Oh man, I was just in Eastern Oregon the other week....SCARY how identical the landscape is! Growing up in western Washington, that kinda high desert gives me the creeps.....nice antelope, though!

Tells you how much I know about hunting, I thought it was a Deer and the other guy killed Bambi!!!!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Thats so you can tell who the game wardens are. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />



On my farm the deer get shot, and the Bambis get mowed. The buggers will bed down near the edges of our hay fields. Come first cutting hay in the spring you are cruising along at 6 to 8 MPH with the mower and they just don't get up and run till it's to late. Unfortunately it is the survival instinct to hunker down and not run that is getting them. It's a real pain as the fleshy bits don't do well in the silage bag. You have to remove the fleshy bits out of the windrow before you chop it for silage. On the other hand the raptors love it as they get an easy tenderized meal. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> The mower conditioner doesn't just cut them up, it also squeezes them through a pair of ribbed rollers that are there to break up the grass stems so they dry faster. At least it kills them outright which is better than before.

-- Bryan

man, i totally feel for ya with the deer in the mower...we have problems with racoons and skunks...i distinctly remember helping my dad cut a large 'coon out of the reels of the swather with a puttie knife and a pocket knife...it sucks! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

P.S.-what kind of equipment do you use? we just do a small operation, with farmall tractors from the mid fifties, a new holland swather, side delivery rake, stack wagon and a massey ferguson baler. just curious...

At least my mower conditioner spits the carcus out. I think I'd barf if I had to cut one out. I hate dealing with needless blood, but strangely can handle slaughtering out a cow with no problems.



My mower is a Heston 1345 mower conditioner. It's tough enough to mow off T-posts. I also put a 4" osage orange fence post through it once and it didn't need any repairs. I'm not sure it could handle a much larger one as there is a limit as to how far the conditioning rollers will seperate. T-posts only require blade changes. My tractors are 4WD John Deeres. I need them with the hills, or I really should say ridge lines. My farm is draped over two ridge lines.

As for my operation, I'm a breed stock and cow to feedlot operation in that we feed out all the calves that don't make the grade for breeding purposes. Over the years we've breed Black Angus for carcus quality* and feed lot performance.

* For non farmers carcus quality relates to, meat tenderness, marbling, carcus weight to live weight, etc..

-- Bryan
PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

My dad raised thoroughbreds, but when that went bust he switched to raising Angus calves to slaughter over the summers on a couple farms he picked up under duress. Low maintenance. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

And... before we get bumped to chat... um, he tried driving my 82 longbed Hilux like his Chebbie once. In his mind, first was granny low, and you started in second. Amazingly he managed to get it moving without much rattle. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

That's where I learned to love low geared thingies. Farmall, Allis, Toyota...

you brute <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

Low gearing does have it's uses. That low gear allowed me to get mine home when it lost all gears but 4th in the trany. I put the transfer case into low and was able to get the truck moving again, then clashed gears to switch into high and cruised home on the highway. I want to get it back in operation as it's light and doesn't cause as much field compaction as my full sized 4x4 pickup. My other Toyota pickup is only 2WD and is relatively useless out in my hilly fields. I picked it up for when I need to replace the engine in my 4x4. Even with 223,000 miles it still uses less than 1/8th quart of oil in 3000 miles and part of that 1/8th quart is in the old filter. Yeh, I measure the amount of oil that comes out of my engines. I can see when an engine starts to wear more.

-- Bryan