on a lighter note...

[Newboomer]

We hauled our hay loose. It was my job to lay the load on the rack (hoss drawn). I was a teenager and it got a little busy with 4 guys pitching hay up to me from both sides. No letup until full load. Hot, dusty, thirsty and tired legs from running back and forth the length of the rack treading it in. A jump in the river sure felt good after a day of that.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Y'all left out fending off ticks and tobacco worms, sunburn, the itching from the hay and the burning of the tobacco "juice" on the skin and /or when it gets in one's eyes.

And of course there were those occasions when "you" make that suprising close encounter with: a copperhead, rattlesnake, black snake or any other type snake.

 

[Ike85123]

We never grew tobacco thank god ! We grew cotton, wheat, grapes and melons.
The grape vines grew about 8ft on wire. It never happened, but I always had the fear of eye to eye contact with a rattler !
I think the worst i had was picking melons, having to throw them 50ft to a trailer or burning ditches with a weed burner in the arizona summer !
Ahh, the good ole days! Haha

 

[Dr Ray]

We never grew tobacco thank god ! We grew cotton, wheat, grapes and melons.
The grape vines grew about 8ft on wire. It never happened, but I always had the fear of eye to eye contact with a rattler !
I think the worst i had was picking melons, having to throw them 50ft to a trailer or burning ditches with a weed burner in the arizona summer !
Ahh, the good ole days! Haha

I’ve done hay baling and melon picking
Hard work

 

[Wade J VanGinkel]

When I was a kid in Wisconsin during the early 80's the farmer I worked for at 13 years old had no children. His baler had a kicker that launched the bales into a trailer he pulled behind. Then had to just hand stack into the barn loft with a conveyor system.
Went to Montana when I was 16 and had to pick them up off the field the normal way.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

You all left out working half the night on the baler because she jumped timing or slipped a chain and you need it the next day. That looked like a new holland hayliner never had the pleasure of swearing at one of them personally. We had an old 420 international cable baler which was completely garbage, it was antique enough to have a drive cable instead of chains. After I got old enough to to work off the farm I bought the old man a lot newer and far better taken care of 124 massy. It sucked working all day and then coming home and putting three or four hundred bales in every night just me and dad but atleast the gear would hold together.

I bet every kid who ever grew up that way still remembers how many bales to fill the mow. Ours held just shy of eight thousand bales.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

The last end we had cattle dads health got bad enough he couldn’t do the tractor work day in and day out anymore. I hired one of my cousins to bale a field and he never checked the twine. Going around with a pitchfork shaking untied bales back into windrows coming on dark trying to outrun the dew so you can get it baled again and under cover before it rains the next day makes for a long night.

 

[Scott CWO]

The last end we had cattle dads health got bad enough he couldn’t do the tractor work day in and day out anymore. I hired one of my cousins to bale a field and he never checked the twine. Going around with a pitchfork shaking untied bales back into windrows coming on dark trying to outrun the dew so you can get it baled again and under cover before it rains the next day makes for a long night.

Cousin must have been a city boy.

 

[Randy F]

The wagon was a breeze (pun intended) compared to the hay mow. My brother and I would fight over who got the wagon. The old man settled that argument, he bought hay racks, a baker with a kicker, put us both on the hay mow, and cut down twice as much hay everyday.

When I was a kid in Wisconsin during the early 80's the farmer I worked for at 13 years old had no children. His baler had a kicker that launched the bales into a trailer he pulled behind. Then had to just hand stack into the barn loft with a conveyor system.
Went to Montana when I was 16 and had to pick them up off the field the normal way.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Cousin must have been a city boy.

Nope just Lazy

 

[Jfet]

When I taught and coached in Tennessee, we conducted summer conditioning workouts for football. An athlete could choose to come to the morning program or the evening program. I had a young man who bailed hay for his father and grandfather who would come to the evening workouts. I told him I knew what he was doing and he didn’t have to come to workouts. He said it provided a nice two hour break from his dad and granddad.

