Silage 2021

Try going to bed a bit earlier, cut down on screen time, you’ll sleep better. :smile:

Are you a week later than last year?
You know what to do for next year.

I would normaly start cutting around the 25th of may so around ten days later than normal. A lot of grass cut around here the past week.
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Fine outfit, I had assumed you owned your own Hesston. Or was that in a previous life?

I draw in with my own tractor and trailer for the two outfits above. I bought the wagon in 2015 when help was scarce and the draws were shorter. I still have the hesston in the shed and I would have picked up a few acres with her but I only had myself and and another man for the pit so help was scarce again.
 
I drove a demo Hesston for a few hours in the early 90’s. Main thing I remember is that the pickup was superior to the JD5830 I had been used to. It ran faster and never got choked.
 
I drove a demo Hesston for a few hours in the early 90’s. Main thing I remember is that the pickup was superior to the JD5830 I had been used to. It ran faster and never got choked.

The blower was a far better design than the equivilant new holland and the dreaded coffin box in the jd. However when it blocked it was a job to clear it.
 
Christ thats a sight.if an hour lost at a pit its alot in a week.
Never happen up this way thankfully.someone grass could be in dry and end up been wet.contractors tbf keep pressing on and wouldnt entertain that messing .their under enough pressure to try and get grass in dry for everyone.
Held up covering 3 pits today, it's strange how a farmers priorities can change once the silage is in his pit, before you can't get there fast enough from the previous job but once its in the pit the next job doesn't need to be hurried to at all although one lad today suggested we all move on and just leave the loader man behind.. :whistle:
 
Held up covering 3 pits today, it's strange how a farmers priorities can change once the silage is in his pit, before you can't get there fast enough from the previous job but once its in the pit the next job doesn't need to be hurried to at all although one lad today suggested we all move on and just leave the loader man behind.. :whistle:
I worked in Cumbria in summer of 2004 and some places we covered pits and some we did not, it was all or nothing. Reason was if we covered them the the farmer was charged per hour per person, we worked dam hard no messing or smoking fags having the craic hanging off the loader. Wellies and gloves on and sheeted it 100% and moved on, farmers may not even help you which was fair as they paid for the job done properly. I felt it a very fair way, one in all in and 45 mins of 5 or 6 fellas got a lot of work done as sheets were ready and tyres to hand. Great system, never saw it here done tho. We allways have had covered our own so it does not matter really. Contractor we used work for over there said it was a very well paid hour for him too.
 
I worked in Cumbria in summer of 2004 and some places we covered pits and some we did not, it was all or nothing. Reason was if we covered them the the farmer was charged per hour per person, we worked dam hard no messing or smoking fags having the craic hanging off the loader. Wellies and gloves on and sheeted it 100% and moved on, farmers may not even help you which was fair as they paid for the job done properly. I felt it a very fair way, one in all in and 45 mins of 5 or 6 fellas got a lot of work done as sheets were ready and tyres to hand. Great system, never saw it here done tho. We allways have had covered our own so it does not matter really. Contractor we used work for over there said it was a very well paid hour for him too.
The 30 acres output we lost today will put us under pressure tomorrow evening, who wants to be going out for an hours work Sunday followed by a pit covering.
 
The blower was a far better design than the equivilant new holland and the dreaded coffin box in the jd. However when it blocked it was a job to clear it.
Do the queen on hearts just off with her head. Faster to just pull out the drum n clear it. A great machine for their day though the 6850 we had was miles ahead again to what the hesstons were.
 
The 30 acres output we lost today will put us under pressure tomorrow evening, who wants to be going out for an hours work Sunday followed by a pit covering.
maybe put a max amount of time on how long the crew will stay. All handy pits should be sheeted in 20 minutes, put on a few tyres here and there and the rest left to the farmer
 
The 30 acres output we lost today will put us under pressure tomorrow evening, who wants to be going out for an hours work Sunday followed by a pit covering.
Simply wrong the farmer expecting the contractor to cover a pit.....2 fingers to the rest of the farmers with grass down waiting to be lifted.
Totally agree with you Arthur, if it means yee had to be out lifting Sunday when there was no need due to time lost covering .
Probaly is an opening for a few lads to team up and follow the contractors covering pits .
Would contractors helping cover pits down south be a common theme
 
Fai

Fair play to them....am only presuming like majority of factory workers there not irish and would put us to shame for getting work done.
Johnny cash job too probaly
There's a crew out of the chicken factory in gort footing turf this time of year and rebuilding farm stone walls at other times. There's one lad that hasn't a word of English but if you saw the way that he can build a dry stone wall, you would stand to admire it.
 
Simply wrong the farmer expecting the contractor to cover a pit.....2 fingers to the rest of the farmers with grass down waiting to be lifted.
Totally agree with you Arthur, if it means yee had to be out lifting Sunday when there was no need due to time lost covering .
Probaly is an opening for a few lads to team up and follow the contractors covering pits .
Would contractors helping cover pits down south be a common theme
Maybe its an appreciation by the contractor of have easy working conditions, large pit that doesnt slow up any of the team, easy access to fields etc, could have saved them considerable time even on a handy 50ac job.

should we not bother providing food either, as we are just slowing them up?
 
Contractors always get fed here.....its up to each farmer on their own if they wish to feed the silage crew.....
BUT as regards covering the pit , the harvestor , trailer and loader ('s) drivers should not be held up to cover a pit .in broken weather it simply isn't on for delay in lifting grass
 
Contractors always get fed here.....its up to each farmer on their own if they wish to feed the silage crew.....
BUT as regards covering the pit , the harvestor , trailer and loader ('s) drivers should not be held up to cover a pit .in broken weather it simply isn't on for delay in lifting grass
my contractor doesnt work on Sunday, disgraceful that he is delaying picking up grass, for next in line.

Big deal, he will be here tuesday, as he told me a week ago.
 
There will be no on begging the contractor to cover silage pits ,simple if he does not do it ,simple get a silage contactor who will do the job .No one expects him to do it for free either .In fairness if contactors were not going to cover the pit ,there would be even more farmers switching to bales ,it is a bollix of a job but made so much easier with a loading shovel and extra skins to help out
 
better to charge full rate for the kit that should be picking grass instead of sitting
The problem with that this side is its charged by the acre, how many acres does covering a pit equate to 😂😂

the best one I found was one morning heading to do second or possibly third cut, we weren’t allowed to start chopping till after 10 but he wanted the loader and a lad up to give a hand at 9 to help pull the cover off. Myself and loader man landed up with loader, tractor and silage trailer rattling and banging in passed the house through the yard passed the parlour. No sign of anyone so we had to take in to pull cover off. Arrives over to us just as first load is coming into the yard, oh I didn’t know you were here or I’d have given you a hand 🙄🙄
 
20 acres cut here this morning. Not over heavy but OK. Was contemplating giving it a run with the wuffler tomorrow and bale on Monday but I think now that the wuffler would be too much in tomorrow's forecast high temps. Its already starting to bake.
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