Wanting to know a few tractor tips

How do you keep the rows perfectly straight? Especially when making the first row?

Also when cutting hay, I sometimes go around and around (usually when i'm trying to find the thicker parts of the field) then sometimes i will go back and forth. My girlfriend no matter what rakes everything into pretty rows. Should you mow in one direction, rake in another, then bale in the same direction you mowed or does it really matter?

"How do you keep the rows perfectly straight? Especially when making the first row?"

Just pick out a landmark on the horizon and lock your "autopilot" eyes and brain onto it.

What Bob said...and never look back.

OK- but how do you do it in North Dakota? LOL

How you mow depends a bit on the shape of the field but for the typical rectangular field, four times around the outside then divide the rest in half or thirds. Go down and back in the center and work around that opening until that piece is done the go to the next. The object is to work long straight sections and minimize time at the ends. Rake it the same way then when you bale off the outside rounds you have open headlands for turning.

Nowadays, we have the 300' wind towers to look at.

Not to disagree with those who've posted earlier, but............I only plowed/planted/harvested because it was a business to me; could never tell that a straight row yielded one small fraction of a bushel or bale more than a crooked row; I didn't do it to impress the neighbors and much of what I farmed was terraced, anyhow. As far as the hay; in general, it doesn't matter; do what ever is most efficient for the field in question; won't take long to figure it out.

Pick a distant landmark, line up with it and never look back.
My Father was always fussy. He would measure off the fields and drive stakes to ensure the ploughing was straight.

The key for me is to not think about it to hard. Seems like when I "try" to make a straight row it ends up worse then when I relax and just drive.

Especially true for me when cultivating.

As far as which way to cut, rake, and bale, it depends on what your cutting hay with. The only time I ve really had it matter is when I cut with the haybine and don t rake it before baling. Then the baler does a nicer job picking it up if you follow the same direction that you cut it. Once its been raked or a couple windrows raked together then it doesn t seem to matter.

Get one of those fancy GPS Guidance on your tractor they have them accurate down to the half inch. Kinda pricey.
gitrib

Good luck on making straight rows, and on the hay you are supposed to bale the same way you mow, now that was from an old operators manual, nowadays i dont think it matters, the cows wont complain.

Pick a landmark at the end of the row you want to make and a 2nd landmark on the far horizon. Keep the 2 in line like shooting a fixed target.
Even if you succomb to looking back; you can still get back in line. This won't work w-o the landmarks though!

Use the landmark on the horizon for setting up plowing. Harvesting hay, I just go around the field till I meet the middle. My baler manual says to cut, rake, and bale in the same direction. I usually double rake so windrow is two swaths of hay, doesn't seem to make much difference which way you bale.

you need to remember that you can grow more in a crooked row than you can in a straight row

the crooked ones are longer

Landmark it!

I usually pick a fence post, power pole, tree etc and drive straight to it (but not into it lol)

Straight??

My fields are all shaped like a soup bone.

You could make a few straight passes right down the middle, I guess. But then all the cleanup would be down on the hillside edges. I'd rather mow around the outside, and have the cleanup out in the middle where it's more likely to be leveler.

Plowing is another story. My neighbor has an 18' disk. He can do more with his big HP in a couple hours than I can with my little stuff in a couple days. We trade work - he can always use help mowing, or baling, or butchering.

Paul

The important thing in mowing is to use safe procedures. One that I always follow is to leave a "holiday" close to the road. That way when a "mowing Inspector" drives by he can see at a glance where I left a "holiday" instead of having to scan the whole field as he drives by and getting into a head on collision while searching for a "Holiday"

Ha ha - good idea!

What the others said about a landmark I'll add to it.
Don't pick out a cow or a tractor on the horizon as they may be moving. Ha.
Also don't look back because the tendancy is for you to turn the wheel just a bit when you look over your shoulder. If you have to take a quick glimpse at your implement or something, just let go of the wheel for a second as you do.
My first pass is seldom straight anyway so I've gotten good at straightening it out on the next few rounds. To do so just cut your swath down a few feet where its straight which leaves you room to cut a full swath where you need to trim. I usually try to do this on the second and third pass to get it straight right away rather than fight it the width of the field. After that its just little constant trimming that will become second nature and you won't even be thinking about it like driving a car on the highway. Whether your mowing or disking or planting its all the same, never leave a skip so the only way to straighten is to not take a full swath (overlap) and take the full swath where you need to trim.
I'll also agree with the other gent and say if you try to hard sometimes it'll make it worse. I'll even go out on a very very thin limb here and say maybe the girlfriend isn't thinking at all as many women are known to do around machinery and so her rows are straight without trying. Ha.

I'm in a tractor with pinky steering, she is in one that has a 1/4 turn of play and takes some real arm muscle steering. I think she is just good at making straight lines, and haveing a tractor that is a little on the forgiving side.