaving them alone, which I hate to do.

.....and varoius pictures. The one of my dog Tuff riding in the back of the truck on the way to the sale barn.....he goes back and forth from wheel well to wheel well, never stopping ever, I guess to not miss anything He did it from the Iowa/Missouri line to Idaho one time....and back We'd stop at a hotel and he would crash the very second the door shut

 

[burnt]

Not hard to tell that the cow was only feeding herself! :?

That would be the wheel-stepping mule?

 

[LazyWP]

I baled all my meadows yesterday. Got 150 little squares, where last year, I had 100, on half of it. I don't feel real bad for the guys that sent all the hay south last year, at exorbitant prices. Sure looks like they may have to buy some this year.
Just so you know what bales are supposed to look like.

And my bale counter...

This is the first year I have actually operated a small baler. Baled 152 bales and had 1 bale that broke.

 

[R A]

Not hard to tell that the cow was only feeding herself! :?

That would be the wheel-stepping mule?

Yeah, that cow calved real late the year I bought year('10). Since I was having to cull so many others I bought, I held onto her and bred her in '11 to calve when I wanted her to this spring....she's gentle, sound, and had an alright bag. So no calf in '11, preg'd to calve like planned, then didn't....so she had to go. Sad because she wasn't lame, old, bad bag, goofy or any trouble.

Yeah, that be the mule. I don't know if she'll ever do it again, but may work with her doing it on command on other things later in training. It was funny seeing her standing up like that on the wheel. Being my first mule, like I've talked about before, I have nothing to compare her to as far as other mules, but she must of taken after the horse a lot more than she should of.

 

[R A]

Thanks for the pictures, LazyWP! Looks like a real neat area that you are baling and you have good help! I can't wait to have little baler droppings hitting the ground all over. Your first year operating a small baler is going way better than mine!

I headed out there a couple days ago with a completely gone through baler. I never did have a knot tie with the left knotter. The right one, the one I just replaced with a new used one, worked most of the time. I stopped every few feet and cut the knots off of the bad knotter bill hooks and made adjustment....small ones. I even bought different twine. Finally that bad knotter ended up breaking the knotter frame. I think I let too many knots build up on it that last time there and it caught/was too much pressure on it and snapped it to pieces on this knotter frame that broke??? That's what it looked like to me anyway. I have another used knotter assembly coming as we speak from a used parts place. Going to tear it apart and go at it again. At least the dang thing is easy to work on now I'm going to tear the two bad knotters I have now just sitting hear all apart, every piece and look everything over to learn more and see if I can find bad pieces or something????

Thanks again for the pictures! They give me hope that I will be baling small squares someday, even though it might be with a different baler.

 

[Faster horses]

Too bad about the cow, RA. I hate it when that happens. She must
have absorbed the calf somehow during the winter. Well, she'll give
you come cash flow. What did she weigh and what did she bring, if
you don't mind telling.

That mule is really shiney along with your horses.

Too bad about the baler, but you have an excellent attitude.
Like the team ropers say, "NEVER GIVE UP." :wink:

Thanks for the picture story. Oh, and GOOD LUCK with the baler.

 

[gcreekrch]

Too bad about the baler, but you have an excellent attitude.

Broken down equipment has a way of changing that. :wink: :lol:

 

[Hayguy]

Too bad about the baler, but you have an excellent attitude.

Broken down equipment has a way of changing that. :wink: :lol:

not to mention the lost$ in time, lost quality of the hay, $ in parts, sometimes it's hard to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. an old boy i knew alway's said it's cheaper to rent it than own it, true in lot's of cases when you factor in everything :wink:

when you get all done, I want you too figure out ALL of your baling expense's, parts, fuel, twine,etc. and some labor and then divide that by the number of bales you actually made. I'm betting that you could have hired it done for less :wink: Hope I'm wrong, for your sake

 

[LazyWP]

Tell me about all those dogs in the trailer. I am starting to look for another one.

