Steep Ground

wolfman · Sep 20, 2009

I've seen discussions on this forum about round bales rolling down hill. I baled a field yesterday where the square bales rolled off the hill. Have three fields here in southwestern Pa that are so steep that square bales will drop off the chute and just start rolling off the hill. Kind of pretty watching them flop, flop over and over in a ripple effect. However, you know you're going to have some long carries to go get them.

RobMD · Sep 20, 2009

Are you kidding? WOW - I have never seen that. Gotta be scary on the tractor!!

Oldmax · Sep 20, 2009

I live in WV and would belive that.

AndrewFromNS · Sep 20, 2009

(quoted from post at 02:38:50 09/21/09) I live in WV and would belive that.

I've driven thru WV, and would agree with you!

Anonymous-0 · Sep 20, 2009

We got some ground in Dubois county IN like that ,shoulda never been cleared ,,Best thing is to leave the trees grow on them tha're hills and roll the loggs down em' every 20 yrs ' instead of risking life and limb and equipment trying to bale hay on such hills ,,But these ol' Dutchman around here gotta make the land pay the taxes......

RayP(MI) · Sep 20, 2009

Some parts of Michigan we can double crop. Up one side the hill and down the other! Only time you get into trouble is when the roots meet in the middle.

730 virgil · Sep 20, 2009

we have some ground in southwest part of county that is so steep they measure land on both sides.

Bill(Wis) · Sep 20, 2009

I saw a Farmall M hitched to a New Holland small square baler take off down a hill and hit a tree. Knocked the right rear axle off the M and both tractor and baler ended up upside down. Farmer had M and baler fixed up and then put them out on the lawn with a "For Sale" sign on them. A while later...they were both gone.

RodinNS · Sep 20, 2009

It doesn't really take much to get them rolling when they fall off the baler at 4-5 mph...

Rod

just another old geezer · Sep 20, 2009

some steep land here in wisconsin also. Mostly in the La Crosse area. Know of one farmer, went out in the morning to spread liquid manure while the dew was still on. the tanker started pulling the 200 hp Mfwd deere backwards down the hill. 16 inch popple trees didn't stop it, but the 24 inch oak did. $18,000 to fix the tanker.

wolfman · Sep 20, 2009

I make the windrows very big and bale very slow. Tires have to be firm so the lower one doesn't mash, gotta be most careful at ends when turning-baler puts a lot of side pressure on the drawbar so have to make a gradual turn; and must spraddle tires out wide.

GA Dave · Sep 20, 2009

Pulled this out of the cave. Combines on steep ground. Dialup beware. David..............

http://combineforums.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Case&action=display&thread=7517

fixerupper · Sep 20, 2009

I was born and raised on fairly flat land, so I get a little antsy if the tractor I'm driving tilts a little.

So when I was in Idaho combining wheat that was on a downhill so steep I had to put my foot on the windshield to keep myself in the seat I was plenty nervous. Then when I turned to the right part way down, and went around the hill,or mountainside, the combine was creeping sideways. Didn't know if I should go along for the ride or bail out. Later I started seeing these internet pics of combines rolled up in a ball at the bottom of a hill. All it would have taken is a blown tire on the bottom side to give me the ride of my life. Jim

LEH · Sep 21, 2009

Really nice pictures !!!! How did they farm that ground in the old days, or did they? I'd be a nervous wreck running a machine on those grades.

NEKS · Sep 21, 2009

Never farmed on hills quit that steep. Just the back side of terraces. Was shelling corn with a JD 55, high grain tank, in the early 60's on the back side of a terrace when the right drive wheel hit a little wash out and the left wheel slipped why to much. Grain tank was about 3/4 full. Stop and cut steering wheels and backed off terrace through unpicked corn and unloaded tank.

Sam#3 · Sep 21, 2009

Reminds me of the cornfields I saw while driving through Tennessee some years back.
I thought the corn was blown down until I realized it was growing up the slope.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 21, 2009

I was driving in Tn. hills one day and a farmer fell out of the sky, landed in the road right in front of my truck. I jumped out to see what happened, said he fell out of his tobacco patch coupla times a year! Gotta go fore somebody lies.

kyplowboy · Sep 21, 2009

Steepest ground I have ever seen in production was on the road going to the 4-H camp on Lake Cumberland in Southern KY. It was pasture ground and the T post for the fence were driven in the ground with a guy standing on the hill and drive'n them straight into the ground over his head and then laid barb wire across them from the road. Went for about a quarter mile like that, coulda put a level on them and I am sure most would have been 100% flat level.

Dave

waltdavies · Sep 21, 2009

That looks like SE Washington along the Columbia river. They don't waste any land there. Either mt Adams or Hood in the background.
Walt

ohfred · Sep 21, 2009

Speakin of both sides....I ate a boloney sandwich the other day and the baloney was so thin...it only had one side! ohfred

tjdub · Sep 21, 2009

> some steep land here in wisconsin also. Mostly in the La Crosse area.

I'm about 25 miles from La Crosse and yeah, there are some monster grades that people are still cropping around here. Highway 93 from La Crosse to Eau Clarie has some fields that I would be too scared to combine no matter what the soil condition was.

I have one very steep field that I still use as a hay field, but it's been vetch for the last 20 years. The last time it was in corn, my Grandpa rode down the entire hill sideways on a 3010 before blowing the downhill rear tire on the dead furrow. You just can't get closer to a rollover. It can stay vetch forever as far as I'm concerned.

Leroy · Sep 25, 2009

With ground as steep as you say how can you get a tractor and mower or baler up there in the first place?

Steep Ground

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