Picking up cotton modules durring TS Don

Well it looks as if Tropical Storm Don is a dud, at least the weather goobers on TV are calling it Don the Dud. We have been getting some light rain out of it, but not much. Somehow I doubt we will get over about a half inch when it is over. Although the eye hasn't really hit the coast yet, they don't expect much to happen. They eye will hit about 30 miles north of us they say.
Anyway, so they were hustling today picking up cotton modules as fast as they could. The field down the road got picked up late this afternoon during the light rain, made it a bit tough for the truck drivers as the dirt had gotten a bit slippery but they all got in and out on their own.
I recall seeing some picture from someone from Austrailia of cotton bales being picked up on this site, so I thought I would share what I looks like in far South Texas. Actually it looks exactly the same as I recall the down under pictures looked.

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And I managed to get about 5 pictures in a row as this truck was loading. For those of you who don't know how these trucks work, the bed of the truck is a bunch of chains on rollers. The driver backs up to the bale, tilts the bed back, puts the truck in nuetral and engages the chain which grabs the bale and pulls the truck backward while pulling the bale up into the truck. Once it's all the way in, he tilts the bed back up and heads to the CoOp to unload. The whole process of loading a bale takes less than 60 seconds as long as he's straight in line with the bale when he starts. Pretty amazing to watch.

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Neat pics!! I've been around cotton all my life and still find it fascinating to watch the harvest. Things sure have changed from the old days of two row strippers and trailers to 8 rows and module builders.
Thanks for posting the pics.

i useta roll cotton bales on the Galveston Wharves...glad i never had to sink my hooks into one of them suckers.
i checked radar about 10 pm...no rain,no nuthin...tracking map shows eye below Corpus but theres nothing at all showing up...dissipated like a afternoon thunderstorm.

Hey Down South that looks just like the pics i posted a couple of months back except we use semies. How long are those modules most Australian ones are 40' and a few still do 38'. Do you have the in feild loaders over there that pick them up and straddle a flat bed and unload the module on the flat bed for transporting. Would have loved to get pics of that when we where working for you but we where flat out when they using it

It's hard to imagine cotton being picked in July. Up here it's just now blooming. Are there many of the JD cotton balers or CIH module pickers in your area? There are a few around here but the cost is still a factor

Thanx for the pix! That is something I have never seen!

It still makes my knees hurt to look at cotton.

JD yes, CIH no. This is green and yellow country, unusual to see another color. Fellow down the road has a Case FEL he uses to load the round bales he sells, and it's been real busy this year loading semi loads going north. We have irrigation, so he has lots of hay. He sold all the cattle, so he's selling all the hay off. Some is pretty old, but it's been going out of here like crazy.
I have a blue Ford and the 'ol gal up the road from us has a blue Ford too, other than that your blinded by green and yellow 'round here.

Ah yes, those are the pictures I recall seeing before. I was surprised because the operation looked so similar to what's done here. Honestly I probably wouldn't have taken the time to take those pictures had I not remembered seeing yours!
As I recall these modules are 26 feet or maybe 30 feet. And no I've never seen the field loader for flatbeds around here.
Thanks again for posting your pictures, it inspired me to stand out in the rain (what little there was) and take these pictures!

BCnT, that is exactly what I said last night. We get more wind and rain out of our normal sea breeze showers than that thing made. Oh well, there is another one out there that looks like it could get nasty.......but who knows what direction it will go.

Glad you enjoyed the pics, I sure got soggy taking them!
And yes things have changed and changed a lot, but check out the link below. The first bale of cotton each year comes from here in the Valley. These folks have won the prize ($3000 this year)3 years in a row now for the first bale of the season. It was done by hand, so some things don't change after all.
First Cotton Bale 2011

I am retired and run a Module retriever truck for a locl gin during the season. We won't start picking until late September here though.

It is hard to imagine cotton being harvested in July. It is just now blooming here as well. We have 2 IH module plickers and 4 deere roller pickers around here that will be in the field this fall.