 

[Hayguy]

Too bad about the baler, but you have an excellent attitude.

Broken down equipment has a way of changing that. :wink: :lol:

not to mention the lost$ in time, lost quality of the hay, $ in parts, sometimes it's hard to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. an old boy i knew alway's said it's cheaper to rent it than own it, true in lot's of cases when you factor in everything :wink:

when you get all done, I want you too figure out ALL of your baling expense's, parts, fuel, twine,etc. and some labor and then divide that by the number of bales you actually made. I'm betting that you could have hired it done for less :wink: Hope I'm wrong, for your sake

on a positive note you are learning way more about baler's than you ever would have if you had gotten one that worked perfectly :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[nortexsook]

I don't feel real bad for the guys that sent all the hay south last year, at exorbitant prices. Sure looks like they may have to buy some this year.

I don't feel real sorry for anybody going through drought this year after what happened to us last year. You always heard growing up about country folks helping a neighbor when they were down ect...... (I guess that was all from a bygone era) All I saw people from the Dakotas and Nebraska and other areas last year do was try to bleed folks down here from their last dime. Asking $300-350+ per ton for terrible quality hay then have to pay $3.25+ per loaded mile to have it delivered. Make a dime while you can must have been their motto. Because "helping out a neighbor" was not in there mind. Hell, offering a FAIR product for a FAIR price wasn't in their mind. Gouging is what it was.......

 

[George]

About 20 years ago we had plenty and the folks down south were short - - - I donated 3 semi loads, trucking was aranged by a cattlemens Assn ( I don't remember which one ) and most of it was free as long as they could use it as back hauls. Never even got a thank you note but that is OK

I bet I would have sent a note or made a call to say thanks if the shoe had been on the other foot.

 

[Faster horses]

I don't feel real bad for the guys that sent all the hay south last year, at exorbitant prices. Sure looks like they may have to buy some this year.

I don't feel real sorry for anybody going through drought this year after what happened to us last year. You always heard growing up about country folks helping a neighbor when they were down ect...... (I guess that was all from a bygone era) All I saw people from the Dakotas and Nebraska and other areas last year do was try to bleed folks down here from their last dime. Asking $300-350+ per ton for terrible quality hay then have to pay $3.25+ per loaded mile to have it delivered. Make a dime while you can must have been their motto. Because "helping out a neighbor" was not in there mind. Hell, offering a FAIR product for a FAIR price wasn't in their mind. Gouging is what it was.......

Careful there, you can't paint everyone with the same brush. We sold
our hay $60/ton FOB Montana and the guy hauled it for himself to
New Mexico. We made some new friends out of that deal. We felt really
bad that people would take advantage of another one's misfortune.

So now this year we have no hay, luckily we only have 3 horses to feed.

 

[nortexsook]

Careful there, you can't paint everyone with the same brush. We sold
our hay $60/ton FOB Montana and the guy hauled it for himself to
New Mexico. We made some new friends out of that deal. We felt really
bad that people would take advantage of another one's misfortune.

So now this year we have no hay, luckily we only have 3 horses to feed.

Good for you. I am glad you were the exception to the rule. I am sure there are other exceptions out there. But that doesn't change the facts of how many people were willing to gouge.

And Texans, Okies and New Mexicans were somewhat to blame. We should have sold more cattle faster. We should not have been trying so hard to hold on to the cattle. Nobody forced anyone to pay for the overpriced hay.

Personally I did not buy a flake of the overpriced stuff. I priced a lot of it but just kept getting a bitter taste in my mouth talking to people trying to sell. I just kept on selling cows. My pastures are better this year for it too.

My point was that I have seen several post by our Northern friends lamenting the lack of rain. And part of my heart just aches for them because I know how hard it is and how heartbreaking it is to miss the rains. But I also have this first hand experience of these same folks last year being more that willing to take my friends and neighbors to the cleaners over hay.......(and calling a lot of what was shipped down here hay is stretching it.....)

