Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @TexasLisa,

Interesting that the doctor resides in McKinney, TX. That is where my Beautiful Gal and I resided for 20 years before retiring and moving to western Arkansas.

As to what the doctor is saying, I am curious to know if this has been studied by other doctors and documented. Do you know if that is true? And if it has, would you kindly point to where I can find that information? For if what the doctor has been practicing has been replicated, that I am all for this practice being widely promoted and implemented.

Thank you for posting this.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[farmerjan]

There is another woman dr in texas that was on a video on one of my cattle forums about a month ago, that has treated a couple hundred patients. They have taken her video down twice and now I think it is on one of the "alternative" video sites. I will have to try to see if I can fine the last time I saw it. Sean Hannity intervened with a friend that they wanted to put in the hospital and his wife contacted Sean..... he contacted the dr wanting to put this friend on the vent and actually got them to agree to go the hydroxy /z-pzck route, and he was actually able to breathe in 48 hours without difficulty.... they credit Sean's influence on saving his life.
What I don't get that if it doesn't work, according to the "authorities"; then why are they trying so hard to squash and discredit it without showing all the people who died because it didn't work???? It can't hurt anything to try it.... the possibility of a person developing a heart problem is so slight.... it has been used for over 50 years in other applications.... do you really think it would still be on the market if it was that dangerous???? They have taken off and discredited things after much shorter periods of time for side effects......
Plus the fact is it is cheaper, and easier to use than some of these newer possibilities. And that is where the rub is.... MONEY.

Headed up to rake hay so all other things on the internet will have to wait til tonight; providing I can get back on it....

 

[farmerjan]

Got the hay raked and now the possibility of showers is diminished, so should be no problem for it to continue to dry and get baled tomorrow as planned. Hit 94 this afternoon , and the hazy clouds cleared off and was just plain sun. I was drinking water every 2 or 3 rows raked. There was a little breeze on top of the hill where I was raking, but it was hot.

Had a snag with an 18 yr old judgement that was satisfied and never recorded with the county because they had moved it from one county to another.... getting that cleared up with some paperwork so should proceed as soon as it is all recorded. It was so far back it never showed up on my credit report.... I didn't even have any paperwork/proof that it had been paid but the local company did, and they went to the court only to find out they didn't know anything about it, then found out it had been transferred...... you know the drill of moved here, moved there and no one knows where anything is. So they are taking care of that as the lawyer's office said they could not proceed until it was satisfied..... they are willing to write a letter to the lawyers' office if need be while the "official" paperwork is being handled and recorded.... I mean, the feed company was willing to put me back on a full charge account once I paid it up, things had gotten tight and I was behind and an over zealous office mgr at the time filed the papers..... at least it is being handled.... Manager at my job left me a message that she got my message about the paperwork coming to her and would take care of faxing all the papers necessary to the investment co as soon as she received them, so that is in the pipeline too.

If it's not one thing it's another. But could be worse for sure.

801 (nurse cow) wanted to stay in again this morning, so I left her in when I went to town to clear up that judgement thing at the feed store. Then I raked, and then I went and hauled a load of water for the barn lot for her. So I fed her grain and then ran the water out in the troughs, and then she came out and drank and then waited at the gate and I let her out so I am done up the hill early this evening. YAY. It is still 88 at 7:30 p.m. and the next few days are going to be hot and hotter..... I just keep telling myself it is JULY..... THAT means it is SUMMER.....

My dairy cross heifers are quieted right down again at the pasture. I think they just don't like my son and I know they don't like their routine changed.....
The jersey cows are still coming to the barn looking for the "calves".... the one was 18 months old and the other was a year+..... silly cows. But goes to show what good foster moms they were...

 

[farmerjan]

