# wildlife haying hazards



## Fossil02818 (May 31, 2010)

Boy I hate it when critters get killed when I'm mowing. This years first cut is especially thick and I've been careful to watch for fawns and other wildlife when I'm mowing. Sunday I ran through two wild turkey nests. One with 7 eggs that I crushed and another nest with 6 eggs and what was left of momma after the moco turned her into a mess of feathers and innards. There's a healthy turkey population here so its not like I'm thinning an endangered species. Its just that I enjoy having lots of wildlife around the property and rather have them eat each other instead of me doing the culling ( unless its venison). I got to witness a bald eagle take a trout from the pond a couple weeks ago. That's a special kind of reward for spending lots of time outdoors! What's your experience been with close encounters of the mowing variety?


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Lemme tell you the story of the indestructible skunk...

Now, first off, I hay with a pair of 5610S Ford tractors, a PZ Zweegers 7.5 foot drum mower, a pair of NH rakes on a bridge hitch, and an old Ford 552 round baler. All open station, out in the sun, no computers, eatin' dust and out in the wind old school type haying. None of them fancy computer monitors and air conditioned cabs...

So, I'm out mowing the other side of the canal in a 14 acre meadow here on the farm, mostly prairie hay, that is a mix of native and improved grasses that make good cow hay. Anyway, the other side of the crick has some drains coming in from the neighbor's place to the drainage canal that cuts through our pasture from the north end of the farm to about the midpoint on the west side, to drain his row crop fields, so I end up breaking the cut up into a long rectangular piece, a sorta trapezoidal guillotine-blade shaped piece between two drain ditches that come together and dump into the canal, and then another long run out the other side. I cut parallel to the ditches so I'm not bouncing through them and gouging the mower blades in and all that BS, especially after he came over and cleaned them out a bit with his grader blade and made them rougher. SO, anyway, I'm in the trapezoidal section of a couple acres or so running in circles from the outside in, and it's pretty good grass... between knee and waist high. I'm running and all of a sudden I start smelling skunk... so I'm looking around for it because I don't want to get nailed by the lil SOB. SO I'm making my rounds wide open and looking around but I can't see anything. Then all of a sudden I see something up under my front tire as I'm making the corner... it's the skunk, the tire ran straight over his front half, and his rear half is sticking out to the inside tail up and I'm "looking down the barrel" and there's NOTHING I can do about it but flinch, close my eyes, and prepare for the worst... amazingly, I didn't get sprayed... I guess maybe he was already out of juice, I dunno. I didn't stop to inquire about it. Anyway, since I was in the turn, the rear wheel missed him and he went right under the hitch and I kept right on mowing. I saw him totter off, didn't look right at all, I figured, "Well, the sucker must've went through the mower and it took him off at the knees, and he's hobbling around bleeding out. That and the tractor front tire going over him scrubbing in a turn must've put the kibosh on him, so he's just staggering around til he drops..." After all, the drum mower will catch big Norway rats sometimes running for cover or ducking down a hole-- and usually bisects them clean as a surgeon's knife... Course I'm still mowing and looking for him but I don't see him, so I figured he must've huddled under the swath and layed down to croak...

So anyway, next day, I'm out raking. Hay is wilted flat, but the swath is still thick since it was heavy grass, and I'm in the same area and keeping a lookout for Mr. Skunk's lifeless little corpse, since I don't want it in the windrow to get baled up-- I sure don't need it plugging up the baler's intake crush roller and snapping a shear bolt and then having to dig all that stinking mess out with a hay hook and bare handed... So anyway I'm looking but I don't see anything... watching the windrow roll off the rake, looking for his black pelt to go rolling off with it, so I can separate him from the windrow with a stick if needed. I'm watching and no skunk... I look back at the rakes where they had just ran and see something tottering off-- it's Mr. Skunk, heading off to hide under another windrow... "WOW!", I thought... "that sucker is STILL ALIVE? He's tough... bet that rake did a number on him, though-- all those steel tines coming straight down at the ground and raking forward, probably impaled him through the back... gotta watch extra close when I bale since the SOB hid under the windrow over there..." Made a mental note and kept working...

