May Hay Baling Marathon, Breaking Records, and Fighting Gravity (2023)
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2023
- The hay game continues with a personal record-breaking marathon of amazing weather and more hay than we've ever pulled off before June 1st. It's rare in New England to do much (dry) May hay, yet this year saw our earliest start (5/14), most bales (685), and most hay days (15) prior to 6/1 of any year to-date. A long video, but for a long stretch of hay.
Some minor equipment woes and logistical pivots, but all in all a season start for the record books.
As always, these videos are mostly a video diary for myself as I wind my way through each haying season - and yet I've come to realize that others enjoy them too, in this niche youtube hay community. I'm by no means a perfect videographer, and when in doubt, I tend to leave footage in for my own future enjoyment. I hope you enjoy this too, but please recognize I'm not aiming to be a professional youtuber :)
(We are a 53-acre haying operation in Conway, MA - making all small square bales for the local food, fiber, and livestock community. Learn more about our farm at windrowfarmconway.com, or follow us on instagram @windrow.farm)
Equipment List:
Massey Ferguson 275 Tractor
Massey Ferguson 165 Tractor
Massey Ferguson 135 Tractor
Vermeer TM610 disc mower
Vicon RS410T Tedder
New Holland 256 hay rake
Massey Ferguson 124 baler (with New Holland 70 bale thrower)
Four kicker wagons
Delmhorst FX-2000 Hay Moisture Meter
Sundown Fertilizer Spreader
The "little" 135 Massey is an awesome tractor. I would venture to guess that Massey Ferguson sold more of the 35/135 tractors than anything else. The 135, along with its main competitor, the Ford 3000 had a very low center of gravity and they work very well on hilly terrain. I get a little timid working my Massey 283 on hillsides but I can take my 3000 Ford on those same hills and I feel very safe and confident. Great video, first time I saw your channel and I really like the footage of your Masseys earning their keep
I heard you say you had to make several throttle adjustments with the 135 while raking. Even the gas engine in that tractor should run pretty even. You may need the governor adjusted.
Hey there, thanks so much! I so totally agree on the 135 (never ran a Ford 3000, but have often talked about the similarities between Masseys and Fords in the decade(s) following the Ford/Ferguson split). I'm so impressed by the 135, I did everything for my first 4 seasons with it (no kicker yet, but did pull the baler with chute and wagon on hills). Great point about the governor, I've never had that looked at and probably should. I appreciate that idea! The throttle adjustments are really just about terrain (uphill vs downhill), but it has always been a bit of a workout and I always just assumed it was because of a gas engine. On flat land it runs very consistently.
Thanks for tuning in!
Hay looks great! I would die if I had to pick bales up off the field again - LOL. Everyone comments what a chore it is to unload kicker wagons and apparently forget how much more work it is to stack on a wagon off the field. Functioning bale throwers are a blessing...👍
Thanks!! And yep, same thoughts 😂. Our operations have a lot in common, I think. Being a one-farmer-band, not much beats the efficiency of a kicker setup and “meet me at the barn” unloading help. Glad I hopefully have it fixed.
Thanks for tuning in!
I worked on a farm one summer and I got to learn how to windrow on equipment sort of like yours. It was a hard job, but I loved it.
I see your mowing mostly grass but I wonder if a roll or flail conditioner would help your dry down times. A disc mower with a conditioner does take a bit more HP though.
Hey there, thanks for watching! Crazy as it sounds, I actually prefer no conditioner - though a good part of that is indeed HP, as well as cost. I find I don’t miss it in the grass hay game, at least not enough to justify the expense (both in mower and sufficient tractor). I have a video from a couple of years ago where I explain my reasoning on no conditioner, if you’re at all interested. But I’m always open to ideas and discussions, so thanks for commenting!
Well, that was fun! Every year has it's hiccups. Looks like you made some nice hay. 75~ bales to the acre is fine in my books. Especially for May. Glad you got the thrower all back together and ready to go for the next round.
Thanks so much! An adventure, for sure. Hoping we’re up closer to our norm of 100 bales per acre by now, but that was indeed some beautiful may hay.
Enjoyed the video! Ground moisture definitely slows drying time. The last few fields we cut here I could mow one morning, tedder that evening and bale the next evening. Most though took 3 days. Our ground has been very dry, starting to get rain now. You definitely have a nice setup of equipment!
