O/T The Rain

Well in the last 18-24 hours here in Illinois just 30 miles East of St. Louis Mo we've had 3.2" of rain and it's still coming down, not like it was. Oh yeah and it's only 62 degrees, had to turn the furnace on to take the chill out of the house and it's only July 2nd.

I cut hay this afternoon after the morning drizzle stopped. Still cloudy. Had my flannel shirt on but when I was going face in to the north wind,I was wishing I had my long underwear on. It didn't take me long this morning,when I was doing chores,to come back in and get my hooded sweatshirt and yellow fuzzy gloves on.

Yeah, John. Last year it was 104.

I hope you can keep the rain in your area. About 100 miles north of you, we've had enough for a couple weeks. After last year being so dry, i never thought i'd say that!

Need to be making hay in southwestern ohio, not done with first and second cut alfalfa is READY NOW. Rain is holding us up......but.....after last year, I dang sure am not complaining!

Northern Kentucky, about 30 miles east of Cincy. I still have not cut any hay, weather behaves a lot like Florida. Pretty in the morning but about 3 it clouds up and rains. Does this about every other day. Ellis

Lots of rain for this time of year here in SE IN.

Though I do no REAL farming, I do maintain a couple hundred acres and spend all of my spare time mowing.

It's been tough this year. Today I started on one of my "big" projects that gets cut once or at most twice each year. Last time was last fall.

I do not like to cut when either the ground or the grass is wet but took this week off and it's now or never.

Today I spent 6 hours on my MF 533/6' Woods BB720X opening things up. The 533 is a 202 CI Perkins derated to 45 PTO HP for the single reduction 533 (2007 version of the 135). I keep the blades sharp but set the mower as close as possible so as to not scalp.

The Woods has ample grass clearance and usually clears well even in heavy grass (experience has taught me that this is not the case with low cost mowers, e.g., IMT, King Cutter, etc.) but the combination of very heavy grass and a bit too much moisture today necessitated ground speed lower than HP would allow (given my very low cutting height).

I spent most of the time in low range second gear. Last year it was low range third gear (big change between second and third) and 4th gear when terrain permitted (it's steep and the are lots of obstacles.) If it does not stop raining, the heavy debris left on the ground will mold, killing the grass beneath (yet another reason why I have been putting this job off as long as is possible). Usually, it's quite dry in late June/early July.

Tomorrow I will switch off the the MF 2635 (60 PTO HP) and Woods 7' BB840X but I expect that things will still be slow going. The 2635 is new, bigger, less maneuverable and I have not yet become completely familiar with it.

If it does not rain tonight, I should finish this project tomorrow but will likely need to go over some of the area again in a week or two if for no other reason than to disperse the heavy clippings.

Dean

Been getting rain about every day for the last 10 days. Weeds are really taking off in my beans, but no way to spray until this stuff stops for a few days.

Have been getting rain off and on for the last few days here at the Lake of the Ozarks also. Bad thing is it is just enough to keep me from cutting hay but and so far at any one time we get all of a 1/10 of an inch so could have gone ahead and cut and been ok. NOAA said 20% chance today and 30% tomorrow so figure I'll cut on the afternoon of the 4th