What a guy....

Our neighbor borrowed our NI 290 haybine last week. He's known for being hard on equipment, but being that we borrow his 2 chopper wagons all the time, it's hard to say no once in a while.

Cut to the chase.... He says he'll be over on Sunday to pick up the haybine. Dad and I look at each other like "yeah right" and go on about our day. Turns out he wasn't able to come and get it until Thursday. He cut for one day, and had it the rest of the week. Dad calls and says we need it back to cut a swamp for bedding, so he brings it back the next day which is now Friday. He never narrowed it up to go down the road, and this is a 9' cut machine. He pulls into the driveway and backs it to one side, and before unhooking it asks Dad if he can just leave the head down. "No! Dad says. We always lock it up when done using it, or else it'll stretch the springs out." He said he didn't narrow it up because "It's too hard...." I guess I don't understand how hard it is for him to find a rut to sink the outside wheel in to narrow it up on his farm.

He also said he's gonna need it again because he didn't get everything cut that he wanted to. I guess I just don;t understand how he can have it for a week, and not cut everything he needed. The sun was shining all week, and hardly anything else has moved on his farm the whole time.

This is the same guy who never got his corn in this year, and didn't get his bean in last year because he wasn't finished building his custom planter. Another neighbor even offered to let him use his drill just to get them in, but he claimed that it would waste too much seed. Would have been better to waste some seed than to not get it in at all, but I'm not gonna ponder that one....

On the plus side, there actually was a different color grease on the machine than we use, so he must have actually greased it before running it.

Some guys just make ya wonder - WTF???

Donovan from Wisconsin

how old is this guy? what has he been doing before in his life.. you know?

sounds nuts..

I think you will find guys like that in every county,state,rural municipality,provice/country that you live in. Makes you wonder what they do all day long. Oh well who knows and it takes all kinds.
Todd

Sounds like a couple guys I know that are the same way.

If it is any consolation to you all, we get those types in UK too! The type that don't start harvesting until everyone else is finished and don't get half of their crops in etc .
My dad told me a lovely story about a "rough and ready" neighbour we once had. He was talking to this particular farmer's wife one day at their rather run down place when our mutual neighbour's farm manager rolled up "Oh what does he want " she snapped "He probably want's to borrow something from us yet again!" she continued, looking very indignant. Anyway the farm manager said "Hello" to my dad then turned to this lady and said "Mr. _____ wants to know when he can have his disks back?" Dad said it was all he could do to stop himself laughing.

I just fired his twin brother from renting my farm after a number of years and many promises to do better.

I thought of another. A friend of mine told me about his neighbour. He left a set of gang rolls in a field by the side of the hedge and when he went to drill wheat in that field instead of moving them he drilled AROUND the rolls. He said he did not move them again until after harvest.

Sounds like one of those 'farmers' thats living off the Gov't checks they get.

Maybe it's time to buy your own chopper wagons.

I have one neighbor that is a real D!ck. He borrowed a 100 foot extension cord from me years ago and a power drill, Never returned them. Needless to say I dont talk to him anymore. This guy is better then everybody cause his house is the best, twisted my arm to get me to blacktop my driveway cause it looks better then gravel...blah..blah. I cant legally sock him in the mouth. Hopefully he will move away.

People are weird, just think if he was to read this thread about it, would undoubtedly light the proverbial fire under his arse LOL !

In appreciation for a borrowed item, which does not happen with any frequency, ( I try to have what I need for the most part ) it goes with out question, grease it, and or do any regular maintenance it may need, filters etc, ie; a small engine powered piece of equipment, I'll change the oil etc., so the owner knows it was taken care of. Worst thing about a borrowed item is when something odd goes wrong and you have it, it's on your watch, kinda why I don't like to borrow things.

Farmer I've known for years whom has planted our farm for years and I've worked for on/off, would let me borrow a 100 hp fwa jd tractor, if I needed to, he knows I'm careful and take care of things, I've never done it yet, I get mine stuck, he'd come right over and tow me out, now with his health situation I'd probably have to, but its real nice to know you have help if you need it, but it's bad policy to abuse the privilege in my opinion. Most people have learned that others do not take care of things they do not own, some like myself see it differently, even rental equipment, I take care of it like my own and let the rental outfit know, which in turn is recognized and I get excellent service from them.

I bought a new cement mixer several years ago. A couple of days later, before I ever used it , a guy came by and wanted to borrow it. I reluctantly said OK. Two weeks later I told him I needed my mixer. He brought it home the next day all caked with concrete. It looked like it was 10 years old. I had a hard time controlling my temper. Then he said "when are you going to be through with it?"

