Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Baymule]

What is all this fancy fangled stuff y'all are talking about? Dragging a tree out of the woods? I have MY ROPE. MY ROPE started out as a 50' nylon rope. The first time we used it, it was to drag out a tree that a storm broke off and it was in a spot that we couldn't get to. No problem. I bought MY ROPE and brought it to the party. My husband was doubtful and thought we'd tear everything up. I tied MY ROPE around the still standing tree, then around the trailer ball on his truck. Haha, the tree came down, MY ROPE stretched out twice the length, so I cut it in half. MY ROPE is stashed behind the backseat on BJ's truck, so I always know where it is. Since moving here, we have used MY ROPE to tie off to trees, then run to another tree, around it, tie onto the other half of MY ROPE, then to the tractor bucket. Then when the tree is cut, BJ backs the tractor, making sure the tree falls in the right place. Need to drag the tree to the fire or where it is to be cut for fire wood? MY ROPE does just fine. That and various chains of different sizes and lengths. Block? Tackle? Pulley? Winch?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Bay uses the KISS method,lol. (Keep It Simple, SWEETIE) LOL

 

[Bruce]

I suppose but there are potential issues with Bay's KISS.
For one, pulling with the bucket could do expensive damage to the hydraulic pistons. If I were to make only one change to her system this is it.

Nylon rope stretches and if it breaks it snaps back, potential damage to people.
Can you pull around a tree? Yes but it isn't real good for the tree.
Yes you can drag a tree with a rope but it will try to dig in and that makes the process more difficult, harder on the pulling machine and digs ruts into the ground. I suppose that doesn't matter much if where you want to take it is just outside the "logging road". Dragging it, and the next log, and the next and the next, a couple hundred yards will make quite a rut. They do sell "nose cones" to alleviate that problem if one doesn't have a way to lift the end off the ground.

AND ... a 50' rope doesn't go very far into the woods

 

[Baymule]

AND ... a 50' rope doesn't go very far into the woods

I have another rope! LOL and lots of chains.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

After posting yesterday, I decided to do some research on self releasing snatch blocks. Talk about pricey! $400 and higher for a stupid pulley with a special release? No way!

I currently have at my disposal 4 20-foot chains (which I normally use for tying down equipment for hauling) and about 40 feet of flat braided nylon strap with hooks at both ends. I have no special logging chains or hooks. When I have needed to drag something out of the woods where we work, I have either used the Gator with a hook at the back to connect the chain or strap to, or have used the tractor. When using the tractor, sometimes I use the front end loader with the strap or chain tied to a cross brace on the FEL, or to the drawbar at the rear of the tractor, (Mr @Bruce is right about the strain on the FEL curl pistons if I were to attach to a bucket. Something that made me even more cautious is when I did that when trying to pull my old tractor from out of the pasture using a chain around my grapple, the load caused the grapple to come loose and then caused the hydraulic hoses going to the jaws of the grapple to be ripped apart!)

The above method works fine when I can more or less pull the trees out straight, but when I need to go around a big tree, then I can run into problems. Having a snatch block to make it easier to maneuver around those trees would be nice.

I have watched YouTube videos about pulling out tree stumps using mechanical advantage, which has me interested in using that method to help me remove some of the tree stumps I have. See past my signature for one such video.

Thanks, all, for your input.

Senile Texas Aggie

Using mechanical advantage to pull out tree stumps:

 

[Baymule]

The rope around the tractor bucket is only for a guide to help the tree fall in the right place. But I will certainly consider the hydraulics on the next time! I don't want to cripple Marigold.

 

[Bruce]

35:1 mechanical advantage pulling the stump. That guy has a lot of money in block and tackle! Maybe he already had it for other reasons in the past.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

Just an update on what we have been doing lately.

Some time last week I called the equipment dealership where I bought my mower and had returned it for repair after having bent the PTO shaft. I wanted to see if they had it repaired and if not if they had heard anything as to when the parts would be coming in. I was disappointed to learn that the repair was not in their system, so the parts had yet to be ordered! When I dropped it off at the dealership for repair, I did so at lunchtime. They sales lady and the parts guy that I remembered when I bought the mower were out to lunch, so someone else was covering for them. Apparently they failed to pass along the word so that the parts could get ordered. Fortunately I still have my older mower so I can still mow the grass.

They started cutting, raking, and baling hay here at our farm. Here is a picture of them baling:
I like to watch them. I imagine you, Miss @farmerjan, mowing, raking, and baling hay. I like to watch it being done, and imagine that I would enjoy doing it -- at least until I had equipment breakdowns!

Here is a picture of one of two dead trees in the little area where we have been working. (I forgot to get a picture of the tree after I cut it down.)

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[farmerjan]

Yes, that looks like us @Senile_Texas_Aggie .... except we have very few level open looking fields like that..... Might be nice.... but then we would get bored not having to go around ledge sticking up, and big patches of trees in the middle of the field, and up and down hills.....
Is this the second cutting for this field? How does he do with the quantity/quality???? Ever ask him? Just curious as to the kinds/types of grass and the yield that you get in that area.... Does he fertilize it?????

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @farmerjan,

Yes, I figured mowing, raking, and baling my pastures might be a bit boring for you since there are few trees (and even for those I mow around), no rock outcroppings, and while the pastures aren't dull squares or rectangles, they are still somewhat easy to mow and maneuver in.

This was the second cutting of hay. While I don't remember the number of bales they got off the first cutting, they got 74 bales off of about 50 acres. The guy leasing the fields did not fertilize the fields either last year or this year. Early this year he asked about using manure for fertilizer. I told him no, because while I could not smell the manure, my Beautiful Gal has a nose like a bloodhound and she would have been able to smell it. That is why I put in the lease contract only chemical fertilizers, not manure. So i guess he decided not to fertilize it, or maybe forgot about it.

Regarding the kinds of grass in the field, I am no expert in knowing the different kinds of grass. I know that there is Bermuda in places, and Johnson grass in other places. There is a kind of grass that I called tickleweed when I was a kid, as when my dad and I would go quail hunting we could walk through a field with that kind of grass and some of the stalks would inevitably get inside my pants legs and make it way up my legs, almost like it was a tick or something. There are other kinds of grasses that grow best in damp areas, crowding out the better grass, and there are other grasses that the county agent said indicated that the soil was poor and needed fertilizing. I wish I could fence in my pastures and have someone lease the land and put cows and sheep or goats on it, the way that Greg Judy does. That way the land could get fertilized naturally. But then, I guess my Beautiful Gal would have to endure the manure smell even more often than if they simply applied chicken manure in the spring!

Senile Texas Aggie