 

[Ridge Runner]

We never grew tobacco thank god ! We grew cotton, wheat, grapes and melons.
The grape vines grew about 8ft on wire. It never happened, but I always had the fear of eye to eye contact with a rattler !
I think the worst i had was picking melons, having to throw them 50ft to a trailer or burning ditches with a weed burner in the arizona summer !
Ahh, the good ole days! Haha

A couple of summers ago I was helping a hunting buddy, we- that is his wife daughter, soon to be son-in-law, and other family members and friends were picking up and stacking square bales of hay.

Anyway, long story short, one of the women folk reached for a bale and an 12-14 inch copperhead snake was lying in a relax coil by the bale of hay. My 4th snake kill, no big deal to me. As for the others; depending on who is telling the story: I'm a hero, insane, or trying to prove how macho I am. IMO the damn thing didn't have enough meat on its bones to make it worth killing with a knife (only immediate option). Should have just blown it away with my 44 mag. with a shotshell, but I left it in my truck, about 100 yds from where the snake encounter was taking place. ( note to self: I really ought to reconsider buying an over/under 45 Colt/.410 Derringer).

Then there was the 4+ foot black snake, 3 foot green snake, and the somewhat big king snake. Each with an almost soiled my pants extremely (as within easy striking distance, inches away) close.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Now y'all are wanting to talk about the "antique" equipment malfunctions, broken bales, working into well past dark to beat the weather.

I guess reminiscing about those days are good reminders of are "youthful days" and the hard work we had to do back then. Compared to the use of today's round balers and the reduced amount of square baling.

This conversation is making me feel a hundred years older than I am. Making my arms, shoulders and back ache, just thinking about those days while sitting here just reading all these threads.

 

[nztimb]

Yep been there and done that.
Left school before I was 16 and the first season on the high country station (1967) and the first days hay was 2000 bales and the boss and I stooked them. The bailer had a drag catcher with the driver releasing it when there were betwen 12 and 15 depending on how they lay to fill it up and or when he came past another drop from the previous round of the paddock. Our job stooking them was to lay 3 on edge times 3 so that the bottom row was 3 wide and 3 long then another two rown on their flat so it was a 14 bale stook. A piece of inner tube over the wrist with a thumb cut out so the palm flapped but it served to protect the hands a little as the strings of the bale were grabbed to do the stooking. Next day the tractor would pick them up with the push off stacker on front arms and take them to where the hay stack would be built. Many days like that but remember helping out my father one new years eve when the hay was ready even though I had been "partying" for a couple of days but when he said it was time at about 2am off we went and where he was they did it differently with a sledge behind the bailer and I would take the bales as they came out the shoot and stack them on the rails behind the sled till there were 11 and release the stook. I kept feeling the bales were getting lighter so would screw the bailer down HOWEVER it turned out that by the time I was finished well after breakfast the bales were over 120lb instead of the 50 they should have been. Just shows what tired and adrenalin will do.
Left the farming life at 20 to go into building but that grounding on farm work has memories I treasure but would be reluctant to repeat today so they are best as memories as many of you well know.

 

[spike.t]

 

[spike.t]

 

[spike.t]

 

[Newboomer]

Ah, yes. Fun down on the farm. Wouldn't take a million bucks for the memories and wouldn't give a penny to do it again. Haying and logging with hosses. Great childhood. I think those experiences made better men of us.

 

[mdwest]

 

[Shawn.54]

Ah, yes. Fun down on the farm. Wouldn't take a million bucks for the memories and wouldn't give a penny to do it again. Haying and logging with hosses. Great childhood. I think those experiences made better men of us.

I had the same youth as you don’t remember working with horses but on our farm was an old mule who passed of old age when I was young his name was Buddy and pap always said that he stays on the farm not for the good he does but the good he did in the woods.
we had the dairy plus a sawmill at 6-7 I was the slab monkey by 12 I was stacking lumber and rolling logs with the sawyer worked my tail off. If you were to work a kid like that today you would probably get jail time. But I loved it back then I was a tall skinny kid who was stronger than kids 4 years older me. That came in handy when someone would try to bully me. Now I’m old fat slow and a day like that would kill me.
Shawn