@Senile_Texas_Aggie . I was finally able to get the video watched. Took me an hour because it just wasn't working very fast. The biggest benefit to the merger is not beating the little leaves off the alfalfa. Years ago up north we had what was called an "inverter" which picked up the windrow that the mower had laid down, and it went up a wide conveyor, and actually flipped it over ( bottom side up) so the bottom was exposed to the sun and got dried. I liked them for the alfalfa crops that were grown up north. It was easy on the alfalfa leaves. They are very fragile inasmuch as they will come off the stems easily so the "tumbling" effect of a rake will take off the leaves much more.
I actually like a "rotary rake" for the alfalfa as it picks it up and the rake raises up as it passes a point so that the windrow just sorta falls on the ground.
I don't like that the merger doesn't leave a nice even sided windrow for the baler. I also am not impressed with the way it kicks it out in clumps, as he was saying on the corners.... I saw other clumps where it didn't follow the conveyor evenly and to come off.
Perhaps it is better for chopping... because it does get the hay up off the ground and air underneath without alot of rolling the hay over.
There are also too many "working parts" ; the teeth, that picks up the hay; the belt that feeds it out and off....hydraulics to pick up and let down the teeth (which is known as the pickup since it picks up the hay).
I definitely do not like the having to take off the wheels and take out shims or spacers to get the right height... my old side delivery rake (roller bar rake that was in the very first part of the video), all you have to do is crank a handle and you can let it down or pick it up so that the teeth are not digging in the dirt too much. In fact my old rake has 2 cranks so that you can set each side where you want it.... if you are on a hill then you can have one side higher than the other and then you can control how even it follows the ground without digging in the dirt on the high side in order to get the low side to pick up the hay. That rake is ground driven, pull a cable attached to a handle that engages the little "drive shaft" that is attached to the wheel. No hydraulics, no PTO's , only thing is that you can't pick it up at the end of a row so you have to know how to rake so as to not mess up the ends.
My wheel rake has 7 on a side.... it is a big rake. Hydraulics lift the wheels up and down, so can go out and around without actually raking then come back in and start a straight row. It also will go wider and narrower.... which is a great feature for rocks and such if you pay attention.... you can narrow the "raked" section and not have to get the rake way off a straighter course. Takes some practice... I used to be horrible at it but time and practice has really made it easier. Also, when the hay is tedded out I can pick up as wide a section as I want.... if it is real thick I can pick up less hay width so the windrows aren't so thick. Ours will actuall pick up 3 widths mown of our mower by opening it way out. Good for late cuttings where the hay is thinner and it saves trips over the field and that saves fuel.... then the baler makes fewer trips too.
Don't think a merger is in our future.... I would rather an inverter if we were going into alfalfa production.... or at the very least a rotary rake. That is pretty versatile and it will handle bigger heavier stuff like the sorghum sudan we grow. When that is 8-10 ft tall, the side delivery can't rake it and the wheel rake gets balled up alot. We pay a neighbor to use his rotary rake for that. Works like a charm.
Funny thing, Kuhne makes a great rotary rake.

 

[Bruce]

I have never seen one before. Why would a hay farmer want to use a merger instead of a rake?

Perhaps it is better for chopping... because it does get the hay up off the ground and air underneath without a lot of rolling the hay over.

I've never heard of a merger either. He did say they were really more for choppers than balers. All in all I'd say the expense and complexity (therefore more to break) of that machine would keep a lot of rakes in business unless as Jan said you need to worry about the hay getting beat up. I suspect rakes are fine in that regard for regular grass hay?

 

[farmerjan]

Rakes are fine for most all grass hays. The smaller side delivery (roller bar) rakes are good for smaller and irregular shaped places and there is a contraption that you can hook 2 up... either in tandem to roll a wider windrow in one direction, or to hook up 2 rakes, a left and right hand, to roll towards the "center" so as to basically get 2 mown windrows at once. That is what the wheel rake does also; you go down the middle of 2 rows and they roll towards each other into the center. Puts the hay on the "bare " ground in the middle and off the part where the mown hay was laying. It gets it up off the ground at the same time. Makes a nice neat roll that feeds into the baler quite well.
If you are raking alfalfa with a rake, it is often raked still a bit green, before the little leaves shatter off the stems; and often raked in the early morning on farms to take advantage of the dew which tends to make it less brittle and hold the leaves better too.
As I said, the rotary rake is run off the pto, but fairly simple and it does a nice job too. It will rake larger, coarser stuff like the sorghum-sudan grass that is often 6-10 ft tall when we cut it the first time. Doesn't get clogged up.

All the hay on the ground is baled here.... son wishes he had cut more since they lowered the % for yesterday and today...but that's life. Tomorrow, Fri and Sat are calling for 40-50% chance, then dropping down to 20% for 4-5 days. He will be cutting alot on Sat and/or Sunday I expect.
Temps have been in the 90's everyday since the first of July.... hit 94 today but not quite as humid, and a very light breeze. Nicer actually but hot.
Calling for mid to upper 90's next week with 96 + for Fri-Sun next weekend. Was going to do a big farm next sat but believe me, I will cancel if it starts approaching that the end of the week because the cows will not be milking good. They just don't eat as much while they are trying to stay cooler.... many dairies have fans and misters in the barns where the cows can get cooled off some, but mid 90's is just too hot for them to want to eat much.