Next day, I'm baling the hay... rolling up some nice rounds at perfect moisture, sun shining, breeze blowing, things are good. I get to that part of the field and think to myself, "Okay, self-- gotta watch for that stupid skunk that's probably dead in the windrow or underneath it... sure don't need that riding the pickup into the baler and plugging it up and breaking a shear bolt and having to dig that out!" SO I'm baling and looking and looking and baling and kinda puckered waiting to see if the baler balls up and that dreaded SNAP! of a shear bolt popping... Nothing yet... I make a corner and see something tottering off... You guessed it, Mr. Skunk again! Bugger was hiding under the windrow and the baler pickup went right over him. AND, he's STILL ALIVE! Now, I don't run my pickup "down in the dirt" but I don't run it high either... tines basically right on the ground with a full bale on board... so this sucker HAD to have gotten a back massage from the pickup teeth at full speed... I kept on baling and as I finished up that section and tied and dropped the last bale before starting the next long strip, I see something tottering by as I'm closing the tailgate... it's Mr. Skunk-- I guess he decided to move to a quieter neighborhood, because he's following the creekbank down to the west side of the farm where it crosses under the road out into the woods... LOL

So that's the indestructible Mr. Super-Skunk...

I could tell you about the time I was face to face with a football-size yellow jacket (paper wasp for you northerners who have the kind that dig into the ground) nest on a cotton trailer, but that's another story...

Later! OL J R


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Football size?? That there's a big ole yeller jacket.....I once was eye to eye with a alligator snapping turtle that I swear was as big as the hood of my truck and had a head as big as a five gallon bucket 
Course it was underwater and scared the crap out of me......it was only a fleeting glimpse  
That didn't happen during haying BTW
But, I'm same as you....I don't want my hay being ruined by the stench of a dead animal, and I would much rather nature do the job than me....


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## ozarkian (Dec 11, 2010)

That's the part of mowing I hate the worst. I have lots of deer, turkey and quail on my farm. I hit a turkey nest full of eggs. Did not harm momma. Narrowly missed a fawn. Laid a copper head to waste and watched a bald eagle take it for dinner. I hate snakes, they remind me of my ex-wife.I do my best to mow around any wild life I see.


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## reede (May 17, 2010)

Got a fawn and a turkey nest in the same field a few weeks ago. Managed to miss the turkey nest in the new alfalfa field, and in between cutting and baling the eggs all hatched and were gone.


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## NewBerlinBaler (May 30, 2011)

When mowing, I regularly see hawks swoop down and grab a snake or field mouse with its talons and fly off. Sometimes it happens directly in front of me, only 30 feet away.


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## CowboyRam (Dec 13, 2015)

I have had hawks grab a mouse or rabbit. It is kind of cool seeing those birds of prey swoop down at get little critter. I have not got any animals when mowing, but have ran over a snake with the grain drill. Needless to say he did not fare well.


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## Beav (Feb 14, 2016)

Seems like every year we hit a duck nest and most of the time there is no water near by. It is impressive to watch hawks and coyotes hunt just a few feet from the tractor. Yes and like everyone else have hit more critters then I care to count.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

I had a hen turkey fly off her nest just a couple feet in front of the mower in first cut alfalfa this year and the discbine squashed most of the eggs. I also found a duck when raking timothy who didn't move for the discbine. Both of those were disappointing. However the groundhog that went through the mower undetected and made it into a bale... not so much. Trying to eradicate all those buggers from the ground!


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## Kasey (Jun 24, 2015)

I mowed a pheasant nest earlier. The eggs survived, but the hen didn't. I took the the eggs back to my chicken coop and they hatched, but the chicks didn't survive my hens


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I hate hitting the turkey nests the most. You can't see them to avoid so there is nothing short of not haying that you can do. Last year I was cutting heavy first cutting OG and windrowing it because the ground was wet. A whole clutch of chicks roll out and start running down the cut swath in front of the tractor. Got out and tried to lift them over the windrow to safety and of course, they run into the tall grass and eventually get pressed in the rollers. I like smoked turkey a lot so it is painful to see. The dang deer are a nuisance so one or so fawns is just par for the course. Must have cut through a nest of turkeys that hadn't hatched this year, hen flew off but kept trying to land back in the field. Feathers everywhere. Never saw any chicks or eggs. My house cat always prefers stalking the cut fields in lieu of eating any mouse that has gotten into the house. go figure


