Well hay season has officially started. I took the arena groomer off of the Kubota and had the Gingerman help me get the sickle bar attached. It is a five minute job with two people, alone it takes me 20-30 minutes using a pry bar to get it in place. I was able to use the five foot blade instead of the little four foot one I usually use on the John Deere. I went over to the neighbor’s and started to cut grass hay. I spent a few hours cutting his upper and lower field. I had spotted a white peacock hen in his chicken coop the evening before so when he came out to talk I asked him where he got it. Turns out it roams around a few miles and the neighbors see it occasionally. It had snuck in the back door of his chicken coop and was having a free easy meal. It had already flown the coop! I managed to not shear a single upright pipe on the bottom pasture. He does have some poison oak growing in one corner so I am going to have to brush that out of the way and come back with some herbicide and clear the fence line. I don’t want that gaining any more pasture ground.
When I came back I noticed that there was a large hydraulic streak running down the driveway. That large rock I hit with the John Deere caused a hydraulic leak on the middle bottom side of the tractor. It is going to have to go in for repair. I am not qualified to do that type of work. My mechanic skills are basic to middling. So I took the Kubota up to field one to cut down some of the cheat grass. I want to hay the field but not the cheat grass. My plan was to cut the cheat grass out of field one and two then when I rake the cut hay I can come out and rake all of the cheatgrass into a single row so I can burn it or bury it into one pile. This helps remove the seeds from the field. I was going along great until I hooked the end onto the gate and broke a tooth. The tooth got jammed in place and bar froze. This was on Saturday.
So I came back to the house and put a panel on the side gate near the top. The Gingerman had finally spotted our Border Collie, Chance, climbing the gate and going through the top of the gate. We knew she was getting out but had not yet caught her doing it. We had isolated it to that side and that section of fencing but the exact location was still unclear. Since adding the panel she has not gotten out once.
On Sunday I tore apart the sickle bar, fixed the tooth. It was of course installed upside down the first time. I had to grind down the rivets and then beat them out, turn it over and do it again. I headed out and started mowing more cheat grass until the entire end of the sickle bar fell off. The bolt I had welded on last year broke and I lost a few pieces in the grass. I will need to order some replacement parts but the mower is out of commission until they come. Luckily, I had all of the actual hay cut and I will be able to bale it. I can wait 2-3 weeks before I cut any more fields.
Stewart Creek Somethings 