Spring is Here!

[trevj]

Wish I had a video of you and those does. Funny how it's so different without a gun.....

Yeah, so do I. It was unnerving. I hustled the little sh!t to the side of the field, and got clear as fast as I could. Was pretty happy to not have go beat up! In all seriousness.

Hell has no wrath like a pissed-off mother, and these girls intended, as far as I could see, to demonstrate just that! Didn't matter if it was theirs, or just one of their own kind!

Like I said earlier, depite all the warnings about "If they smell Human smell on them, they will be abandoned!" I have yet to have a fawn that I moved off the active hay cut, be rejected by it's mother. Too much/ lots of invested energy, by the time the fawn is born. Rejecting it over a bit of smell is counterintuitive, for the energy invested!

 

[1018Machine]

FWIW, the speed I cut hay at is SLOW! I know folks that routinely run at 15 MPH, and a few (who have fields I envy a little) that run at 20 MPH when mowing. This seems slow compared to, say, road speeds, but I still think 15 MPH across a hay field, and especially when you are trying to make a clean 90 degree corner (without having to change speed), is an art on the order of Formula 1 racing!

Formula one hay cutting

I've helped the land owner where I hunt a few times cut hay and he goes fairly slow as well, despite that we've hit young turkey poults. No matter how slow you go it seems there's no avoiding them.

 

[Susquatch]

How fast do these combine things go? Could you not get a flagman to walk in front, just like the old days with automobiles?

I'm slow compared to @trevj. But no human being in their right mind would walk in front of me. Nor would I want them to.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Mama's asiatic lillies were just about to bloom, the deer got them. Mind you, I've been spraying repellant liberally. Almost makes me want to get a gun.

Turkeys were introduced here in California in the 70's. Most successful game introduction in state history. First time I saw any I nearly ran into a flock on the highway. I've always marveled at the the way hunters camo up and try to sneak up on them. They're so stupid you can hit one with a car without even trying.

 

[Susquatch]

I've always marveled at the the way hunters camo up and try to sneak up on them. They're so stupid you can hit one with a car without even trying.

Yup. So true. I have a theory.

Darwin provides many ways for various species to survive and multiply. Brains and smarts for survival of the fittest isn't the model for wild turkey. They are too dumb for that.

Instead, their survival model is fear based. Their fear is unparalleled in the wild kingdom. They run/fly at the slightest hint of anything unknown. They are also blessed with amazing eyesight. Their eyesight is equal to a condor that can see flies on Carrion from miles away. A wild turkey can see a hunters eyes blink from 400 yards away. A hunter with a shotgun at that distance poses no threat. Doesn't matter. They see an eye blink behind a camo net, and fear kicks in - running or flying away is immediately required. I've watched them run away when a fish jumps on my pond, or a branch wiggles, or a Walnut drops, or my eye blinks behind a camo mesh. Uncontrollable fear is their survival mechanism.

That fear is coupled with an insatiable sex drive. A wild turkey will almost always try to mount my female turkey decoy. One time my buddy and I got tired of waiting for a tom to show up. When lunch came, we decided to take a break and drive to a local diner. On the drive to the diner, we noticed a Tom trying to mount my decoy. Oh well, we blew it - we just went and had lunch. When we came back, he was still at it. We tried to sneak him. Nothing doing. He saw us the same second when we saw him and he was gone!

A typical clutch here is a dozen eggs/chicks. And they typically join up with another brood. 50 sharp eyes and 50 terrified birds to grow up afraid of their shadows.

Ya, they are stupid. But their fear, their eyesight, and their off the scale sex drive all combine to make them very successful as a species.

That's my opinion.

 

[1018Machine]

I'd have to say their fear is warranted though @Susquatch , without it they would be extinct! Case in point, two weeks ago my son and I were run-n-gunning a tom in a valley in heavy cover. He was 60 yards from us when all of a sudden three coyotes came charging full tilt running within a meer foot of my son. We just sat and watched in awe as they closed the distance on that tom in seconds, he barely got away.

 

[trevj]

Yup. So true. I have a theory.

Darwin provides many ways for various species to survive and multiply. Brains and smarts for survival of the fittest isn't the model for wild turkey. They are too dumb for that.