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## DLCC2 (Jul 12, 2016)

I was working on my first cutting of this season which was rye grass cover crop off of a friends 90 acre bean field. It has a branch that runs through the center of it and on the back side it collects around the wood line to sorta of a swampy area. I'll tell you from experience if you ever have the chance to run a box turtle through a disc mower......... DON"T DO IT!!. It shook my tractor so hard I thought I had totaled the whole rig :lol:

Also, about 3 years ago I was working for a guy and while raking I found that a 10-15 pound **** went through his flail type moco undetected. He was in one piece but looked like it was a ride I didn't care to take.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Hit a couple of fawns over the weekend, don't like doing it, but deer are like varmints in MY area, way to many. Haven't hit any turkey nests in a few years, last time I did the final score was Turkeys 2, Larry 3 however.

One year I notice a turkey's nest and left the hay standing where she was nesting. I cut around the nest, leaving probably 20' x 20' of un-cut hay about 1/3 the way into a 15 acre almost square field. Came back later in the day and she was back on the nest. Checked a couple of days after baling (she was still sitting on nest yet then) later and it appeared I should have paint a large target to where she was nesting. Nothing left but feathers, with a few egg shells and part of a foot, critter must have gotten full and could eat any more. Haven't tried leaving anymore nest targets since.

Larry


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

My Dad's buddy got a fawn and destroyed his mo-co's rolls in the process! I missed a turkey that was with her chicks, all made it out safe and sound. I have 4 more fields to go that usually have fawns and or turkey in them..


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## Idaho Hay (Oct 14, 2016)

It's been a couple of years now since I've gotten any fawns, but about three years ago I got about six of them in one season  , and that year, just about every farmer I talked to had the same story. I think the previous year's weather patterns effect when the does are birthing, and if you catch the fawns young enough, their instinct is to lay down in the tall grass and be still which doesn't mix well with a mower that's inevitably going to cut every square inch of the field.

We certainly have an over population of deer, but I'd much rather control the population by putting meet in the freezer rather than feeding a 10 pound fawn to the coyotes.


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## MyDaughtersPony (Jun 12, 2016)

Nothing special for me yet! I did bale up 2 frogs.... I thought that was pretty funny.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Idaho Hay said:


> It's been a couple of years now since I've gotten any fawns, but about three years ago I got about six of them in one season  , and that year, just about every farmer I talked to had the same story.


The fawns will lay perfectly still during the first 7 days or so of birth....and then after that they will stay with mama or flee when disturbed. You mowed during their main birthing period. To figure your main birthing period one has to note when the peak of the rut was the previous fall....usually somewhere around the middle of November, but can easily be earlier or later in some locales. Gestation on a whitetail deer is seven months, so that often puts the main birthing period around the first full week of June or a week later.

Regards, Mike


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

luke strawwalker said:


> Lemme tell you the story of the indestructible skunk...
> 
> Now, first off, I hay with a pair of 5610S Ford tractors, a PZ Zweegers 7.5 foot drum mower, a pair of NH rakes on a bridge hitch, and an old Ford 552 round baler. All open station, out in the sun, no computers, eatin' dust and out in the wind old school type haying. None of them fancy computer monitors and air conditioned cabs...
> 
> ...


I just KNEW you were gonna tell us that you found the skunk while feeding a bale later that winter....STILL alive!!

I've started carrying a little 22 in my boot during first cutting as I've had to beat a few to death with a drawbar pin. I know it sounds cruel, but after chopping one's feet off it's the only humane thing to do. It sickens me to not be able to give one a quicker death...therefore the pistol.

Then, the next few rounds are somber as I think about the fact that the doe prolly had a talk with her fawn and told it not to move and it would be safe. It has to take everything the fawn can muster not to run off, but to remain obedient...even unto death. No cab, no radio, nothing to distract my mind from going down various rabbit holes. A couple more rounds around the field and something else will distract me and get me to pondering something else.

Bottom line, I hate hitting critters. Shut down the mower last year to catch a black snake, walk him to the barn, and turn him loose in the hay. Ain't too many animals that I wouldn't stop to let them get out of the way, 'cept box turtles...I ain't got THAT kind of patience; I carry them to the woods. I hate seeing an animal wasted.