 

[Faster horses]

I certainly believe you, the fellow we dealt with got a bad load from
someone. Makes it tough, I don't understand people that would send
hay that far, knowing the folks on the recieving end are going to know
the hay is no good. And neither is the guy who sold it. :?

 

[mrj]

Thereis no one area with exclusice ownership of honesty and integrity of its citizens!

There are stories of hay being taken to a location 'down south' at a set price. On arrival, a 'local' person offered more money than the original purchaser.....and it was taken by the seller/trucker. People from BOTH states acted dishonestly, imo.

Drought is virtually a way of life in western SD, and we try to always be ready for the worst and are thankful when it DOESN'T happen. Our family and some others never sell hay, but have loaned hay to neighbors when needed, asking that they replace it when they can. It does keep quite well here due to our dry weather, tho. We are very thankful for the huge crop we got last year as there isn't much this year.

It is hard to imagine worse disasters than severe drought, or devastating floods, but those horrible fires sure could qualify. Prayers and sympathy for all suffering from any of these disasters,

mrj

 

[Anonymous]

Thereis no one area with exclusice ownership of honesty and integrity of its citizens!

There are stories of hay being taken to a location 'down south' at a set price. On arrival, a 'local' person offered more money than the original purchaser.....and it was taken by the seller/trucker. People from BOTH states acted dishonestly, imo.

Drought is virtually a way of life in western SD, and we try to always be ready for the worst and are thankful when it DOESN'T happen. Our family and some others never sell hay, but have loaned hay to neighbors when needed, asking that they replace it when they can. It does keep quite well here due to our dry weather, tho. We are very thankful for the huge crop we got last year as there isn't much this year.

It is hard to imagine worse disasters than severe drought, or devastating floods, but those horrible fires sure could qualify. Prayers and sympathy for all suffering from any of these disasters,

mrj

I think that is where we have an advantage over the down south folks- in that we can keep hay over and stockpile for the bad times-- sometime for years... I understand hay doesn't keep too well in a lot of the southern country...
I fed cattle last winter for a neighbor that because of the flooding we had was short of hay...To compensate for what he was short- he fed some CRP hay that we had put in the stack 9 years before...Not the best in the world- but mixed with new hay- and some protein tubs- his cows came thru the winter probably in better shape than mine..

 

[Denny]

There was plenty of hay left here off farms and ranches at a modest price problem was a jockey bought it and loaded trucks and made the money not the ranchers on either end for the most part.I did my part I never sold one bale.

 

[4Diamond]

We are in a drought now and I don't feel sorry for many of my "friends" and neighbors. I saw last year what they baled and called "hay" and sent to texas and oklahoma. I wonder where all that cash is now? It hurts to miss rain and I feel the pain of many but a lot of locals here are getting what they deserve.

We aren't that far south but hay past a couple years old doesn't store real well here.

 

[R A]

Too bad about the cow, RA. I hate it when that happens. She must
have absorbed the calf somehow during the winter. Well, she'll give
you come cash flow. What did she weigh and what did she bring, if
you don't mind telling.

That mule is really shiney along with your horses.

Too bad about the baler, but you have an excellent attitude.
Like the team ropers say, "NEVER GIVE UP." :wink:

Thanks for the picture story. Oh, and GOOD LUCK with the baler.

Thanks, Faster horses! That cow was suppose to be 6 1/2 months along when I pregged her??? So I don't know what happened. I watch them like a hawk??? She preg'd open at the sale barn??? She weighed 1400 and brought $.76 a pound. Slaughter cows brought 74.50 to 85.00 that day. Bred cows brought 1100-1475.

Too bad about the baler, but you have an excellent attitude.

Broken down equipment has a way of changing that. :wink: :lol:

I can stomach the baler breaking down a lot better than being a few miles down the road and find out a fast food place gave me "DIET" pop instead of what I ordered.