[Donn Hewes]

hi Richard, Nice looking set up. what are your plans for the tongue? A dolly wheel perhaps. I think a dolly wheel makes a great one horse mower set up; but just my opinion. You remind me to cultivate my beans this week! Donn

[Donn Hewes]

My mare with a little swelling did much the same thing. I think a few bug bites could do it. maybe cleaning the shoulders after work will help. I have never been consistent about washing the horses neck after work, but I have been this week. I was tempted to try a new pad but haven’t yet. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

most haybine guards will fit. Just check the hole spacing.

[Donn Hewes]

Hard to say for sure but it looks like one to me. How old is it? How much does he weight? If he is full grown and 1400 to 1600 pounds there aren’t that many mares that can make a mule like that. Nice looking mule.

[Donn Hewes]

Well, I had an interesting visit with the vet yesterday. Unfortunately my mare is not bred. Oh, well. All my horses and mules are fat except George. He has been able to handle all the pasture because even as a six year old mule he is still filling out. Connie the Suffolk is fatter than the rest. Obviously these aren’t the fattest horses anywhere, but the extra weight isn’t good for them.

Working them more is not the issue, I work them as much as I can, trust me. It is my feeding program. I guess it sounds a little silly – but we liked the system we had. Grazing horses are actually very beneficial to sheep pastures. They don’t share the same parasites, and help “clean” alot of parasite larvea out of lamb pastures.

I am definitely going out of the fat horse and mule business, just not sure how I will accomplish it. In general, a moderately over weight horse is already weakening the lamin of the hoof (before laminitis), can’t work as well in the heat and will have breeding issues. All things I don’t want.

One of the oddities of this is that it will likely take more hay (time and exspense) to keep a horse thin than it did to keep them fat ( on pasture). So far it has taken more time and effort to clean the barn twice as much.

[Donn Hewes]

No, I usually tilt my bars level, some times forward a little. My inner and outer shoes are adjusted way up. Inner shoe one hole below the highest one, outer shoe about as far as the little bolt will go with out coming out of the track. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

hi Jason, Give a call or email. 607-849-4442

[Donn Hewes]

I think they mean 3/8 above the knife to the guard? All my books are out on loan. There sure isn’t a 3/8″ minimum, between the two cutting parts. If your knife is still running but it has stopped cutting at certain spots here is another possibility. Your guards are picking up old grass or hay left in the field, dry clumps from an uneven field. Hitting a tough low plant that won’t cut for anything. How low is your bar set? Because I use my mowers for clipping so much all my bars are set high – mowing about three inches off the ground. I find this works well for mowing hay too. Some would worry about leaving to much hay behind, but it is good for the plants and they make up for it in regrowth.

[Donn Hewes]

It is a fine line between working right and barely working at all! Bottom serated knives can still be sharpened (top serated no). Are all the ledger plates sharp as well? Yes, the space between the knife and the guard is important. On green or wirey grass, any extra space may cause it to not cut, quickly leading to plugging. When out of gear is the knife moving easily by hand? Very important, as it will stall if there is some drag there. Are the horses walking fast enough to keep it going? Some times it is a challenge to keep them going at the speed required in heavy hay. Just some random thoughts. donn

Ideally the knife sections would just touch the guards with no space and still run free. In real life try to keep the spaces as small as possible and for my money a knife running free is a must. D

[Donn Hewes]

Rough Calculations: 4 horses and mules, 1 per day summer and fall, 160. 4 per day winter and spring, 720 total 880. Never know when I might decide to buy a horse!

Sheep get the best hay! Apx: 52 to 58 sheep (maybe 3-4 rams, 8-12 yearlings, 40 – 45 adult ewes) 8 to 10 bales a day including bedding.

10 x 170 days = 1700, I like about 600 second cutting (or more) for ewes in late gestation. That means about 2000 first cutting.

As far as loading a wagon, I prefer pulling a wagon behind the baler. Someone walks on the wagon and stacks the bales as they come off the baler. Actually a very pleasant job. My wife usually kicks everyone off the wagon. She is my “hay babe”. Better than a bale kicker!

Tim, I couldn’t agree more about your comments on a tedder. I was guessing Kristan was on first cutting hay but you might be right. That might explain the green stuff not drying easily. Also more time raking and tedding a bigger area to get the number of bales. Kristan? I want to get the bigger / meaner tedder for those times when I need it, but you can’t just use it any where. Mitch has a 14′ tedder that he is pulling with a home made PTO cart. That is what I want. I also had a lot of hay get rained on the last few years that could have been good hay (not great) if I had dried it and baled it the next day. My tedder won’t quite do that. In hay making I am all ways persueing several ideas at once. I believe this tedder might help me make better hay (and cover more ground) earlier in the summer. Perhaps allowing me to use the haybine less. My haybine with the skirt all the way open leaves a full width swathe.

[Donn Hewes]

Kristan, I never really told you my schedule for last week. Here goes:

Wed. mowed about 5 1/2 acres with a haybine and a team of four. I mowed from about 1pm. to 4pm. Nice cool weather – easy work.

Thurs. about 9:30 I started tedding about 2/3 of what was mowed the day before. I tedded the heavy area and what I suspected would be harder to dry. About 12 am farm intern starts mowing with a sickle bar, and I join her after a break and together we mow about 4 more acres leaving a little strip! ( reason I quit mowing is becuase I knew we had more down than we were going bale in a day. That was still nice weather but VERY heavy mowing.