Mark


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## Ray 54 (Aug 2, 2014)

Since going to a swather in 82 have not cut up many fawns. The reel seems to make them jump up before it is to late. With a sickle machine I only go about 3 or 4 MPH.

The worst was baling a fawn,was under the windrow and never saw it till the cross feed had it.

Have to agree about leaving turkey nests really dose them no good.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

I've cut up a few fawns, kind of bothers ya when you find one with its legs cut off and you have to finish it off. Have cut up quite a few ducks that were nesting in the alfalfa. Skunks are one of the worst. Used to hay an alfalfa field on the edge of the Sandhills. The porcupines would come out of the hills and feed in the alfalfa. I cut up or shot 11 on the 1'st cut one year. Then had to drive around and pick them all up so they wouldn't end up in the hay.

I find it entertaining to watch hawks and sea gulls catch mice and stuff. Some of those gulls you wonder if they're going to choke when they swallow a gopher whole.

I was disking a field one spring that I was breaking up and I kept noticing sea gulls either dead in the field or a few hopping around with busted wings and I was wondering what was going on. The gulls were following the disk pretty close to eat whatever worms, grubs, or bugs the disk turned up. As I started watching them closer, a few of the real daring ones would dive in between the front and rear gangs of this offset disk I was pulling. The ones that weren't quick enough got caught by the back gang and were the ones I saw that were dead or crippled.


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## kidbalehook (Mar 19, 2013)

My brother ran a fawn thru our 489 haybine once... left the skinned body on the tractor side and only the skin pulled thru to the exit side in the windrow. It tubed skinned it as nice as we did in the fall skinning other animals... it was a sight to see.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

I'm up over 10 fawns this year. Thought I was doing good not getting any until my wife started raking and she kept texting me about finding them. I don't know how many turkeys I got, opened up a field and second time around there is mom with her little ones and she shoved them into the tall grass. Stopped tractor waited til all the grass was moving in one area lifted mower and went over them, 3rd time around same thing, by the 4th time everybody had moved to the woods.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

somedevildawg said:


> Football size?? That there's a big ole yeller jacket.....I once was eye to eye with a alligator snapping turtle that I swear was as big as the hood of my truck and had a head as big as a five gallon bucket
> Course it was underwater and scared the crap out of me......it was only a fleeting glimpse
> That didn't happen during haying BTW
> But, I'm same as you....I don't want my hay being ruined by the stench of a dead animal, and I would much rather nature do the job than me....


Guess you missed the "nest" part above... LOL

Sure you walked uphill both ways to school too... while we're telling tall tales!

Later! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

DLCC2 said:


> (snip)
> 
> Also, about 3 years ago I was working for a guy and while raking I found that a 10-15 pound **** went through his flail type moco undetected. He was in one piece but looked like it was a ride I didn't care to take.


Did it scuff the waxy layer off him?? LOL

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Later! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

MyDaughtersPony said:


> Nothing special for me yet! I did bale up 2 frogs.... I thought that was pretty funny.


Sounds like some of the Norway rats I've seen in the field after mowing with the drum mower-- front half is starting down their rathole, back half is in the swath or laying nearby...

Later! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

IHCman said:


> I've cut up a few fawns, kind of bothers ya when you find one with its legs cut off and you have to finish it off. Have cut up quite a few ducks that were nesting in the alfalfa. Skunks are one of the worst. Used to hay an alfalfa field on the edge of the Sandhills. The porcupines would come out of the hills and feed in the alfalfa. I cut up or shot 11 on the 1'st cut one year. Then had to drive around and pick them all up so they wouldn't end up in the hay.
> 
> I find it entertaining to watch hawks and sea gulls catch mice and stuff. Some of those gulls you wonder if they're going to choke when they swallow a gopher whole.
> 
> I was disking a field one spring that I was breaking up and I kept noticing sea gulls either dead in the field or a few hopping around with busted wings and I was wondering what was going on. The gulls were following the disk pretty close to eat whatever worms, grubs, or bugs the disk turned up. As I started watching them closer, a few of the real daring ones would dive in between the front and rear gangs of this offset disk I was pulling. The ones that weren't quick enough got caught by the back gang and were the ones I saw that were dead or crippled.


