I've been chopping silage. It is not going so well. We sold our triticale to a fellow who lives an hour and a half away at the coast. He sends his wife out with a 40ft walking floor trailer to pick up the silage. It is not so easy to fill a 40 foot trailer when the is so far ahead in the truck she can't see you. Also, you have to plan ahead with the cutting. They were supposed to make three loads per day and we were supposed to cut the whole 10 acres Sunday to be dry by Tuesday. We cut half with a disk mower on Monday evening but they didn't show up till 10 a.m. and only go two loads per day. Today I could bale it... Plus, I am behind with chopping grass on the neighbor's dairy. I am driving the chopper back and forth. Three hours per trip, except they are always an hour late...
And the chopper is failing. The chopper has a reversing transmission so that if the header plugs up you can electrically reverse the feed rolls and clean it out. This probably worked well in 1979 but not so well in 2010. It tends to start slipping and eventually fail. It is slipping. Of course it started slipping after dark on the last two loads.
This gives me anger management problems. I have run crap equipment all my life. While it is pretty cool that we bought this New Holland 890 chopper at an auction for $150 it is just not up to the task of chopping 12 ton per acre grass cut with a 12ft mower. I would like to cut it into 18" chunks and haul it to the steel mill. Which reminds me that the truck I would haul the scrap with is dead.
Supposedly the 40ft trailer will be here at 7 a.m. for another load. I suppose that means I should go to bed.
Posts
Running crap equipment builds character. At this rate, you and I must really be characters!
ReplyDeleteDid I mention that we lost the front diff in the old Deere 7020 on Monday? My anger management is actually doing abnormally well, I think my crew and family are convinced that I'm sneaking Xanax on the side.
Got any happy places that still work? When do you get to head for the coast? I totally identify with trying to make a living with walking dead zombie machinery. Have found scraps of harness while tilling; trouble in the field isn't an invention of our times but it sure seems to bite harder now.
ReplyDeleteYes, working with junk machinery has driven me to the brink on many occasions. Thankfully I have survived it and am in a postion to replace some of the junk with slightly better used equipment. Hope you get there Budde.
ReplyDeleteOld machinery is part of what put me out of the sawmill business. I know the aggravations.
ReplyDeleteI suppose this blog should really be titled, "Bottom Feeders Anonymous." Or perhaps more aptly, "Bottom Feeders with Secret Internet Identities..."
ReplyDelete