The weather is heavy and looming. One weather source says rain is decreasing as it approaches but the northeast should get the best of it. Another says we will be lucky to get anything with the rain going to the south. It seems everyone is pretty good at getting the temperatures in the right range, but the rainfall is all over the shop.
The theme of recent years is that good falls forecast a week away almost always become nothing or nearly nothing by the time the day rolls around. It's frustrating enough for me trying to plan watering, I can't imagine having to plan irrigation for commercial crops, or when to cut or harvest.
Jason did indeed bale the hay yesterday afternoon, we ended up with 11 1/2 bales. I moved three of them into the barnyard to dry out a bit more before we stack them into the shed. I had to leave the rest in the paddock as Bessie is struggling to lift them. Jason came down and we did some trouble shooting. We solved the steering problems by adding air to the front tyres, and checked the engine oil, hydraulic oil and coolant (all ok). Then we worked on setting the ideal revs for the motor.
Bessie will lift the bale all the way up but there is a whining noise from the 3 point linkage that sounds like the gears are slipping so that she has to rev harder to keep the lift. This means she is running too hard and hot. Jason will bring his big tractor back to put the bales away in a few days and the full service I had been planning for Bessie probably needs to include the hydraulics.
I have six rounds left from last year, used about 40 as I began feeding in January and went right through to October. Hopefully another cut from this paddock, though that would be a first in ten years. And maybe a few bales from the main paddock. The bales we just cut are beautiful, Jason says the best hay we've cut from here. They are lovely and green and smell great, which I put down to the fertiliser and the extra seeding.
These are today's bales, under a loomy gloomy sky that didn't rain.
This is a view across the cut paddock to the main paddock where the grass is still standing. I think we will cut all of that area too.
I repaired the irrigation line to the bottlebrush trees and grapevine. The person who whippersnipped the front fenceling managed to damage about half the sprinklers. I think I might spray the grass out from underneath the trees so they don't need to be trimmed. Clover and other flat weeds can remain , I'll just use a grass specific spray. I might do this around the fruit trees too, as whippersnipping too close can end up ringbarking trees and other people aren't as careful as me.
I slipped into town to pick up some medications and stock feed and bank some cheques. The power company sent us two $80 cheques because we had a blackout, one for the dairy meter and one for the house meter. Handy, but banking cheques is a chore and I am surprised they didn't just put a credit on the bills.
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