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Cruel neighbor

C

cj in wisconsin

Member
Sunday afternoon my buddy and I are haybining his 40 acre field. I'm using my 720 JD and he is using his Ford 4000 both of us have 9 foot New Holland haybines. All is going well, then it happened, the neighbor across the street shows up across the road with a new Magnum and a twelve foot discbine. Well to make a long story short, he cut more hay in an hour than we did all afternoon. That was just cruel!
 
The guy that owns land by me does the same thing.

They have a smooth straight 90 acre field. They show up with a self propelled discbine and a swing tongue discbine. They have to be able to knock down close to 25 acres an hour with the two machines. I don`t drive up the driveway as fast as they go down the field..

I would agree on the huge investment they have in equipment, but as for fuel... They can be pretty thirsty machines and still come out ahead of a tractor that`s easy on fuel pulling a 9 ft haybine.

If your like me and all your fields aren`t the smoothest, you can only cut as fast as you can stay in the seat anyway..
 
Thats what I will be doing all day today. Cutting hay with a 14' hesston discbine and a '04 AgCO White. When I was growing up all we ever cut hay with was an IH, New Holloand, or Owattana swathers or the ol sickle mowers and a rake. I am still amazed how fast I can knock feilds out at my friends place with this rig. grass as tall as me and that discbine will keep up in 10th gear. I cant afford one so I am looking around for an older Mower conditioner of any size, type. Posted on an older Hesston hydro swing on IMP talk, but no one replied. Happy hay making everyone. Those of you in drought and flooded areas, My thoughts and prayers are with you.
 
I mowed hay last week with a 55 hp tractor and a 495 haybine at 5mph. I burned a lot less fuel and got the work done just fine. I still had to slow down a couple places where it was a little rough or had woodchuck holes. 10mph it kinda fast for most fields to me.
 
My story is a little tongue in cheek, I have no payments, have fun and get the job done. Plus like you guys said, tractor time is still fun and no stress. I have less invested in my whole operation than he does in just one piece of machinery.
 
Amish across the road started disking about 12 acres of corn stalks on Wed afternoon . Thursday morning we started on 85 acres here . We had it worked and planted Thurs night . He is still out there disking now .
 
James and I drove by a neighbor"s place and they were cutting a hayfield with a very new looking large, wide-front JD tractor and a JD mower/conditioner. It sure looked nice.

But as ya"ll have said, we have less invested in the equipment we use to cut and bale with (JD 46 A slant dash pulls JD #5 sickle mower, JD 640 rake, JD 1953 70 pulls the Krone 260 baler) than he had in the mower/conditioner. Plus we have more fun and ours are all paid for!
 
Its flat out amazing how much one man can cover with newish equipment. My younger brother with his 8820 cuts more in a day than most guys cut in summer. Follow it up with his 7240 and big square baler and hay happens fast.
 
Dont know why you didnt stop him and give him a beer and send him home, of course with a thanks and that you were enjoying yourselves.
 
You are right about the payments, but may not be right about the fuel (on a consumption per acre basis). I know I had 164 acres of barley custom seeded with a JD 9300 (tripled up) and a 54 foot seed hawk airseeder. Seeded straight into last years unworked winter wheat stubble. I pay on a per acre plus fuel basis. The fuel worked out to 2 litres per acre (actually a bit less) or in other words 1/2 gal. US per acre. This amounts to less than 1/2 the fuel if I did it. My time to do it with my equipment is worth $400, $200 less fuel was used and moisture was saved. No hours put on my equipment. But then the novelty of tractor seat time wore off for me many years ago. If I happen to crave seat time there's a seat on my lawn tractor.
 
After a lifetime of cutting hay with semi-ratty, 30+ year old open station tractors and 3 point disc mowers, I had a chance in eastern Washington to swath canola with my friend's new 12' self propelled MacDon swather, cab, air, heat, radio/CD, etc. Alas, it was not to be- awoke on the appointed morning to steady drizzly rain- he said "We don't care 'bout no stinkin' rain", and we went out anyhow- but hilly country, and ground was too slick to make it up the hills (or go across them without sliding down), so had to give it up. My one big chance, gone. . . (He quit canola and sold the swather the next year).
 
We started mowing the neighbors field and what a mess he put lots of fertilizer on it last fall and its growing worse than weeds. I have never been in anything like this it fills the row behind a foot high all the way across the cut. so far we have broken one sickle bar and wrapped grass around the drive shaft on the MacDon I wonder why anyone would put an exposed drive shaft on a mower. Anyway I cut the plastic guard off this morning and when I started to pull the center U joint off I found that the bolt and cap was missing and the part was rusted to the shaft another BUMMER.
Boy this haying will try a man's mind.
Walt
 
There's a farmer cutting hay right now out my window at my apartment w/ a Hesston self-propelled. Smells nice.

I'll be cutting hay tomorrow with our Hesston Hydra-swing ($1200 jusnk yard special). Goes faster than our 9' haybine, even if my ground speed is just a little slower.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
That's true about the fuel.... I guess I was thinking more along the lines of my smaller scale, where big machinery often doesn't pay. Big stuff in little fields can be a pain.
 
The other day I went by a newer JD tractor setting in the field with the strangest set up I had ever seen. It was set up with a large wheel hay rake on each side forward of the rear wheels and two small square balers being pulled behind. I didn't have a camera with me, I will try to get a picture in the future and post it on here. I am sure I will see it in use one day, this farmer bales a lot of hay in our area.
 
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