Sunday I spent all day repairing equipment. The eight tines that I replaced on the power rake did not take too long. I was missing a bolt and had to dig through a three gallon bucket to find the correct size bolt and nut. I had cut late Saturday morning but the hay would not be ready to turn until Monday. It would have to wait until after I got off of work.

I do like the Abbriata M50 round baler but I snapped off two pickup tines on the same support bar and they created a stopping pin effect. The tines cannot be turned. I don’t have an overhead lift so I have to just lay on the ground and work on it. I also can crawl between the arms and reach inside the machine. It is not super comfortable and requires a lot of crawling around and stomach crunches to lift your upper body 6-8” off of the ground. I of course could not get three of the hay guides removed and my large 60V DeWalt grinder would not fit inside the opening and allow me to move it around enough to grind the heads off. I ended up driving to Pendleton and buying a 20V DeWalt grinder that is much smaller and fits inside the baler opening. I had all three bolt heads ground down in ten minutes. Of course once I got the guides out of the way I could hand turn the stubs of the bolts out of their retaining nuts. I was able to change out and install the new rake teeth and support bar.

There was a lot of swearing and I kept tearing up my hands and bleeding all over the equipment. I actually had to stop working and slide my hand into a leather glove so the blood would quit running down my knuckle. The leather glove absorbs blood and puts pressure on the wound. Eventually, I found a first aid kit on one of the tractors and used a bandage and some cleaning solution to treat the injury. There was more swearing before I was done. Once my abdominal muscles started to cramp up on me while I was reassembling the equipment I wanted to quit. But I knew I would just have to get it done eventually anyways so I might as well just get it done. My abdominal muscles still hurt two days later.

Monday I came home and spent four hours rowing hay. I had plans to row hay Sunday evening but the hay was still wet and instead I rolled bales that were on the ground in field #1. They were getting a wet spot on the bottom. I cannot pickup hay bales yet until I get them all cut. One the neighbors offered to have me come cut one of their grass fields so it doesn’t go to waste. I am still figuring out how to squeeze it in.

I did go out and work on making some bales today after work. I have about 1/3 of the hay put up but I was running out of shear bolts. The hay is in large rows and it keeps sucking in too much and snapping the shear bolt when I am close to full. I think I just need to dump lighter bales to avoid this issue. I will pick up more bolts tomorrow and hopefully finish tomorrow.