Thanks so much! Agreed - I have a mix of ground types (for New England) - some dry fields, some wet, some average. Wet fields are tough on a wet year, but then the dry ones save my bacon (and vice versa). Sorry you had such a lack of rain for first cut growth, but glad drying it has been going so well! Fingers crossed you get rain to move the needle. Are you done with first cut at this point?
And thanks, same to you re: equipment! I appreciate connecting with you and others at this relative scale.
@@windrowfarm yes I finished first cut this past Monday. Although I’m cutting some scrappy odd ball fields today but they don’t really count. Between this year and 2021 I’m 81 rolls less. These last two dry springs really cut the yields. I think we definitely operate on very similar scales for hay production.
@@khtractors Wow, you fly through acreage, that's impressive! (I guess round bales help - I hit very finite limits on how much acreage I can get baled in a day. But still, impressive how much ground you cover and how quickly). That's a tough yield comparison though - yikes. Do you think round bale prices will rise a bit, accordingly? The pricing game is always tough, when hay falls somewhere between a specialty and a commodity.
@@windrowfarm I’m kinda locked on pricing, but that’s my own choice. Selling to new customers I’ll raise prices but for my year to year guys whatever I quote in the spring is what I’ll stick with. Definitely more money in squares but also a lot more time. This year we just kept trucking on the fields cutting and baling then I came back and got it all moved. Most efficient year I’ve ever had. Also Dad’s help makes a world of difference since I was still working during most of this 1st cut.
@@khtractors Yep, that totally makes sense. I work on a hay order system too (sure beats a marketing/advertising frenzy mid-season, and I like building a relationship with folks). I do the same thing with not messing around on pricing, unless there's an extreme situation. (Second cut last year was one example. I came in well under half of expected second cut yield due to dryness, and had no choice but to raise prices to even try to make it worthwhile. Folks understood, and I've learned my lesson not to commit to a firm second cut price anymore, just my best estimate). Anyhow, I can relate, and I think that's respectable.
It certainly sounds efficient! Glad your dad can help you and that he likes the new tractor. I rope my dad in also (he's not a farmer, but I've dragged him into my hay obsession since I was a toddler, so he's a well-taught "negative-first generation" for tedding, etc.) Family help is certainly a gift.
I totally understand being happy not finding a fawn in the grass. An old foreman on a cattle ranch I worked on in my earlier days ran over a newborn calf with a bush hog. Nightmares for 30 years and counting.
Oh gosh! That sounds beyond terrible. It’s always so tough when trying to farm and working with natural systems (and creating habitat), but hazarding animal loss.
@@windrowfarm In his defense the area was very overgrown and we didn't expect any calves at that time. But yeah, I can't cut a field now without just staring at the grass in front of the mower.
greetings from Petersham looks like a fine bunch of hay
Thanks so much! Nice to connect with other MA folks 😊
Got to like that MF equipment. I always did.
Thanks!
Seen tires damp on tractor that one field. 90 plus upsate ny. 28 mowed.tedded 29.probably coulda baled It. Baled it the 30th. 725 sm squares.15 acres.course it had liquid manure on it last fall.
Yep, definitely wetness along one edge of that field, even with two weeks of no rain. Similar yields here - the final batch last week was closer to 70 bales/acre. It’s climbing, for sure. Thanks!
Hello, new subscriber here! I have been binge watching your youtube videos🤣 i want to farm/ make hay one day in the future.. my questions is why do you run a disc mower over a haybine if you dont mind me asking? A haybine crushes the stems in the roller, is there a downside to that for your setup? Thanks!!
Hey there, thanks so much! Glad to have you following along. I made a video last year discussing it if you’re curious for a longer explanation.
If you mean haybine as having a sickle bar, I absolutely need the disc mower for how thick, wet, heavy, and often lodged new England grass usually is. When I have even a tight weather window, I have to jump on it and mow quickly, which the disc mower is great for.
If you’re wondering about a disc mower with/without conditioner, My two main reasons for no conditioner are cost and horsepower requirement. But I also (controversially) think that I get better quality grass hay out of no crimping/conditioning. When drying, an un-crimped grass stem allows the leaves to dry later in the process, which I think reduces leaf shatter to some extent. But in the end, even if I have to ted it another time, I’m still making dry hay in the same windows as everyone around me (sometimes shorter). A conditioner can certainly help in grass hay if you have or want it, but I don’t think it’s as essential as everyone makes it out to be, based on my 12 seasons without one 😊. I’m not an expert, just speaking from my experience.
