view from the tractor

Sidecarflip · Sep 15, 2023

mitch95100 said:
I am sooo looking foward to getting into the fields this year!
Got a new Kubota lined up for raking hay and other small chores and for a new wood hauler.
Oh how i love farming!!!!!!!!!!!

Here you go... I round baled 137 4x5 mixed alfalfa grass (timothy) on 3 fields plus a 90% vernal alfalfa field behind the barn. All in 4x5 net wrapped rounds and all was pre sold prior to making. I pre sell everything every year now. I used to run small squares with my sold New Holland 575 High Capacity square bailer but I sold it last spring on Tractor House. 12.5 cash. I'm too old to fiddle with idiot cubes anymore. Way too much manual labor and way too hard finding help too. Kids today don't want to work so it's net wrapped 4x5 rounds and I can do everything with 2 tractors and little hooking up and unhooking any more. One cab tractor handles the mower and the bailer. The other pulls the rake (Kuhn Rotary) and the has the bale spears, one in front, one in back to load them on semi trailers.

Idiot cubes do pay better but net rounds yield a pretty good profit today anyway and when you factor in the lesser amount of grief involved, they really pay pretty good.

Backyard Lumberjack · Sep 15, 2023

Bill G said:
So does it dodge down logs and thorn trees?

prob has an optional app: Mesquite Management (and stuff)

Bill G · Sep 21, 2023

View from the 4630.

Bill G · Sep 21, 2023

View from the 3000..

Bill G · Sep 21, 2023

View from the pasture

Sidecarflip · Sep 21, 2023

View down the road toward the pavement in January....

Heavyopp · Sep 21, 2023

It’s not farming and it’s not gardening but it is a view from the tractor. Dam removal I was involved in. Details if there’s interest.

jblnut · Nov 4, 2023

This is my kind of thread !! Pops is working on the last of the tillage for 2023 in my 9420.

This was the first field I did this fall with my Wishek tillage disk. This makes the turbo sing on the 9420 when it's buried!

850 4x6 roundies of corn straw this year. Twas a bit on the wetter side but everything this year has been less than ideal so it's par for the course.

My little dude is riding in the same seat that I spent hundreds of hours in when I was his size

I hope I haven't gone too overboard..... I have lots more to share if there's interest !

Sidecarflip · Nov 4, 2023

I quit round bailing corn stalks years ago. One. it's terribly hard on any round bailer, two it's a filthy endeavor and three, wheat straw is a better alternative for bedding. I did a couple fields of cornstalks on contract, not any more. Took longer to clean the machines than it took to bale that crap. In fact, because we don't raise any stock any more, I have no need for bedding and/or feed. Just your picture brought back unpleasant memories....lol

jblnut · Nov 4, 2023

Sidecarflip said:
I quit round bailing corn stalks years ago. One. it's terribly hard on any round bailer, two it's a filthy endeavor and three, wheat straw is a better alternative for bedding. I did a couple fields of cornstalks on contract, not any more. Took longer to clean the machines than it took to bale that crap. In fact, because we don't raise any stock any more, I have no need for bedding and/or feed. Just your picture brought back unpleasant memories....lol

I agree that it's horrid on things ! I use around 800 a year for my cattle so buying that much nice straw is out lol

I grease/blow off the baler every 100 bales no matter what crop I'm doing and have run balers to 40,000 bales when I used to do custom work. I'd do 8-9k bales a year custom. Once we started having kids the custom work went away in a hurry. Getting a new baler every couple years was fun though !

We make around 35 acres a year for small squares of nicer rye or oat straw for the calves. That's always a blast lol

Sidecarflip · Nov 4, 2023

I traded in my NH 4x5 round bailer a year and a half ago. It was inherently a PITA and refused to run 52 over the edge net (Bridon or Tama) consistently and I never liked the the in cab electronic display or the driving - filling readout and I did not care for the extra sweep pickup either. Least NH hay tools have good resale value, I did real good on a trade actually. Got a brand new Kubota BV (Kneverland 4x5) bailer with all the options (centralized lubrication system, wide pickup with outboard screw augers, full electronic control with in cab variable density on the fly control and it actually consistent wraps over the edge net, over the edge) and it's very easy to load a new roll of net as well. I never liked the NH net loading procedure where you had to feed the tail into the center of the net feeding attachment and deal with that. The Kubota round bailer has a net window on the right side and loading a roll is a simple procedure. I just feed the tail under the 1st spreader, over the top of the second spreader and feed the remaining tail into the window, leaving about 5" hanging down. Reset the linear footage sensor to zero and set the wrap at 4 for the first bale to allow the net to spread over the first round completely and then reset the wrap to 2.5 which is what I run them at. Whole procedure takes about 5 minutes total.

I do reduce the PTO speed when wrapping however because like the HN bailer, excessive wrap speed tends to leave excess net hanging in the feed spreader rolls.

And, the Kubota bailer carries 2 rolls of net under the right side shield not like a NH where the extra net is carried on the back end of the bailer in the optional (and expensive) net container.

Best part was the trade in. I bought a 50 grand bailer with my trade in for 10 grand and I got 0 percent financing on it aw well as quarterly payments.

I don't miss the NH Roll Belt at all actually.

