Baling with the 2090 Case

It was too hot to bale or work this afternoon at 90 degrees but I went out about 5:30 and gave it a try. It worked well so I went on over to the hundred acre woods and baled up all the hay swaths I had turned this morning with the rake. Bouncing around the rough old yard of Winstanley Grove. No buildings remain but the collapsed walls of the  house can be seen  down in what was the cellar of the house. The concrete footing of the barn sticking just high enough out of  the grass to give a  real jolt to any wheels that  pass  over  it. Grass  sure grows thick and  tall there even in this dry summer.
Its nice to get dry hay but the wheat and canola is  starting to show the stress of this heat and  lack  of rain. Hilltops are turning light (burning) and probably won't have much grain in  them.

It looked promising  this evening at  sundown as I baled. Clouds in the West. Radar showed some measurable rain to the West and North of me but it eventually split up and went all around us. Its like this area  has some kind  of rain  repellent lately.

Maybe tomorrow.

Got It All Done

Canola swathing and hay baling got done today. With a little help. I made good time on the canola swathing as the crop was a little lighter and I could travel faster without plugging the swather. Had the field done by 6:00 pm and then to work on the baler. I'd had a little help from a family member who ran the old hoses into town to have new ones made up for me. I had them re-assembled and headed down the road by 7:00 to bale.
It had been a really hot day and the humidity was well up there. Good news for baling hay as it needed the extra day drying today. The humidity helped it feed better without plugging on the baler pickup and I was done just before dark. Tires were getting wet from the moisture on the grass. Broke another cross bar on the baler chain for un known reasons.
Here is a picture of a "test plot" in my canola field. The green crop standing on the left of the picture actually received no canola seed at all at planting time. I'd run out of seed and just threw in a bit of wheat to finish off that two acres. Then when I sprayed the canola with roundup in June I forgot about the wheat and sprayed right over it. Roundup did a good job killing the wheat. Apparently there was enough volunteer canola seed leftover in the soil to produce a fair stand of crop although it is pretty late and will have to stand a bit longer before I swath it.

Haying Was Going Well

Until it wasn't . I did get off to a good start raking and doubling up all the swaths. The inch and a quarter of rain the other day did not seem to hurt it too bad and it still has fair colour. Today was an ideal drying day with 80 degree temps and wind blowing.
Finished raking and back home for the baler (and very late dinner). There was some ominous looking clouds but way off to the North which were far away.

Got maybe half the baling done when it got a little too quiet behind me. Figured a shear pin had broke as I was turning but it was way worse than that. For some reason the middle u joint had broken . By some miracle the spinning pto shaft did not self destruct before I shut it down. The broken joint appears well greased and no noticeable wear. 

Those are the worst kind of breakdowns. The ones that happen for no apparent reason. 

Will I find new parts for a 40 some year old baler? Will I get it together and finish baling before the next rain hits? To be continued...

Supper at 10:30

A little late for supper on a normal day. But considering I didn't have dinner til 4:30 I guess it is not too bad. Hay raking this morning took a little longer than I expected. After a quick stop for some sandwiches and a pill for my aching head I headed back to the field with the baler. This time working in the cool comfortable cab of the 2090 Case.
In and out of the cab numerous times for the first few bales as the twine arm would not start the wrap on the bale. Apparently some damage was done during last week's plug up. After a while it seemed to work ok and I rolled along putting up 43 bales finishing all that was cut.
The last few bales might be a little damp as the tires were showing moisture after the sun went down.
It was interesting to see this old horse mower gradually emerging as the water levels continue to drop in the little creek. No doubt it was dry ground when the mower was parked there many years ago.