Instead, their survival model is fear based. Their fear is unparalleled in the wild kingdom. They run/fly at the slightest hint of anything unknown. They are also blessed with amazing eyesight. Their eyesight is equal to a condor that can see flies on Carrion from miles away. A wild turkey can see a hunters eyes blink from 400 yards away. A hunter with a shotgun at that distance poses no threat. Doesn't matter. They see an eye blink behind a camo net, and fear kicks in - running or flying away is immediately required. I've watched them run away when a fish jumps on my pond, or a branch wiggles, or a Walnut drops, or my eye blinks behind a camo mesh. Uncontrollable fear is their survival mechanism.

That fear is coupled with an insatiable sex drive. A wild turkey will almost always try to mount my female turkey decoy. One time my buddy and I got tired of waiting for a tom to show up. When lunch came, we decided to take a break and drive to a local diner. On the drive to the diner, we noticed a Tom trying to mount my decoy. Oh well, we blew it - we just went and had lunch. When we came back, he was still at it. We tried to sneak him. Nothing doing. He saw us the same second when we saw him and he was gone!

A typical clutch here is a dozen eggs/chicks. And they typically join up with another brood. 50 sharp eyes and 50 terrified birds to grow up afraid of their shadows.

Ya, they are stupid. But their fear, their eyesight, and their off the scale sex drive all combine to make them very successful as a species.

That's my opinion.

I don't think you are far off in your theory. If you can't be smart and careful, be prolific, accept the losses, and still be a success in evolution.

 

[trevj]

Formula one hay cutting

I've helped the land owner where I hunt a few times cut hay and he goes fairly slow as well, despite that we've hit young turkey poults. No matter how slow you go it seems there's no avoiding them.

I know a couple guys with some custom hay rakes, used for turning the hay over to allow heavy windrows to dry evenly. Basically, they run at road speed, flat out. 35 yards of flying hay , trailing behind their rigs on the move at 20+mph.
You need REALLY smooth fields to pull that stuff off. Mine are not that! LOL!

 

[Bandit]

Yeah, sometimes the hay just gets moved over and not turned, or turned over 360 degrees. There is a bit of knowledge and ability involved. Doesn’t work well to put the hay on wetter ground then where it was.

 

[trevj]

I gotta admit, that I was SO very impressed with a Kuhn rotary rake, that I finally went out and bought one. A GA300GM, fwiw.

What impressed me, was the very gentle handling of the hay. Around here, we have had hay crops dry to a fragile state, in under ten hours from cut, typically a windy day, 45+ degree C temperatures. So we tend to not have to rake our hay to get it dry enough to bale. But... In the years that we do get lied to by the weather girl ( I want to marry a weather girl, because she already knows that she will be wrong at least half the time! ), and have to turn the alfalfa, a ground drive rake (big spring-tooth wheels) knocks off at least half the leaf from the windrow, and dumps it out on the field.

Not scientific, but the rotary rake only leaves about 10-15 percent of the dry leaf behind when it is used. Much gentler handling of the hay.

I make a lot of straight grass hay (low sugars, popular with the horse set when they need to feed but not founder their animals or have them going squirrel from too much nutrition). Grass is nice, because you can turn it every day as it's drying, and you don't lose any significant volume.

 

[Chicken lights]

I gotta admit, that I was SO very impressed with a Kuhn rotary rake, that I finally went out and bought one. A GA300GM, fwiw.

What impressed me, was the very gentle handling of the hay. Around here, we have had hay crops dry to a fragile state, in under ten hours from cut, typically a windy day, 45+ degree C temperatures. So we tend to not have to rake our hay to get it dry enough to bale. But... In the years that we do get lied to by the weather girl ( I want to marry a weather girl, because she already knows that she will be wrong at least half the time! ), and have to turn the alfalfa, a ground drive rake (big spring-tooth wheels) knocks off at least half the leaf from the windrow, and dumps it out on the field.

Not scientific, but the rotary rake only leaves about 10-15 percent of the dry leaf behind when it is used. Much gentler handling of the hay.

I make a lot of straight grass hay (low sugars, popular with the horse set when they need to feed but not founder their animals or have them going squirrel from too much nutrition). Grass is nice, because you can turn it every day as it's drying, and you don't lose any significant volume.

Is there a short-er-ish explanation on feed for animals? I've trucked hay from Manitoba to Ontario. Literally tons to NY, KY, FL from Ontario.

What makes it more confusing is everyone calls it "hay", much like everyone calls anything bean/corn related "grain".

The only explanation I've heard yet that makes sense is our hay is more nutrient dense, because of our soil (apparently). And yes I realize there's blends, like more alfalfa or what not

 

[Susquatch]

The only explanation I've heard yet that makes sense is our hay is more nutrient dense, because of our soil (apparently).

