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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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I'm sure we've all done it. My father fed the cows alone. He had a hand throttle on the 63 Chevy pickup, he'd use a tarpstrap on the steering wheel put in superlow, get out the door, get on the box, and string out the bales, and get back in before the driverless pickup hit a fence.
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: May 2011
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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did it many times with both a tractor and a pickup. Was just part of day to day life on the farm.
Laws aren't preventative measures. In other words, more laws won't prevent gun crime from happening.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I didn't know there was any other way to do it.
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Joined: Sep 2011
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Campfire Kahuna
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OP
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,797 |
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 12,850
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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and run back to the rig to turn the wheel back straight every time you hit a rut that pulls the front wheels one way or the other.....
Sic Semper Tyrannis
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 69,632
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Aug 2004
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That's what kids are for! Starting at about age 6. And city folks wonder how farm and ranch kids learn to drive at such young ages...
Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla!
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Joined: Jan 2008
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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I'm sure we've all done it. My father fed the cows alone. He had a hand throttle on the 63 Chevy pickup, he'd use a tarpstrap on the steering wheel put in superlow, get out the door, get on the box, and string out the bales, and get back in before the driverless pickup hit a fence. Granny low, no throttle, and my under 5 year old self standing in the front seat thinking I was driving while dad fed hay. Dad's 80 this year and has been using a bale bed pickup for the last 15+ years running 200+ cows still mostly by himself. I help when I can these days, but work keeps me pretty busy. At least he isn't running 500 cows anymore. Mom would like him to retire completely, but I know that would kill him.
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 1,080
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 1,080 |
Dad fed small round bales of hay with an 8N Ford and a 2 wheel lowboy. Had chains for the tractor, and he could resort to a 3-point mounted carry-all box if the snow or mud was to deep to pull the trailer. 10 bales of hay left the front end pretty light.
When it was below zero cold the 8N could balk at starting. Dad would hitch Tom & Dick (they had enough Percheron blood to weigh 1300 lbs or so) to a sled or wagon to feed. The cows got a few buckets of ear corn that we would break into bite size chunks over 4 X 4 board at the crib.
He had me get off and run beside the sled sometimes to keep from getting too cold. Sticking your overshoe toes into a fresh cowpie was another quick warm up.
When it was really bad weather he always kept a stack of hay next to the pasture fence that we could throw bales over and spread out and not bother with the tractor or horses.
The new 2wd '68 F-100 was quite the luxury-mud tires and v-bar chains it went pretty good.
Last edited by cowdoc; 02/19/21.
Always drink upstream from the herd...cowdoc...
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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I fed our rodeo herd of about 25 head a few times by my lonesome.
I’ve loaded square bales out of the field in my toyoty pu by myself a lot of times.
Load a bale or two and run up for course correction. Repeat.
Now that was a good workout.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
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Campfire Outfitter
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That's what kids are for! Starting at about age 6. And city folks wonder how farm and ranch kids learn to drive at such young ages... This .. about about 12-14 doing it all by theirselfs
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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You guys must be talking about feeding beef cows. In my youth we had dairy cows and I could feed them alone by hitting the switch on the silo unloader and bunk feeder. The most labor involved was unloading the feed cart in the dairy barn.
You're Welcome At My Fire Anytime
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Campfire Regular
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That's what kids are for! Starting at about age 6. And city folks wonder how farm and ranch kids learn to drive at such young ages... I steered a B John Deere between the rows of hay bales when I was 4 or 5, with my Dad or uncle right there. Raking and mowing hay on an 8N by the age of 9 or 10. Driving pickup by myself around the farm by 12. I took my drivers license test at 16 in our pickup, 4 speed manual transmission. I had practiced a bunch at home. I parallel parked that truck perfectly between the cones with no hesitation. The examiner was a grouchy old fart that had a reputation for being pretty tough on first time testers. He complimented me on the parallel park-"You did that pretty well." I replied with "I could back a B John Deere and a hay rack in that spot!" I failed my test. He thought I was a little too cocky about my driving skills...
Always drink upstream from the herd...cowdoc...
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Joined: Feb 2007
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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That's what kids are for! Starting at about age 6. And city folks wonder how farm and ranch kids learn to drive at such young ages... Exactly. I don’t recall how old I was, probably 6-7. Dad put the truck in lowest gear (we called it compound) and he would jump out and shovel silage into bunks as I steered the truck parallel to the feed bunks. That was in the late 1950s.
NRA Patron
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Joined: Sep 2011
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
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Like, smoke em if you got um. The youngsters are not always around to help.
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 19,075
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2001
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That's what kids are for! Starting at about age 6. And city folks wonder how farm and ranch kids learn to drive at such young ages... Yea,They would sit me up on an old International H pulling a flat bed trailer before my legs even reached the petals.My older brotherwould put it in low gear and told me to weave a little bit backand forth along the small squares to to get close to the bales to pick up hay. Milk cows were in the barn all winter so we never fed out side.When the pasture would start givig out in mid July, we hand chopped corn to feed..I had the same job. When that tricycle front end tried to jump a row, it about broke my wrist.
If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles
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Campfire Regular
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I used to pick up hay bales in the field that way. I'd get the truck started on a row, jump out and run alongside throwing bales into the back. Once I had a bunch in the back. I'd jump in and put it in park, jump in the back and stack the bales and then do it all over again until I had a full truck.
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Joined: Sep 2011
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 43,872
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 43,872 |
The bale beds and hay processors have made life easy.
I can feed 200-300 cows by myself in a few hours. Be even quicker if they weren't in several different locations. How easy is to pull a couple hydraulic controls and have 1500-3600lbs loaded in literally less than a minute.
Caking them is trickier as I prefer to jump on the back and scoop shovel off versus use a flatbed mounted feeder.
Not a big fan off cows running to the pickup with no one able to hit the brake in case a dumbass gets in the road.
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 69,632
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 69,632 |
The bale beds and hay processors have made life easy.
I can feed 200-300 cows by myself in a few hours. Be even quicker if they weren't in several different locations. How easy is to pull a couple hydraulic controls and have 1500-3600lbs loaded in literally less than a minute.
Caking them is trickier as I prefer to jump on the back and scoop shovel off versus use a flatbed mounted feeder.
Not a big fan off cows running to the pickup with no one able to hit the brake in case a dumbass gets in the road. Have used a couple of these. One in the bed of the feed pickup, and one on a trailer. Just pull under the hopper, fill em up, and go feed the cows! https://tsfeeders.com/truck.htmlThe one mounted in the pickup had a counter so you knew how much to feed the cows. (Given that you knew how many cows were in the pasture... )
Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla!
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Joined: Feb 2006
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 43,872 |
That is the exact make of the feeder we have.
Electric motor that runs a chain drive conveyor and lid flipper mechanism. We have a counter as well, that or count the sound of the lid clanging shut.
I don't like it because you can only haul one bale at a time if it's on the bed. Which of course is fine if you only need one bale otherwise it doubles the trips to the haystack.
That or use two pickups which is a pain in the ass when its really cold.
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