Alaskan's Journal

[Bruce]

 

[Alaskan]

Yes... yes....

I agree....

But then... it isn't even mid April. So, no reason to complain.

AND I bought a new set of shoes... they have cleats in them, but the cleats are small enough you can still wear them into stores... so no more falling for me!

 

[CLSranch]

70°F the last 3 days, unreal!!

And yes us wimpy northerns DO think that is hot on a sunny day.

It hit 82 Sun. 65 yesterday so I wore my thermals all day and a hoodie under my long sleeve until 10 am., then got cold after lunch with the north wind.
I do NOT like it cold. Even the cold here. When working up North the northerns give me grief about freezing. I say come to OK when it's 115f in the shade with 92% humidity and haul hay with me. I can't anymore but we used to put up 15,000 bales a week at times. Average was 1,200 a day depending on the baler. Now I wouldn't want 1,200 a week.

 

[Bruce]

I'm happy to not do 1,200 EVER!

 

[CLSranch]

I'm happy to not do 1,200 EVER!

Having a hay monster is amazing.

 

[Alaskan]

Wow... that brings back memories.

As a kid I would get hay with my grandfather, load it into his stock trailer... load it into the back of the truck...

Then ride home in the stock trailer stuffed full of hay... cab was just a 3 man cab, so grandfather, dad and uncle.

 

[Bruce]

It was nice of them to let you ride on the hay instead of inside the stuffy cab.

 

[Alaskan]

It was nice of them to let you ride on the hay instead of inside the stuffy cab.

I am not that old.

By that time ridding on a lap was illegal (I think) but riding in the bed or a pickup truck, or a stock trailer made of metal pipe and full of hay, was just fine.

Thet made riding in the bed illegal... in the 90s????

 

[farmerjan]

@CLSranch , we do a fair amount of sq bales.... mostly all 2nd cutting as we mostly roll all first cutting.... but a good day for us is about 3-500.... that is a kicker baler and stacking in the wagon so they don't get all mis-shapen since sometimes it is several days or more until they get unloaded.... usually sold and delivered. Since my ankle and knee problems, I can no longer ride the wagon to stack.... so we have the kicker.... I do most all the raking and tedding, DS does the cutting and then baling.... and he works full time with VDOT.... plus all our cattle... I think the most we did in a day was about 800-1000.... but we had help and several of the wagons got unloaded right onto a couple of people's trailers and trucks right at the field....we have 5 wagons so can handle 5-600 at best if stacked real high....

Hoping that I can do more once the knees get replaced...but it is a "young persons job" more than a "old persons job".

 

[CLSranch]

Hoping that I can do more once the knees get replaced...but it is a "young persons job" more than a "old persons job".

Your darn right. That was half my life time ago and with a hay monster. For those that don't know what that is it's a EX school bus or fire truck stripped down and turned into a flat bed then ad a nose with a chain drive that picks them up and puts them on/off the flat bed so no bucking on the trailer and less bucking in the barn. It IS GREAT if that's all you do for a living.