Under the Wire

“What comes around, goes around.” I have no idea who to attribute this quote to. It’s about as common as “look at the sunset,” so I’m going to guess nobody knows who said it first.

This concept has expressed itself in clothing for men and women, furniture styles, even eating habits as evidenced by the movement toward chemical free “organic” food. Grea-grandpa and grandma were eating “organic” 100 years ago. There weren’t any chemicals invented yet, if you don’t count moonshine.

The point is, if you stay hooked with an old-fashioned idea, way of life or just the day to day possessions we surround ourselves with, sooner or later they are going to be the new best thing.

Without really planning to do so, I am finding myself approaching this full circle concept here on our ranch. Over our lifetime, Sue and I have accumulated most of the machinery, long ago paid for, to conduct the haying, feeding, weed and brush control operations we find necessary every year.

Needless to say most is very old. We rake hay with a 1958 Ford tractor pulling a New Holland rake about the same age. Our mower, yes I said mower, not swather or disc mower was built, along with a bale wagon, manure spreader, three point blade and much more, in the 1960s and 70s. I know because I was operating them for my father and uncle as a teenager about then. My point is, this stuff is old.

Recently, a story I was reading on the internet, yes we have some newer stuff, was a dairy farmer complaining about dirt and dust in his premium alfalfa. “How can I prevent this?” he asked the world. Several readers responded that he must be using a big wheel rake because the teeth must contact the ground to turn, churning up a certain amount of debris. The answer several suggested, is a bar rake, with teeth driven from ground driven rubber tires, allowing the teeth to stay suspended above the dirt. One helpful sole included a picture of … a New Holland model 56 hay rake, exactly what is sitting in our machinery row. Sixty years later we have the best hay rake in the industry.

Best of all, it has been paid for, all four hundred dollars of it, for about 50 years. All ya gotta do is wait. You will become modern sooner or later!