I have fond memories of running our IH 990 haybine morning after morning in the summer. Used the IH 1066 on it quite a bit but when that tractor was needed elsewhere, we’d use the 966, the 706, or even one of the two 450s that were on the farm. Probably around 1978 or 1979 we had 100 acres of alfalfa in northern Illinois. Someone else would be raking all morning with the M or the 300. Then, after a quick lunch, the NH 273 baler would get going making small bales and kicking them into kicker wagons. Chores and milking would start around 5:00pm but I always tried to stay on the baler and fill all the kicker wagons. They would get unloaded after milking in the morning while two of us were out cutting and raking again. Great memories of working with my father and two brothers.

I enjoy getting out on my Johndeere and cutting my yard,,,enjoy watching this just bas much,,,nice and calming,,stay safe,,🇺🇸😍

You look happy as a clam! I'm living vicariously through you until I save enough to buy my own piece of paradise

Enjoy watching people work their land .......

Very relaxing video, I especially like the 'ride along' camera angle.

Nice job 👍 It’s nice to see a guy getting the job done with equipment that the Bank doesn’t own ! That’s what I do ! Our 656 was our big tractor when I was growing up ,they are awesome tractors ! My Dad was frugal and made things last !

Love cutting hay great video

You put a lot of work into making this vidio. It showes. GREAT JOB!

Great camera work and editing.

Your the first one I’ve ever seen make the back cut first when mowing.

Still plenty of life left in that mower and tractor (and the farmer... save your ears, wear some protection.) Nice vid and camera work.

Second time I watched is video. Cutting the hay part reminds me of my kin folks and their farms.

Love ur videos. Very well done!

That’s some good lookin’ hay!

I like the way he explains stuff

I really enjoy your videos!

Them 656 are good hay tractors

That's a nice looking setup. We are lucky to get two cuttings a year where we are in Kansas. Keep up the great TV.

I just subscribed! Would love to see your entire haying process. Raking and Baling videos are really enjoyable too. God Bless and keep up the good work.

Awesome! I miss doing this.

Love that you use the old internationals! Is there anyway you could make a video possibly showing and explaining any problems you have had with the haybine and the pros and cons of it

Replying to a year old video, but here goes. I would rather listen to the sound of your machines than music. Kind of like you listening to the cows eat grass I guess. Other that the music, I really enjoy your videos, and watch every video you upload.

I used to run 656 narrow front end on the dairy farm gas job.

You need a Cab tractor with Air conditioning for summer and Heater for the winter . Nice 👍 Video

I hope you wear some hearing protection while running the noisy equipment Pete

Nothing like the smell of fresh cut hay. I miss it. Do ever replant your fields with clover or alfalfa?

I live on about 8 acres with about 6 as old horse pasture. I would love to learn how to make use of that land in a similar manner. Finding the right information about how to get rid of the weeds, how and what grasses to plant, and how to care for it to make high quality feed would be great. Then there is the how to sell it, and how to figure out if it would be profitable. I assume you use your hay for your own animal consumption. I hope to find a video in this series later that goes into more about how to determine if you could make any money at it if you didn't have animals to feed it to. I just found your channel today, so lots of videos to catch up on. Thanks for sharing.

Really enjoy your vids and like how you explain everything! Would love to see your tractors etc. painted up. Ya, I know, lots of work. Wintertime project?

A Haybine is something never seen in Britain. Finger bar mowers, which never had an intake reel were replaced with twin drum mowers. Disc mower conditioners are the thing now.

that is such a fun chore if it weren't hot....

Make it work

Here I am, one month away from the start of our hay season. Daydreaming about hay season

Hi Pete! I'm looking at properties now for my little homestead, and are planning on having fiber animals (sheep, alpaca, Angora goats) as well as backyard chickens and maybe a Dexter for milk. I'm reading a lot about "heads per acre" for stocking ratios, but am having a hard time visualizing how big an "acre" is relative to the size of the animals. Could you do a future video on what an acre looks like, with and without Dexters in them? Thanks!

Excellent videos. I’m subscribed to your channel. I’m new to a New Idea Haybine. Could you tell me what gear you cut in? Looks like Second gear?

I enjoyed your video. I believe I heard you mention you get three hay cuttings and also graze your dexters on the same fields. I am wondering how do you do this timing wise? I have about 10 acres of hay fields that we hayed last year and are interested in starting with two dexters, but I am having a hard time understanding how to set everything up to keep the cows on good grass while still getting two good cuttings.

Thanks Pete and Hilarie! Very entertaining! Question, How do you two deal with flies on the cattle?

imo It's weird to see that you do the back cut first (the outside ring of a field when you go "backward compared to how you do the rest). I believe it would be better to do that cut last as the worst hay is usually around the edges and by doing it last you 1 doh run down the better inner hay and 2 the back cut has time to even stand back up so you barely lose any

Could you contribute to my education as to what to use as fertilizer and when to use it and how much. I am getting into making hay on neighbors property. Didn't do any of this since I was a kid ansbthat was very small scale. Thanks.

I have been working through your collection of vids, admittedly out of sequence so I apologize if I missed it but are you able to make all your gay needs for your livestock or are you buying any? With your Dexters what are you figuring you need per cow as far as acreage to provide grazing and hay needs for the year? I think I remember you saying something like 1 to 1.5 acre per cow? Appreciate it, it helps with our calculus and we plan our farm. We just closed in it Tuesday and start moving in this Friday. It has about 10 acres of pasture but was grazed heavily by horses and it’s very sandy soil. Going to come up with a strategy to kickstart the pasture rehab. Worried if I plow it and seed it next spring that there just isn’t enough top soil. But we are only doing chickens this year yet, 12-20 laying hens and probably 50 meat birds. Will be starting from scratch obviously with a manure/compost system with not a lot of matter to get it going by next spring unless I can find a local farmer with excess manure and get a big load of wood chips to mix into to start the process. Anyway, sorry for the ramble, stream of consciousness. Just really excited and I like the idea of doing a small dexter herd but primarily focusing on pigs and chickens and hoping these fields can spring back over the next 3 or 4 years so we can slowly build up soil and livestock operations.

Are you mowing 2nd gear?

I don't understand why that anyone would make the first round what I call backing off the field that ain't the way I learned first off you take a chance on hitting sticks and other things that might be on the edge of the field but other than that good video utilizing the old iron

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Love ur videos. Very well done!