One thing I'm happy about is I do no tillage at all, Running hay (alfalfa grass mix) is simply overseeding established fields and setting the seed with a drag and of course fertilizing it between cuts and applying the necessary herbicide and pesticides, which have went through the roof cost wise but then you already know that plus the stupid cost of Urea today. Granulated 46 went from 15 bucks a sack to 50. Crazy prices. I quit using 46 and went to foliar inoculant using of all things DEF which is urea anyway and I spray it on and with ORD diesel costing what it does today (and I'm reasonably sure the price won't decrease in the immediate future), tillage eats diesel so not having to do it is a savings for me and no green stuff here either plus I run all pre 4 tractors and have no desire to upgrade to the computer controlled common rail stuff out there today.

Running hay is pretty easy other than dealing with Mother Nature and her rain events and I always make money on it as well. I have just 2 customers that buy everything and have for years and always want more. My philosophy about it is, I don't want to make any more. At my age, more isn't a good thing plus I have the complete operation down to just me and 2 prime movers and only reason I have to tractors is it's always a PITA to switch out implements so the disc bine stays coupled to one unit while the rake and / or tedder goes on the other and when it's bale time, the disc bine comes off and the bailer goes on and the other tractor gets the bale spears and I use it for loading my customer's semi's.

Been eyeing a new Kubota center point disc machine with rubber crimp rolls but so far my NH Mow Max discbine is trouble free and runs like a clock so a new machine for me is just a thought at this point. One thing about the NH disc machine and that is the cutter knives are pretty cheap when buying from Shoup whereas the Kubota machine has no aftermarket knives available.

Never did pictures but maybe next season I will, who knows.

Sidecarflip · Nov 4, 2023

jblnut said:
I agree that it's horrid on things ! I use around 800 a year for my cattle so buying that much nice straw is out lol

I grease/blow off the baler every 100 bales no matter what crop I'm doing and have run balers to 40,000 bales when I used to do custom work. I'd do 8-9k bales a year custom. Once we started having kids the custom work went away in a hurry. Getting a new baler every couple years was fun though !

We make around 35 acres a year for small squares of nicer rye or oat straw for the calves. That's always a blast lol
View attachment 1125083

I used to do small squares but I sold my NH 575 high capacity square bailer on Tractor House 2 years ago. Problem with small squares is the labor involved and selling them here. Small squares are horsey people hay and horsey people really have no idea what quality hay is versus junk hay and and they always wan to either low ball you or don't seem to have the money to pay for it and want to 'pay later' which I don't play that game.

I got so disgusted with horsey people, I sold the bailer and the bale wagons and never looked back.

Kids today don't want to work, especially stacking and unloading small squares in a hot hay loft. I eliminated that entirely and I actually got more for the 575 than I thought it was worth and sold it in 2 days of listing it.

The Kubota round bailer is basically self lubricating other than the drive chains which I use aerosol motorcycle chain lube on It has a built in pressure lubrication system that meters grease at set intervals, much like the NH 575 had that I sold except the 575, you'd have to manually charge the single grease point for the knotters by hand.

My customers only want rounds in net and I'm all good with that. I have it down to basically a no touch operation other than loading net rolls in the bailer, fueling the tactors and loading the bales on semi's and of course maintaining them (prime movers).

At my age (73), I keep contemplating getting out of it entirely. Getting too old actually.

farmer steve · Nov 4, 2023

Ha Ha. All I have is my JD 14T baler guys :crazy2:

Paid $375 for It

and rarely misses a beat. Didn't need any hay or straw this year so I let my neighbor have it. His new round baler.

Sidecarflip · Nov 4, 2023

Much prefer working in the machine and weld shop. I do quite a bit of heavy refitting on excavator buckets, front end loader buckets and working on arborist's equipment and I have 2 part time employees if the work load gets out of hand and unlike square bale customers, they know the cost up front. I don't miss the small squares one bit. I just upgraded both my TIG and CNC plasma cutters to inverter machines. and sold the transformer machines for a profit of all things and was a private sale to boot. One thing I learned pretty quick was that Hyper Therm plasma cutters are nice machines but the cost of consumables are way over the top, especially the 'fine cut' consumables.

Bought a Harbor Freight 60 amp Titanium plasma cutter and interestingly, my plasma table interface plugs right into it and the consumables are about 1/3rd the cost of the Hyper Therm and I added the extended 3 year warranty as well. I also bought the Vulcan 205 stand alone TIG machine which is an inverter machine as well and has a full digital control and I kept my TIG cooler and Torch which interfaces with the Vulcan no issue and I got the extended warranty on it as well. Both machines run flawlessly btw and I like the full digital controls on the Vulcan plus it has preset parameters built in.

I have a pair of Bandit wood chippers coming in this winter that need some work done to them. One need the knife wheel welded and the other needs some discharge chute work done and I have t excavator buckets that need new tooth mounts installed and new teeth as well.

Sidecarflip · Nov 4, 2023

farmer steve said:
Ha Ha. All I have is my JD 14T baler guys Paid $375 for It View attachment 1125090and rarely misses a beat. Didn't need any hay or straw this year so I let my neighbor have it. His new round baler.

Those bailers have no representation here or dealers for that matter so they are a non starter for me. Like Vermeer. Have a friend down south who swears by Vermeer but again, no representation here or dealers so again, a non starter for me. I have to have one a stocking dealer and two, parts available because at some point you will need them.

JD is of course represented well but I don't bleed green, never have and JD parts are very expensive anyway and the local JD dealer is very proud of their products.

I'd love to own a Fendt but again, the closest Fendt dealer is at least 200 miles from here so they are a nonstarter for me as well.

When I first started out I owned a JD sickle bar Moco and while it did the job, it was slow and needed constant attention (all sickle bar mowers do) and it went down the road years ago. Besides, it was a side mount and I prefer a center point mower. None of my hay fields are rectangular anyway so a center point mower is a necessity.