It's haying time!
My favorite job is to rake the hay. Not with a hand rake or a garden rake, but with a John Deere bi-fold wheel rake that pulls behind my trusty John Deere 2520 open-air tractor. This old tractor was here long before I was and I'm guessing that it's a 60's or 70's model.
When I turn around to see what's going on behind me, this is the view I see. I'm sorry for the crooked photo, but just tilt your head a little to the right and it'll look ok. I'm raking two windrows of hay together into one large one. As I pull the rake behind me, the tines on the wheels turn and pick up the hay and roll it into the center as you see here. This saves the baler time in the hayfield. It's also a more efficient way to cure the hay (dry it) before it's baled up into big round bales. If the hay is too wet, it will rot. Too dry and it will fall apart.
This is the view from the front of the tractor and the work ahead of me. If I keep my tractor right between the two windrows, I'll pick up every little bit of hay.
This is the Fourth-born Child taking over and giving me a break from the hot sun. The temp actually climbed up to 95 here today --perfect hay-curing weather.
Here's Hubs in the tractor pulling the baler behind. The hay in the foreground needs more drying time. Tomorrow's another day in the field. I'm so glad that there are several of us here to pitch in. Many hands make light work!
Fourth born son??? I thought there were only two or three??? I've missed a very important detail here. I would never have thought it could get up to 95 as far north as you are. Ouch. My little John Deere wants to be a big John Deere like yours when he grows up!
ReplyDeleteHI Jody!
ReplyDeleteI've seen that contraption hooked up to tractors, but never knew what it was! Thanks for showing it in action!
P.S. Love the tractor... Kate wants an old Farmall B. Who knows what she'll do with it, but she wants to tractor something!
Kim :-)
Thimbleanna,
ReplyDeleteWe have five children -- 4 sons and one daughter. Actually this is our fourth-born, but third-born son.
Kim,
I think Kate ought to get herself a lil tractor. They really are useful for so many things and the old models are just the best. We have a JD model A here that still runs and works for a living (when we need it)
Jody
I have 4 sons and a daughter as well :)
ReplyDeleteYou took pretty good pictures considering you are driving the tractor at the same time as well as raking hay! The farmers are getting their hay in here too. The thundershower we had last night won't have helped them though.
PS - love your cute new banner!
ReplyDeleteMy kids always teased me because I wanted a John Deere tractor (as if I needed one for my little garden). I love seeing them in the fields on our way into town.
ReplyDeleteMy son-in-law is from near Boston and at times he teases us about our Midwestern way of doing things. I tease him back, telling him he'd better never say anything bad about corn or soybeans. :)
Jodes,
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun to see what's going on at the ranch. I'd love to drive along with you taking in the view, the smell of the hay and see everyone work together.
Joyce
What a woman!! What can we city girls do to top that? ;) I need a big machine!
ReplyDelete