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Got to use REAL tractor
Well I went to help my local dairy farmer/hay supplier bring in some hay today. I got a 30 second instruction on his JD 3020 and then I jumped aboard and went to work. First thing I had to do was bring in a loaded chuck wagon to the barn. Then he bailed and I raked, transported the filled carts and got more empties.
The weather may get bad so he was in a rush. I guess we bailed about 1000 bales. Lots of time transporting from field to field and from one farm to another. Took a few trips to get use to merging into traffic w/ a big tractor and loaded wagon.
Also was a little bit uncomfortable bringing big carts of hay down rocky, semi-steep gravel drives but all in all it went smooth. Only had one oops, I often keep my brakes locked together and just hit the left pedal, I forgot and when I locked the left brakes the tractor and cart got a little sideways going downhill. No biggie, I recovered...a little wiser 
Funniest thing happened I see this guy stop his car and jump out( wearing a hawian "tourist" shirt), right away he's waving and going for his camera to catch a picture of an "authentic farmer" Jokes on him...he's got a picture of a cop from Brooklyn who's fanny never saw a tractor seat until a month ago. I can here him saying to his relatives "look at this farmer I saw on the road" 
It was getting dark and we just managed to finish about an hour ago. Anyway it was alot of fun, and I'll go pickup my pay....some free bales that is next week.
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Got to use REAL tractor
Isn't it great how the simple things in life bring the most enjoyment? Sounds like you're having a great time.
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Yes, it was fun. I have always realized just how much work these farmers do, I don't think many people do. To them it's just some guy causing traffic to slow on the road.
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Often enough the people that need the pat on the back never get it! Life is good for the spirit of farming but it doesn't mean a short work week and nothing after 5.
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I find it amazing the ammount of things these farmers need to be able to do. They're taking care of animals, operating heavy equipment, need to know about crops, chemicals, fertilizers etc, do their own vehicle repairs, fix pumps, keep the electric up and running, be keep an eye on local politics do to zoning and other legislation that effects them, etc.
They really need to be a jack of all trades it would seem to run a family farm.
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You are right on that call and that is why there is problems odown on the farm! It is a gtood life but as simple as it might be for some IT IS NOT SIMPLE!
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F350 you brought a smile to my face this AM.
As I was getting ready to retire we moved the family back here. My oldest was 16 or so and had went to the FFA sponsored tractor operator safety course which is required for employment on a farm.
He'd never seen the south end of a north bound cow.
He came home just in awe about the crap shooter up there. I almost hit the ceiling until I realized as he continued his adventure story he was talking about a manure spreader...
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The jack of all trades nowadays doesn't usually include blacksmithing. It was common for farmers to have their own forges certainly in my great-grandparents time. Well they used to do their own stump blasting too. But that was before most of us got all store-bought and dependent on power grids.
Subsistence farming was mostly never-ending hard work and it was the lives my parents spend a good chunk of theirs' escaping. There probably wasn't a lot of time left over to keep track of the politicians either. Of course, before most people sold their individual freedoms to the keepers of mass society and took the easy life, there wasn't as much to keep track of.
I think it was a great or maybe a great great of mine who was the first person known to have raised a cash grain crop in a Nebraska county (Freemont maybe). Lots of hard work, and from some perspective I guess it's been an easy life but maybe down hill since then. I do think we've been skating and taking an easy life when maybe the hard work that should be done is keeping track of our public and private decision-makers. They run the mass society that most of us are now dependent on but they also are the custodians of the individual freedoms we trade for the benefits of mass society. It is of course a little tough to do that work if truth is taken from TV. The same small number of people who have done very well for themselves are the same ones talking on TV.
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Art,
I am not sure if that last comment was directed at me or not but it sure does appear to be. Not sure if it was meant to sound the way I took it. If not, my apology and I will grow some thicker hide and practice reading more into what I see.
Just so background of where my statement came from is clear, I grew up around farming up until I went in the military. I have spent 100's if not 1,000's of hours baling hay, fencing, herding cattle, vaccinating, dragging field manuer piles, repairing busted bush hogs, tractor air conditioners, starters, and more than I care to list.
My family farms about 1600 acres and I do know one or two things about farming and maybe even perhaps a simple thing in life being that I have had the opportunity to come extremely close to loosing it a time or two. My comment to Scott about the enjoyment of such things was referring to the simple act of driving a tractor while helping another out (as this allows me for one to take time to think and reflect in my mind as I am operating the machine) as maybe opposed to many of the high tech things people do now (always it seems in such a rush) as well as how easily we loose sight of where our roots come from.
In no way shape or form is farming a simple or easy profession. I very nearly decided to take over the dairy operation many years ago, but an opportunity to for a military flight school called me as a young man away.
I know first hand the battle the farmers continually fight against the states and counties to raise property taxes, pass zoning ordinances, noise ordinances, and EPA requirements all designed to push them out.
It is strange how even something as simple as operating a tractor has changed. The open air seating, listening to all that noise (more like music sometimes, sweating your butt off in that plastic or metal seat, gear shift & PTO levers, and clutch pedals. Has changed a bit. My father recently traded his Ford TW20 in on a John Deere 7320 with A/C cab and all the goodies. Like riding in a Mecedes. Mostly all push button now. GPS, stereo, deluxe suspension seat, tinted glass, better interior than most cars! Yes, the tractors have changed, but the simple pleasure of operating them stays the same.
WOW! I feel better now!
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"He came home just in awe about the crap shooter up there. I almost hit the ceiling until I realized as he continued his adventure story he was talking about a manure spreader..."
That's pretty funny Speaking of which I really like those Mill Creek mini-spreaders, one would look great behind my 790! Would be nice to find a cheap one used but they are often times too large for my use.
It also reminds me the farmer I go to has a son of about 16, I know he really likes working with the father. I was helping because the son was away for the week. I was going to ask if the son was intending on continuing the family tradition after school/college. You really have to like the way of life or the $$$ from the real estate developers would be very tempting.
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