 

[thistlebloom]

I have a hay story for you Jan!
Nearly 40 years ago we lived in So Cal, kind of out in the boonies. We were friends with an elderly couple who raised a few Herefords and grew oat hay on their farm. Occasionally we would get to farm sit for them which was a blast. They had a giant 100 year old barn and I got to drive their old Dodge truck (with a starter button on the floor) to take feed out to the cows.
Anyway, I got a call from them one morning asking if I could come help. They were baling the hay and it was so dry that the bales were busting and not holding together to get through the baler. They wanted me to go ahead of the baler and spray water on the rows with a backpack sprayer. That seemed to work.
Betty was driving the truck to fill the water tank so I could refill the sprayer. For some reason I don't remember, she needed me to ride with her back to refill the big tank. She must have been around 80 at the time, and didn't see too well...
We were heading through the field and now and then she would run into some of the bales. One in particular she hit and it burst up and rained hay down on the windsheild. "Oh my! Did I hit a bale?' Poor Roy was probably not too happy witnessing his hay go to smithereens. Good times life was simpler.

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, sometimes the hay gets so dry that it won't pack right in the chamber.... I can relate to their predicament. Bless her heart.... hitting a bale and busting it.....
Our old 52 or 53 GMC 2 ton truck has a floor starter. It hasn't been driven in years, I want so much to get it back running. Loved that truck. My son sorta retired it when he got the truck and cattle trailer and then after sitting it just needs to be completely gone over. I am tired of the hurry up of stuff today. Loved that I could back that truck up to the loading ramp.... taught the pigs to go up the ramp onto the back of the truck to eat.... after a week or so, they would run for the truck and up the ramp waiting for me to go feed. SOOOOOO simple to load them to make a trip to town to the feeder pig sale. Guys could never figure out how I managed to load 20-40 feeders by my self. I didn't, they loaded themselves!!!!!

 

[farmerjan]

Been a hot day today. did a few errands, after doing the cow this morning. Got a phone card for the "hired guy" to re-activated his phone as it had run out. I owed him a little for when he brought the other mower to the house, but he hasn't gotten the 2 made into one yet.... the heat got to him a little this past week too I think. So I covered the few hours he has "done for me" as well as the next 2 hours. He goes in spells, and when his ex-wife comes around then he goes into a "funk" ..... Not going there.... she is bad news, and when he gets money she seems to know and then he feels sorry for her and gives her some, then he doesn't have enough for his insulin, or food or anything. Kinda tired of being his babysitter..... but when he works he does pretty good and is a pretty good mechanic..... so buying the phone card is not handing him money to throw away on her.....
Anyway, I also got some "shoe goo" and glued some loose treads on a couple pairs of sneakers that I had washed with the jeans the other day. Did a few other things, got some groceries..... went back up to the cow a little bit ago and she wanted out and the calves were all laying around quiet inside, so I let her out and left well enough alone. Got home and just got into the house and it started to thunder and got another shower. Radar looks like it will be working it's way out of the area, but there is still a 40% chance tomorrow. Any and all we get will be great.
Neighbor had cut hay, and I saw where he had raked it around noon time. Then I passed him as he was headed down the hill on the tractor with the baler so I am pretty sure he got it all up. So the rain is even more welcome. We still have a bunch to get done, my son hasn't been putting in the hours like he used to.... or should have been..... to get this over mature first cutting finished. I give up, not saying anything. When he starts complaining about how it isn't done, he cannot say anything about how I was holding anything up..... it's on him. Should've been about done by now. There were a few times he just didn't do as much cutting as he should have and now we are more behind than we should be. He finally got the sorghum-sudan planted that is nearly a month behind because he had to go gallivanting down to her house nearly every night instead of staying here and just planting it one evening.

 

[farmerjan]

Raining again, it had let up and now coming down pretty steady. Wonderful.
Got to get sample bottles into the racks I use, for the herd tomorrow.... 260 + cows. Going to be a hot one but maybe we will be getting showers again. Have to get the meters loaded in the morning on the truck. Guess I am going in to figure out what to eat.... thinking pbj as I am not real hungry and that isn't hot so the house won't get warmed up more. It has dropped to a nicer 73 outside right now with the steadier rain.
Maybe get the dishes in the sink done up too.....