Thanks for asking, and let me know any follow up questions.
Bearing goes a long way when they are greased.
Mine lasted a lot of years - but no grease fittings on these, they’re sealed bearings. I still spray with penetrating oil when I can though. Not sure if it helps.
Thanks!
@@windrowfarm the penetrating oil will get in to the bearings but over time it will break down the grease inside the sealed bearings. I put a housing with a grease zerks so that I can keep the bearings greased. That was 43 years ago never had to change any bearings yet on the pitch rollers only the pitch belts. Mine is a 1979 New Holland Bailar I bought it back in 1981 and still bailing today. The only thing that I spray penetrating oil on is the chains. And yes the bearing on the pitch rollers is also sealed bearings one side has a rubber gasket and the other side has a metal gasket or seals. And yes the grease will get inside the bearings. Anyway good luck.
@@TimothyTate-tc5yk thanks, that’s super helpful! Did you custom make the housing with grease zerks?
@@windrowfarm no I just got lucky to find the housings with the grease zerks. Here is something that you can think about doing. My friend dose this with the pitch rollers bearings. He changes them out every five years then he pulls the rubber seal off the bearings and repacks them with high temp grease then he replaces the seals back that way he can reuse the bearings and he puts the same grease on the roller shaft that the bearings on. Like I said it's something you can think about doing. The high temp grease will last longer then all purpose grease do to friction. My father in law had this saying farmers learns tips and tricks from other farmers. Any good luck and have a good hay harvesting bailing this season.
@@TimothyTate-tc5yk thanks so much, totally agree on learning from other farmers - always appreciated! So much of this is learning by doing. (Like after ruining the bearing puller and cutting the old one off, learning that the new one (and therefore old one) was oblong and had to be rotated to come on/off)). I’ve never been a mechanic, just a farmer who stumbles through and learns things the hard way. So thanks again! Best of luck to you too - mutual support!
Use a gas ax to remove bearing and lock, get good with one and u’ll never nick the shaft, without a torch u can’t get the bearing hot enough to come off
Great video!
I’m currently fighting with a NH super 68 trying to get it work properly lol
Thanks so much! Hope you can get it adjusted, certainly a lot of moving parts. New to you?
@@windrowfarm yes nee to me and my friend William. We’re both into vintage machinery so it’s going to be a learning curve. The left hand knotter when it knots the tie seems to get caught on the disc that moves the twine over to the bill hook. Is there anywhere I can private message you?
@@matthewfenton8775 nowhere on here, but you can on instagram - @windrow.farm. I’ll admit I don’t know much about New Holland knotters, they’re a bit different than the sure-tie on my generation of Massey
Beautiful hay , question you don't have a crimper ? Cut your drying time in half . And better digestibility for the animal .
Thanks! I prefer no conditioner (I have a video from last year talking about my reasoning, if you’re curious). I get hay in the same drying windows as others around that use conditioners. Means an extra tedding, but saves on $$ and horsepower. I actually disagree on the quality (though I know palatability is different than digestibility), but I have people who swear by what I make, and I think no conditioner and a more natural dry down is part of that. Important distinction that this is all grass hay I’m talking about (a little clover.). Thanks for tuning in!
If you don't mind me asking what does hay go for were your at
Sure! Right now it looks like first is around $7, second around $8.
Hi, I was wondering which dealership you bought your vermeer mower from? I am considering buying one after seeing yours work.
Hi there! I got it from New Boston equipment in NH. I think they’re under new management now, but still carry vermeer.
I love the mower, though am still finding a trampled strip problem in heavier first cut due to the right tire. It’s improved with the custom skinnier tire I mounted, but still happened on the latest field I did. A bit frustrating not to have a clean cut on such an otherwise smooth mower - so just the one piece of feedback/caution I’d give.
Where abouts are you haying? Thanks for tuning in!
@windrowfarm awesome! I see that they are under the name big boys toys now. I remember New Boston truck and equipment at the Deerfield fair years ago. I am in Jefferson, New Hampshire which is in the northern part of the state. I used to mow with a Krone 3201, and it had finger conditioners on it and it mowed well, but a heavy machine and after only four years, it developed gearbox problems. I saw the writing on the wall and got rid of it before it ended up costing a lot of money. I, like you also feel that conditioning the hay was sort of a gimmick to sell newer equipment to farmers and I have had similar results as you are with drying times. I think that if hay is being conditioned, rollers do a better job than fingers do anyways, which is what most of the new mowers have now anyways.