Friday. We start raking around 10 am. with two teams and two rakes, and it takes about 2 hours to rake the first 5 1/2 acres. We had a guy shooting some video holding us up slightly. we give the horses a good break on long days. In the barn with the bridles and lines off. Hay and automatic waterers.
We started baling around 2 pm. We filled three wagons and stopped to unload( we only have three wagons) Started baling again about 5 pm and filled 2 more wagons. First day total of 401 bales.

Saturday: Intern is gone to farmers Market. I rake the 4 acres from 9:30 to 11:30. Around 1 pm we start baling and make 201 on three wagons. We only baled half of the windrows I raked. Neighbor helps us unload! I went out with the mules and finish mowing the last acre and a half, at 5pm.

Sunday: it is getting hot. Started baling at mid-day. No raking needed hay too dry. Baled 230 with tired horses.

Mon. Raked the last little bit in the am. Tried some mowing in a new field but quite as soon as the video guy left. Everyone needed a break ( except the mules!) Baled the last 160 about 6 pm. with a tractor. UGH. Hoping tooth fairies will unload.

Even though it was a long, hot week, I had fun and think it went well. I will continue to make the animals more productive as my methods and abilities improve. Five day total: 12 acres, 1030 bales.

So far we have made 1600 bales this year. All mowed, raked and baled with horses and mules (except the last 160!) Getting all the wagons unloaded is the hardest part for us. I will make a few more bales of first cutting and then start to think about second cutting. Some of it is ready to mow now. Since the begining of April We have clipped over 50 acres, some fields twice, and I am at least six acres behind right now. All the clipping is with horses and mules.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Tim, Yes, would agree, sometimes a hay tedder can be used too much, but other times, mid-June, and a short hay window with moisture in the ground; it is the perfect thing for making hay. Even then I would perfer to ted before hay has had much chance to dry much (next morning after mowing for example).

I used to not use a tedder hardly at all, then I started useing it all the time, now I think I am learning when best for my ground, and power sources. I want to get a rotary tedder so when I do use one, I can have more effect.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Tim, I am guessing the only difference form Michigan to NE is your temps migth be a little higher and your humidity is slightly lower on average. I think Kristans temps in the early morning and late after noon might be lower than mine. That can make a difference. Remember shading from hedge rows can make a difference too. I try to bale the west side of a field a little early and the east side a little late, In June the east side of a field can be hard to dry along with the rest of the field. I might bale it the next day. I think your raking to finish the drying is something I was talking about. My hay won’t dry like that. Might be the weather, might be the rake, might just be me.

I hate to come out the next day after raking last night and find the hay isn’t dry.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi kristan, Here are a few random thoughts from a hay chafe covered, sweat steaked guy that is glad to be at the off farm job today.

Hay making is one part science, one part art, and one part black magic. Ask anyone who has come in from mowing only to find the forecast has completely changed from when you went out. I have found that some of the good old boys who make a lot of hay in my nieghborhood, can tell me alot about when to mow, and so forth. I do have to modify what they tell me to acomodate the horse power.

If I remember correctly you have some very lush meadow pastures. At this time of year a first cutting from them will be great gobs of hay. If possible I would try to pick the worst of these offenders to graze, clip, or mow earlier in the summer. I know that is easier said than done. How many bales per acre where in the worst areas? I was working in very good first cutting for my farm and I made 1030 bales on twelve acres. I think over 100 bales to the acre will definitely test the mowing machine, the rake, and the horses.

I tedded the first day, after I mowed about four acres, half way through I realized I was wasting my time – the hay was drying as fast as I was tedding. These fields are over mature at this point (yours may not be – that would make it harder to dry). the over mature hay has a portion that is dry when mowed and this actually speeds and assists in the drying of the rest of the windrow.

Here are some of my personal preferences. I don’t like to ted in the afternoon, especially late afternoon. I don’t feel I am getting much bang for my buck. I really don’t like to ted more than once a day and pretty much would not do it. Given the rakes that I use, I don’t really like to rake before the hay is dry. Others may talk about drying in the windrow, but my rakes leave too tight of a windrow and nothing ever drys after that. What if you had Tedded on Sat AM and again on Sun am. then raked on Mon. Slightly easier right? I also don’t like to rake twice. There are a few times when I will do it, but I much perfer to rake only once.

Tractor farmers can ted and rake as many times as they want. Many will say that any hay raked yesterday must be turn over with a rake today before you can bale it. I just haven’t found that to be true for me. Maybe becuase the hay was already dry when I raked it.

I baled my last 160 bales last night with the tractor, slight disapointment for me, but certainly not the end of the world. Final score for the horses and mules. Mules were awsome this week, and could have kept going. One horse is obese and was breathing >greater than 120 for extended periods after an hour of work. She is going to try out a grazing muzzle this week. I don’t plan to keep fat horses in the future – not eactly sure how I will acomplish that. The other horse is may be a little over weight and had some issues with swelling under her collar at the top of her neck. It seemed some what better yesterday, and I never stopped working her, but I did limit how much, for the last couple days.

I have a few little spots left that I can make into first cutting. I will try and work one or two hours each evening until the heat breaks a little. I also am going to try some deer hair sweat pads this week. My other ones are getting old and a little tettered, so I thought I would try something else. I have made 1600 bales so far this year, all mowed, raked and baled with horses, (except last night!)

It is hard hot work, but I enjoy it. I will be looking to make my horses and mules more comfortable and more successful each time I go out. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

how is everyone / horses handling the heat today?

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