I think the only reason Kentucky (et al) wants Ontario hay is low cost. Nothing special about it. It used to be a fortune here till the race tracks were closed. Soon after, the prices crashed and farmers started shipping to the USA to save it from rotting in the field. I simply ploughed and planted my hay field.

 

[trevj]

Is there a short-er-ish explanation on feed for animals? I've trucked hay from Manitoba to Ontario. Literally tons to NY, KY, FL from Ontario.

What makes it more confusing is everyone calls it "hay", much like everyone calls anything bean/corn related "grain".

The only explanation I've heard yet that makes sense is our hay is more nutrient dense, because of our soil (apparently). And yes I realize there's blends, like more alfalfa or what not

Pretty much like @Susquatch says, cost is a factor. 30 percent bonus on teh exchange rate certainly helps! Some boils down to the ability to grow specific crops well in other areas too. Irrigation access, plays a role further.

I have a flock of sheep that need feed through the winter, they get my alfalfa mix hay, I have several naturally irrigated (sub-irrigated, the water seeps up through the ground) fields that grow a grass that makes a very low sugars content hay that is palatable for the horses that eat it, while not loading them up on excess energy, or causing them to founder, when they are not being actively used. Horses that are being worked steady, will handle a higher nutritional content hay without issues, and depending on what use they are put to, may even require a supplemental ration of grains to keep them in condition (eg., pack string horses).

Hay, is just the generic term for about any dried and stored forage crop used to feed animals. For all intents if you are trucking it, it doesn't much matter, but the nutritional content does vary, and especially among horse chicks, the number of different opinions about what is "Best" is vast! Some want straight alfalfa, some want straight grass, or a mix of a certain ratio, or Brome, or Timothy hay. Once the market local to me found what I could provide, it developed fairly well, and the grass that I hay is pretty low maintenance otherwise, watch it grow, harvest, repeat...

 

[Chicken lights]

Pretty much like @Susquatch says, cost is a factor. 30 percent bonus on teh exchange rate certainly helps!
Hay, is just the generic term for about any dried and stored forage crop used to feed animals. For all intents if you are trucking it, it doesn't much matter, but the nutritional content does vary, and especially among horse chicks

I assumed price was a factor, as well as specific blends. Someone got all excited because I had "8 string bales" on, which I gather some balers can't do

Yes and no, depending on the customs officer, if I'm hauling straw they don't like when I say hay

Never date a horse chick

 

[Susquatch]

Never date a horse chick

Expectations.....?

That cuts both ways...

 

[trevj]

I assumed price was a factor, as well as specific blends. Someone got all excited because I had "8 string bales" on, which I gather some balers can't do

Yes and no, depending on the customs officer, if I'm hauling straw they don't like when I say hay

Never date a horse chick

Am guessing that your 8 string bales were large square bales @1000 pounds plus. Each baler manufacturer has their own opinions as to the right number of strings to use, depending on the bale size. Larger bales are less handling, than the small squares we make here. My horse chick customers get chippy with me if the weight per bale gets up over 60 pounds, they are much more comfortable hand bonging a 55 pound bale around, and I get more bales per cut.

Lots of interpersonal drama in among the horsie set! Ugh! Put two horse chicks in a room, and pretty soon, you got three opinions and a fist fight! Worst was in the Communally run Riding Clubs. The only Boarding Stables I ever experienced that seemed to run well, were run as outright tyrannical Dictatorships by their operators, who booked no unauthorized changes to the way things were done or expected to be done.

 

[Chicken lights]

Am guessing that your 8 string bales were large square bales @1000 pounds plus. Each baler manufacturer has their own opinions as to the right number of strings to use, depending on the bale size. Larger bales are less handling, than the small squares we make here. My horse chick customers get chippy with me if the weight per bale gets up over 60 pounds, they are much more comfortable hand bonging a 55 pound bale around, and I get more bales per cut.

Lots of interpersonal drama in among the horsie set! Ugh! Put two horse chicks in a room, and pretty soon, you got three opinions and a fist fight! Worst was in the Communally run Riding Clubs. The only Boarding Stables I ever experienced that seemed to run well, were run as outright tyrannical Dictatorships by their operators, who booked no unauthorized changes to the way things were done or expected to be done.

yes, thankfully we only haul large squares on open deck. Personally I liked small squares and being in the mow of a barn. Good times and harvest meals were divine. I'm looking forward to my rocking chair at the nursing home to tell these stories