Since getting rid of the Krone, I have downsized all my haying equipment so it requires less hp and fuel consumption to operate. Currently I'm using an enorossi 9' sickle bar which is ok, but limited due to it not liking wet grass at all or spindly grass. It plugs a lot unless conditions are perfect. I also have a samasz drum mower which works well, but is narrow at like a 6 ft cut or less so it takes a long time to hay! We hay about 62 acres here.
@@presidentialviewfarm oh nice! Sounds like a similar scale then. That’s a lot of ground to cover with a sickle bar! I think a disc mower like this would be a good fit then, it’s so helpful to be able to mow through wet grass, especially how the weather keeps going.
What sort of bales do you make? Did you scale down other equipment too?
@windrowfarm not too bad when the sickle is working well, but all has to be just right which seems like never lol.
We only do 4x4 round bales and we try to bale only dry hay although we do have capability to wrap bales and make hayledge. More of a market for dry hay because the majority of the livestock farmers who are left do their own haying.
We have a 4 basket pequea Tedder and a 9 foot pequea rotary rake. Had a kuhn 6 basket before that and a new holland 12' wheel rake. Way back I used to have a kuhn gmd600 3 pt disc mower, and I wish I had kept it. It would be worn out by now, but it didn't take a lot of power to run. I have a NH TL90 tractor which has been great, but I wanted to get something newer and smaller and something I could use skid steer attachments with, so I bought a new tym 574 hydrostatic which was so my wife and kids could also safely operate a tractor to help with field work.
What size of tire is that I got the same one you and the same problem you got
Ah, the new tire is a 6.70-15. The rim is from agri supply - 15" X 4.5" 4 BOLT. Do you have a TM610 also? Sorry to hear you have the same problem, curious to hear more about your experience
So that mower doesn't crimp it. That makes the best hay. Did you get rain on Friday.
Hi there, thanks for watching. Correct, no conditioner. Do you mean no conditioner makes the best hay? I happen to agree if so 😊. Takes an extra tedding or so, but I have a whole pro/con list.
Got a little bit of rain last night into early this morning. Only 0.3”, but the grass will take it!
What did you get in Palmer?
@Windrow Farm not really sure maybe half inch. We need more.
What moisture meter are you using.
It’s a Delmhorst FX-2000
Your damp ground will not help the hay dry, the stuff on the bottom will get damp with the soil moisture. Just carefully roll the windrow over and dry it that way, repeat as necessary.
good luck with the weather gods and the necessary hay gamble.
Hi there, thanks for watching! I discussed that quite a bit in the video. I certainly re-raked and did all I could to not let the wet ground affect things. But in our region, wet ground was the name of the game this year, unfortunately - and this video was before that got worse 😅.
By the looks of landscape your in Vermont or upstate NY ?
Western MA, so close!
Zdravím z České Republiky radost pohledět palec nahoru a odběr draku 🤑🤑🌳🌳🌲🌲🐂🐂🐃🐃😉😉😉🐉🐉🐲🐲♥️♥️💪💪💪💪💪 lesu zdar
Looks like u could bale 2 windrows together at the same speed
I’ve tried before, and unfortunately the 124 can’t *quite* handle doubled windrows in third gear without working the baler noticeably hard. Then I drop to second gear and, at least in this generation of Masseys, it’s a huge speed drop (maybe half or less). I’m always the most worried about adequate dry down in this region, so I always prefer singled rows in first cut for more drying and then faster baling speeds. Sometimes double in second cut if I’m confident about curing, but not with how wet this year is going. But 100% to each their own!
Thanks for watching!
Is your 275 gas?
Nope, it’s diesel (Perkins). Always strikes me as funny how different it sounds from the 165 though. Thanks for tuning in!
MF baler my worst nightmare! Bale 400 bales one day not a miss . Next day won’t bale for Jesus Christ.😂
Oh jeez! What model? I had issues with mine 10 years ago - it all boiled down to the tiny tension spring holding the plate where the twine leaves the twine box. Knock on wood, almost perfect ever since.
Thanks for tuning in!
Put 2 windrows would work