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No, it wasn't fun even for the first load--especially when it was 100 degrees in the field. Manpower may not be inexpensive, but 'kiddiepower' is/was. Well, then again, maybe not: there's that little matter of room and board for eighteen years--sorta like the horse... only you can't feed the child hay.
That's just what I was thinking. There's nothing fun about haying. At all.
That's just what I was thinking. There's nothing fun about haying. At all.
Hahaha! Absolutely true! It was always the hottest days of the year, and full sun.
We had a huge white barn we'd put most of the hay into. Pulled up the racks on the south side & went to work. Unbelievable. Full sun. Full sun reflecting off the barn. No breeze.
Probably should have been some child labor laws or something...
Farming with animal power is friggin hard work! It isn't just because of medical advances that people live longer these days you know! My Grandpa is 94 and has scares on the inside of his thumb web from plowing with a team. You think that's fun? My dad and I both take a bunch of guff from the old guy for haveing horses! The only time it will be worth it if TEOTWAWKI happens then I'm growing my own food. Other then that it's something I do keep me out of the bars.....
P.S. I too mostly use INT 300U and an JD-B to do any serious cultivateing and haying. That kind of hard work with a horse takes wayyyyyy tomuch time!
Wage farming sucks with or without mule/tractor, it drains life out of you. Wage farmers went above and beyond to mechanize, poison, torture, destroy etc. in order to squeeze a buck for the least amount of pain. Hobby farming rocks . Data on average use of diesel per farming operation are readily available. $70/day savings on 40 acres plot are highly unrealistic at $3/gallon + $30,000 tractor&implements.
Well, I think we can all agree, more work or not, in a 'bad situation,' finding something for the horse to eat may be easier than finding refined crude from the middle east. You CAN plow a field with a horse without relying on diesel or gas; you can't with a tractor. The horses would sure beat going out and hand sowing/harvesting! Now, granted, gas and diesel is readily available right now, but having the knowhow to use a team of horses (which I don't have, BTW) could come in handy. Then again, so would knowing how to live without electricity, central AC, cars, grocery stores, cell phones, texting and all sorts of stuff many of us look at as necessities.
Wage farming sucks with or without mule/tractor, it drains life out of you. Wage farmers went above and beyond to mechanize, poison, torture, destroy etc. in order to squeeze a buck for the least amount of pain. Hobby farming rocks . Data on average use of diesel per farming operation are readily available. $70/day savings on 40 acres plot are highly unrealistic at $3/gallon + $30,000 tractor&implements.
Even more unrealistic when workhorse tractors suitable for small acreage can be had for $2,000 to $3,000 price range and attachments for them are also inexpensive.
JD 4020 Diesels in good condition run $8-12,000 in our region, and 3020's are bringing $5-8,000. Either are quite suitable for serious farming on acreages up to a few hundred acres, and way more tractor than a 40 acre parcel would ever need. One certainly doesn't need to spend $30K + attachments ... I haven't got that much in all my tractors, baler, swather, and rakes.
My neighbor's asian 3 cylinder diesel tractor with a host of attachments ... loader, box blade/scraper, post hole digger, disc, sickle bar mower, and a couple of others I don't think he's even used yet ... cost $15,000 brand new with a warranty.
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