Dawn and Dave Jensch at Rolling Hills Farms in Northeastern Minnesota. Dawn has operated the farm for over thirty years raising Angus beef calves and grain and now Dave has joined the operation full-time with his retirement from an office job. We’ll try to capture life on a small farm as we work to feed area families and cope with a harsh northern climate.
@@farming4g It’s finally dry enough to get through all our fields. We still have two fields too wet to plant oats. We’ll disc the weeds under and seed winter rye in August.
I'm surprised how soggy some areas still are. In town we could use rain. 15 miles north the drainage ditches are full, and there are puddles. I'm really glad you are seeing Monarchs. I've seen less in recent years. I remember when they would cover three Hackberry trees at home. Thank you Dave .
It's looking really good. Beautiful hay. I baled some not so beautiful hay today. Good luck with the hauling. I decided today that picking up and hauling round bales is the least fun part of farming.
Just sitting here waiting for the fog to burn off, then it's out raking and baling again.... Got 60 bales off a field yesterday that we got 10 off last year...May and June rain is a good thing..Glad to see your having a good season so far....Tell Dave to slow that Green tractor down a notch....lol. Thanks Dave.
How many tons per acre do you think you're getting this year?? Looks like we're about the same as last year, a whopping 2+... Still half of normal. Rain at the right time, does good things!!! Our normal on grass is 4+.. but it's gotta actually rain in May and June. Milkweed, not so good.. but the butterflies are a good thing!!!!
@@GosselinFarmsEdGosselin We got over 5 on two heavy grass fields, but we’re averaging about 3.5. I’m figuring my bales as #1000 and they may be more. Dave’s bales are #850.
@@Rollinghillsfarmsmn nice 👍 When we had the neighbors between us and the road, the 8 acres we cut for hay and then pastured 3 or 4 times, was 5 tons every year.. here at home, has always been 4 tons, except for the last 6 years.. everything else has always been 3 to 4 tons.. but once again, not the last 6 years. We've been lucky to average just over 2 to 2.5.. and single cutting.. but then, without irrigation on grass, we can only get one cutting.. need to plant some alfalfa!!
Our hay is an absolute bumper crop this year. I have to drive across my smallest field to get to the pasture The hay is so thick, when you get off the tractor to open the gate, you can hardly walk through the hay It just tangles around your feet
@@tractortalkwithgary1271 90 percent humidity now (8am) with 90 degrees forecast. We’re leaving the square bales on the wagon until it cools off a bit.😳.
@@pinesedgefarm1155 Yeah I should have fact checked. We bought it in the mid 90’s from a dealer who said it was pretty new but I never really researched it. We traded a NH 68. It was NOT pretty new.😅
I was taught that way by an old farmer where I worked as a kid. The edge is the cut side, more symmetrical and holds more weight without sagging. Back then we stacked our bales to the roof of the barn and had to stand and walk on that stack. Edge stacking was far more stable. He felt the edge allowed better evaporation to dry the hay reducing the chance of mid-winter combustion. His barn is still standing, BTW while both neighbors, less careful, lost theirs to tragic hay fires…
It is always fun to see americans making hay with typical american equipment. 20 years ago we made on one day 500 idiot bales for windy days on the farm and the calfs. It was always fun with a lot of people helping.
I bet driving the tractor with ac when someone is on the hayrack makes. Just kidding. Actually riding the rack is the easy way to deal with squares. Drop them on the ground and pick them up by hand is hard work. Great to see you’re able to bale, and it’s ton-ing out good.
Glad to see you got some hay put up. Back in the ‘80s I put 5,000 bales in my dairy barn every year. A friend of mine with a larger herd made 10,000 every year back then. We must have been crazy.
Also did around 10,000 bales per year. A lot younger 40 years ago. Not so bad if the weather allowed for keeping it under 500 per day. Some days we did close to 1,000. That was long day to put up that much between the milkings.
We could but this time of year nobody wants hay because they have grass. You can’t bale chaff either because it’s too fine. Makes good fertilizer on the field.
This video is over a month old since you were baling. I thought by your talk lately that you were getting worried as it was getting late for cutting hay, but you made it in June. In Ireland we often be in August before we would get weather to make hay. In the 22 years I owning a square baler, I only the once made hay bales, it was all straw. Hay was all made into round bales. No one over here wants the job of lifting square hay bales manually. I think yours look lighter more like what our straw bales would weigh.
Great wee episode, yeah id be finding a high volume grain bin fan for that loft to move air, where i grew up in some fields you could gather all the bales just by letting them roll to the end if there was a rise at the other side
You are moving right along with haying!! I can't help but think that Dawn turns the wheel just a little bit, to aim for whoever is in the wagon.🤔🤫🤣😂 Good explanation of how the baler works!! Problem with small bales, all the and work... and God knows we aren't getting any younger.. but keeping active helps.
The humidity was so bad this last week and weekend, it was hard to dry down hay....Glad to see you guys got some hay put up....Good to see Dave out given er hell baling....Thanks Dave.