Solution: get your own wagons; stop borrwoing and lending with this guy. Tom

We had a couple of farmers like that in our neighborhood. One of them farmed rented land and the bank finally closed him down. The other one owns his land but finally had to rent it out because the bank wouldn't lend him any more money to put the crop in. The farmer who rents his land does an excellent job, the best job of farming that land has seen for many years, but the land owner is demanding such a high rent he might chase the renter off. Jim

Been there, done that. I, too, had a brand new mixer I'd never used. A buddy of mine borrowed it and brought it back three months later with the drum bent and never even offered to help fix it.

This thread also reminds me of the time when my sister's kids were little. She borrowed a portable stereo of mine, brought it back six months later after her kids had busted it, then asked how soon I could have it fixed because she wanted to borrow it again.

Farming isn't the only job where this kind of person works. You can find them everywhere; some claim this type are drawn to civil service jobs where they can't be fired or laid off.

Talking about cement mixers I loaned one to someone I worked with. About 9 years later I needed it finaly figured out who I had loaned it to. Had to go get it. When I got it home had to overhaul it and put a new motor and switch on it. also had to bust concrete off everthing on it. still have it but don't loan it out. There is only one person I will loan to.

Not to be unkind Don,but if you are going to farm,then OWN your own equipment like others have said.From your past posts,you seem big on borrowing.As far as the mans habit of farming,it is none of your,mine or anybody elses business how he does it if it is not costing someones else money and his bills are getting paid.That is called minding your own business.

At least you remembered who you loaned it to. I loaned mine out and forgot to who! Now I keep a list of what gets checked out lol...Old age creeping in

I'm with you on this one Massey. I havent borrowed anything to or from anyone in 20 years.

I am not going to be as critical or judgmental as the others but it is time to declare your independence from this guy and do something for your own boxes. Don't worry about about having the latest or the best. You can buy old boxes for next to nothing for models like JD 115 which were pretty good so it is just a matter of how the last owner treated it. You're a machinist so you have the hard part licked other than broken castings. IH had some decent boxes and seen more than a couple 110/120's along the roadside for a hundred bucks that needed some cheap TLC.
In the end nothing positive will be accomplished with a showdown with this guy. Unless this guy is a real outcast in the community you might be unpleasantly surprised who takes what side on this. Seen more than one guy who was "in the right" get burned in the community. If you don't have the money does somebody else have some you could borrow till you pay it back?

Well, we do have our own boxes. We have 2, and they have 2. We don't need them, but he lets us use them and it works a little easier to have 4 going at once. We do work together at times and if we do borrow anything, it gets greased before ever going to the field.

A few years ago we borrowed their disk because it's a little haevier than ours and we had some plowed sod we needed to work up. The axel broke at a previous weld while we had it because of the water tank they added for weight. I cut all the old crap off, bought some new channel iron that was thicker than original, and continued to fix it stronger than new. He was more than greatful, and never complained about it breaking. We even replaced 2 flat tires on it.

When we borrow the wagons, we'll replace the PTO shaft that's got a bad joint on it with an extra one we have laying around, and we'll put a new sheild on it because that's what neighbors do.

Ideally, yea we'd like to have more equipment, but then there is more overhead. For things that are seldom used, it's sometimes best to work out a partnership with a neighbor. Even though he makes us wonder what he does all day, we still get along and for the most part will borrow freely with each other. Even though 1/2 the time we gotta go over to his farm to get our stuff or give him a call to bring it back.

Donovan from Wisconsin

New rule for me. NEVER borrow anything you can't afford to fix. Long story, don't ask.

There are only a few things I lend. Most of the time I'd rather use my time, my machine and tractor, and even my fuel and simply go do the job instead making a loan. Sounds like you would be ahead to do the same. At least you'd probably get the machine back the same and and in the same condition as when you began its use.

And then there's the opposite situation- I got to where I didn't want to loan anything to one neighbor, because it always seemed to break on his watch. Usually a worn-out clutch, or something that had been coming on for a long time, so it wasn't his fault, but he'd never even let me pay for parts: If it broke when he was using it, he fixed it, period.

Contrast another neighbor who called all frantic because his baler had baled its own needles, and could he borrow mine to finish? I was done, so loaned it to him, and it came home fine, all cleaned out and greased up, no problem. I asked to borrow his backhoe for a little job later that fall, and he said, "Oh, I never loan out my equipment." I mentioned that he hadn't seemed reluctant to borrow my baler, and he had the nerve to reply "I didn't say I don't borrow- I just don't lend. If you want to, that's up to you." I told him, "Well, I don't mind lending. Feel free to call me next time you need something, so I can have the satisfaction of personally telling you to go to he11."