Sea-pigeons... basically flying rats... LOL

We don't have them in the field here, we get cattle egrets following the disk... they'll lift off right in front of the tractor, wing right over it, and land so close behind the disk that the dirt just hit the ground... but I've never hit one!

Later! OL J R


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## Shetland Sheepdog (Mar 31, 2011)

"Sea pigeons" huh? up here the term is "dump ducks"!


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## Shetland Sheepdog (Mar 31, 2011)

Sorta like our term for "moose", that would be "swamp donkeys"!


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

We missed a turkey nest a few years ago and left several feet of crop all around it but by the next morning a coyote or something had gotten into the eggs.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Last yr I got 5 fawns,they were sitting tight and I never seen them.This yr they must be a little older,they are getting up and getting out of the way.Still got one.

Couple yrs ago got 3 coyote pups they must of laid tight to the ground and the blades took the top of there skull off.

Got a turtle also,cut it in half takeing the shell off,it was full of eggs.

Got many skunks and raccoons over the yrs.A raccoon makes a hell of a kawump going threw crimper


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

The turtle.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

Had this coyote mamma hanging out on every round. Following the cutter and eating anything dead that came out on 1st cutting


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## Dan_GA (Dec 29, 2015)

So far, all I've tagged is a King Snake that I didn't see until next time around the field. Had a few close calls with fawns last week, but they got up and bolted across the field to the woods. I did have a small fawn running around in my field in front of the house the other afternoon. My 13 year old daughter saw it before me and was playing with it. :huh: I had to go out and tell her why that was bad for the fawn, but I did take a pic before we shoo'd it off.


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## Wcbr1025 (May 1, 2015)

Never hit anything until I got the disc mower this year. I've got a couple of fawns and some snakes. The worst by far was a cat....that really depressed me,could have been a little kids pet or something. I guess it's just part of the business.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Jinxed myself, turkey 0, Larry 1 this year, after not hitting one for 5+ years or so. :angry:

Larry


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## woodland (May 23, 2016)

swmnhay said:


> The turtle.


Never have got a turtle.... I guess we're too far north for that. Porcupines are a bugger since you don't want to bale or chop the quills. Plenty of them up here at times.


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

Found this while cutting yesterday thankfully not with a tire largest shed I ever found.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

farmerbrown said:


> Found this while cutting yesterday thankfully not with a tire largest shed I ever found.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice....I would be looking for him in August(in bachelors group) to see if I could set up a ambush for him in September during archery season.

Regards, Mike


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## Idaho Hay (Oct 14, 2016)

I managed to get a fawn last week. Never even knew it until I saw it's carcass while tedding the next day. I hate to see them go that way, but at least the bird show was entertaining (buzzards, eagles, crows, etc.)

The next day I was cutting the outer perimeter of another field (along the county road) with my disc swather, and all of a sudden it sounded like I sucked up a whole spool of wire... or a fence post... or a whole car... or something horrible. Either way, it sounded like the end of the world had happened underneath the hood of my NH 7230. So I shut the machine down and got out to see what had happened, and if I had half destroyed my mower. Well, much to my surprise I had picked up an empty 5 gallon gas can :blink: . apparently it wouldn't go through the roll conditioner, so it just sat on top of the discs making an unbelievable noise (as you can imagine). It was one of those moments where shear panic turned into a good old belly laugh once I realized what was really going on.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Created a little bunny sushi the other day. Was watching one rabbit to make sure he was out of the way when three slices of rabbit came flying out. Boatloads of young rabbits this year.


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## gosh (Sep 28, 2014)

luke strawwalker said:


> Lemme tell you the story of the indestructible skunk...
> 
> Now, first off, I hay with a pair of 5610S Ford tractors, a PZ Zweegers 7.5 foot drum mower, a pair of NH rakes on a bridge hitch, and an old Ford 552 round baler. All open station, out in the sun, no computers, eatin' dust and out in the wind old school type haying. None of them fancy computer monitors and air conditioned cabs...
> 
> ...


You sure that wasn't his other brother Darrell ????


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