Last Cutting, Raking, Baling

Finished the last small amount of hay baling last Saturday down in "the bottom".

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Wild hogs have "rooted up" about 5-10% of this field.

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We had about an acre of good grass and decided to bale it before the wild hogs tore it up.

"<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgOtdRKlEKI">Sam</a>" our 51MT got the raking duty with the JD 640 hay rake.

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"<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUc5FTFeOLA">Big John</a>" our 55 70 diesel got the baling duty with the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHJzjiuHOwU">KRONE 260</a> baler.

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Only made 5 bales, but at least the wild hogs didn't get it.

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Beautiful country you have there. ( Compared to desert where I live).

Started to make mention of my neighbor's beautiful property across the road.

Small part of the 1500 acre <a href="http://www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov/news/lonestarlink/archives/08/justiss.html">Justiss Ranch</a> established back in the 1860's.

The Justiss family raised my orphaned granddaddy as one of their own back in the early 1900's.

Built a home for him and my grandmother; he "sharecropped" cotton on the northern part of the Justiss Ranch.

Cattle ranch is now managed by a daughter and her two sons; very good neighbors.

Yes, we also think it is very beautiful countryside.

The story of your neigbor is very impresive. To bad more people are not considerate of the soil & nature.
gitrib

As always like your pics and, vids

Very nice write up of the Justiss farm too.

Sad thing is haying season is done, winter is coming.

Alminac says we will be drier this winter and a bit colder. followed buy a drier summer.

Mr. Adron Justiss was one of 13 children and was always known as "the rancher" within his family.

Every time we talked he always told me the story of how my granddaddy would put him up on his shoulders and carry him to the Valley View country school.

Said he cried when granddaddy Howell got married and moved from his parent's home.

The Justiss family are good folks and I consider them family for what they did for my granddaddy.

Always enjoy sharing photos and videos.

The new fence that Mr. Justiss built was a combination of old and new fence building.

All of the corner posts and center posts were Bois de Arc ( Bo Dark ) which are plentiful in our area.

The "old timers" prided themselves on how many Bois de Arc trees they had on their property for fence posts.

Cedar posts are also popular in this area.

The line posts he used are the common metal "T" posts.

Mr. Justiss would say "If you have good pastures, you don't need good fences."

Even though our hay season is over, it sure is a relief to work on buildings and tractors for a change.

We are certainly enjoying the cooler weather and seem to be getting more work done every weekend.

James...what a remarkable story about the ranch. I can see now why you and your wife do such a good job in caring for your land. Yes...the Justiss family is indeed YOUR family.

My dad was inducted into the NC Soil Conservation Hall of Fame just a couple years before he passed on. I have the farm transit level that he used to run terraces...I helped him by walking out so many paces with the sighting target rod, etc. and later on the tractor to build/maintain the terraces. The conservation story of the Justiss family brought back some pleasant memories of working with my Dad.

Thanks for sharing your photos/videos and for being YOU!!

Rick

Finished cutting my last field last nite - actually chopping with a flail chopper with the rear end removed. Stuff was so tough I couldn't get through it with a sickel bar. Then it rained this morning. Less that 0.2 inches, but enough there's no use going out and raking it until things dry out a bunch. Makes nice soft, fluffy bales, but feed is feed, and the sheep don't complain

This was a second cutting on some very good Bahia grass.

I agree with you 100%; feed is feed.

Took a community neighbor to look at this grass before it was cut the first time back in early August.

He said it looked good to him and that his cows wouldn't complain this winter.

Later told me he set out one of the Bahia bales and some other store bought hay.

Said the cows went right to the Bahia grass round bale.

I make it a habit of showing the grass before its cut to my community neighbors; gives them the opportunity to see what they're buying.

So far no complaints and we're sold out for next hay season.

These 5 bales have been sold to our local auto mechanic for his livestock.

Since you chopped your grass, are you round baling or square baling?

What kind of grass do you have?

Soil conservation has always been "instilled" over the years by many folks.

We have four fields on our farm that have terraces.

My father told me that these terraces were built by teams of mules pulling plows back in the early 1920's.

Back in those days this was a cotton farm and the terraces were necessary to prevent erosion of the sandy loam soil.

One of my first mowing lessons on the Farmall Super C tractor was "always mow in the direction of the terrace; never across the terrace".

Half a decade later these instructions still hold true.

Glad you enjoyed the photos and videos; we enjoy sharing them with folks on the YT forums.

More importantly, glad that the conservation story of the Justiss family brought back some of your pleasant memories working with your Dad.

James, As always, love to see your pics. Thanks for sharing. Gerard

Glad you enjoyed the photos; we enjoy sharing them with all the folks on the YT forums.