[mitchmaine]

“go light, go often”. that was the old saying. at the end of the day, the pile might be bigger.

[mitchmaine]

I had lunch with a bald eagle the other day. We stood up a timber frame as a info booth at the lower pool of the fish ladder at the local fish hatchery. They used to raise pheasants and now have a pretty big game farm there. So I took lunch and walked up the hill to the game park. The eagle was a monster. I didn’t like the way she was eyeballing my tuna sandwich either. Maybe we feed them better here in maine but that bird stood over three feet and had a wingspan of seven feet or more. Maine has over 400 breeding pair and the highest pop. East of the miss. Golden eagles don’t breed or winterover here and you rarely see them, too whimpy to get in a fishing contest with one of those big bald eagles of ours. I’ve googled ‘em both and where they thrive, bald and golden eagles are about the same size, both smaller than the condor, but if a fifteen pound bird decides to freefall 400 feet and land on your shoulder watch out.

[mitchmaine]

i had two no.9’s, both reg. gear, the only difference was one was on rubber. both in similar shape(not rebuilt) but seals and guards when needed, and one ran great in june grass and second cut, and the other ran better when grass started going to wire. go figure.

[mitchmaine]

pitman seals? i have two sitting on the dining room table. 476838 national. 1 1/8 x 1 7/8 i think.

[mitchmaine]

hey marshall, tough one. what would you do with your kids when you got a chance to spend extra time with them? if the raised a beef, or got into hens or something, you could still be farming as well. help you on the forge or something. don’t know. just throwing out ideas. they didn’t work for me, just sayin’

[mitchmaine]

hi billy, i haven’t used a rotary mower with a team, but imagine it could be a bit of a job for them. we have a lot of hay this year, and its starting to dry out a little and a little harder mowing. my horses are having to step into it a bit, forcing the mower, and i have snapped two pitman rods this year, one at the bearing at the wrist pin. the bottom of the bar isn’t even polished yet.
i was wondering, when your team started out a little slow that third day, how fast they might go if you turned them back to the barn? if they picked up a little, i might not be to worried about their health. like carl, the moderate team is the one i like. they have reserve when you need the extra, and mowing and cultivating can be a pleasure with a deliberate team. you might find they stand pretty good after a few days regular work. mitch

[mitchmaine]

@karl t pfister 35788 wrote:

Here we got just 1.75 ” of rain in June and some of the more gravelly spots the 2/nd cut is turning brown ,ugh . we are about 3/4s thru 1/st and 2/nd cut a ways off .

Anybody seen any sign of the army worms ?

karl, 4.93″ in may and 10.75″ rain in june here (coastal maine). we aren’t that far apart distance. i’d meet you someplace in the middle on rain totals. mitch

[mitchmaine]

hey donn, you will laugh, andy too, when i tell you it was hot here too. a blistering 88 degrees. i don’t know. maybe maine blood is thick or something, but 100 degrees would kill me. i just know it. its been wet here for two months. 200 bales is all i can show for the time. the hay is thick and ripe and a little gone by in spots, with a lot of work ahead of us. we have five sunny days ahead of us. something we haven’t seen up here since april. i should let the ground try and dry up a little but i can’t afford the time. i can say i know what it means when they say “make hay while the sun shines”. ok. enough for now. good luck with 2nd cut, and let us know how it is going. mitch

[mitchmaine]

i think its about commitment. choice of weapons aside, if you choose to kill a critter you owe it to him to do a quick and proper job.
we come by it naturally, from a time when hunting and killing meant living. lately, our brains have interfered and gotten in the way, and we started thinking about it. its a job that still has to be done. if we choose a farm life, killing comes with the job.
our farm was the natural drop off for all the town cats who needed a ride to the country, and my grandmother was a sucker for any cat who was looking for a handout, so every spring our hayloft was full of litters of cats, and my job was collection, and my dad and i would drown kittens. not much fun, but we were doing the job for the folks in town who shifted the problem down to us. death never bothered me to much until the last few years and i have softened a little to the process. now, i make sure something has to die and try and do a proper job. like carl said, most of the animals here, are meant for food. our choice. and the ones that aren’t (dogs and horses) deserve a good quick end for all there commitment to us. when a dog is faithful, or a horse gives years of work, shifting the job of ending their life to someone else seems wrong. just my sentiments.

[mitchmaine]

everyone has their own kind of sanity robert. i’m sure of it.

[mitchmaine]

My dad bought a brand new ford 8n tractor the summer I was born. I still have that tractor. Although it is only worth about $1500 It is priceless in my book. it sat for years under a pile of horse blankets while I farmed and worked wood with my horses. This spring I drug it out of the bushes and a friend and I have started going through it. Wheel seals, top end, fuel and electrical systems, a 12 volt coil, and she runs pretty good for an old girl. Her paint is a little dull, but so is mine and I still fit into that spot that I wore in the seat. Anyway, it can still do work and I can find things to do with it. I used to worry a bit more about this question, tractor or not, but it doesn’t bother me so much anymore. The true question is probably do you farm to have horses, or do you use horses to farm, and that is of course a personal choice. My horses aren’t going anywhere yet, they are young and I will wear out before they do.
One thing I have discovered about myself is that if I haven’t hooked the horses in a while, bad weather or something, I start getting cranky and irritable. Penny notices, and says go hook your horses, and I do, and instantly feel better about the world. So they can be therapeutic.

[mitchmaine]

hi ashley,
i was in union farm equipment picking up some twine and mower parts about a half hour ago.
nice looking horses. welcome to dap.
mitch

[mitchmaine]

geoff, haven’t heard of that one but i’d be tempted to try and break the old knotter frame off the shaft without taking it out. chipping at it with a cold chisel, if the replacement could just bolt in place.

rickety, i broke a knotter frame on a 14t once. old hay built up under the knotter trip, until it couldn’t seat, and it kept going through its cycle winding twine up on the bill hook until it snapped the frame. bummer. after that i kept it swept out and bathed in wd-40

[mitchmaine]

its been a long time. but i am fairly sure that the shaft can only come out towards the flywheel side. there is a shield to remove over the knotter trip mech., and the bevel gears that run the knotter and a drift pin connecting both (i think). separate them and drive the shaft out to the left. find a cool spot and something to keep your blood pressure low and don’t rush. the 24t had six bolts and you could remove the entire knotter in ten minutes. but the job of sliding all that stuff off the shaft is still the same.

[mitchmaine]

the needle lifting arm is a short 1/2 inch rod connecting the needle arm with a disc on the end of the knotter shaft. it disconnects with a cotter pin and is a fairly simple task. but the knotter shaft has to be driven out of both knotter frames until you can free the frame you want. not a fun job. the knotter gears are cast steel and pretty tender and move slow. you have to force them along the knotter shaft but go easy. the knotter frames if greased frequently will move easily. its a great baler or can be. good luck with it.

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