Just Memories

The field of alfalfa I was baling last night always brings back memories for me. It is part of the farm my grandparents bought before I was born, and I spent a lot of time there growing up. For a long time it was irrigated with wheellines so crop rotations were limited, although it had been levelled so it could be rilled. My granddad didn't buy any new equipment after he bought the place, anything purchased was used. I learned how to run(and work on) New Holland balers, a couple 285s and later a 283 and a 282. We pulled them with an array of tractors, mainly a JD 2020 and a Case 830(pre Comfort King) but also used a Farmall M with the M&W clutch, my dads Oliver 1900, and on occasion a Farmall Super H. When I started farming I used the 283 and 282 balers, and bought my 190XT. I worked with a neighbor that had New Holland balers, a 285, 286 and 420. For tractors he had a JD 730, a JD 2640, a JD 4240, and a 190XT. We farmed together but he also did custom work, so I would run his equipment as much as my own. The field I was in last night is the field where I tried out the New Holland 580 baler. I was set in my ways and decided we would show the dealer that we had our old equipment working just as good as the new stuff would. I ran the 580 that night hooked to the neighbors 2640. I pushed that baler as hard as I dared and then some. I killed the tractor three times that night, caught the slip clutch on fire, but outbaled our other balers. The next day when we were stacking we noticed that the bales from that 580 just looked a little better. That fall both the neighbor and I went in and bought a 580, but mine was the last one they had that year, the same demo baler that I had tried my best to get to fail. I still have that baler, it is the one my brother ran last night. I have replaced the floor three times, about half the knotter stack has been replaced over the years, but most of the rest of it is original. Last night I ran my recently purchased 7030 for the first time, and looking over the dented sheet metal on the hood it really felt like I was in the right place.

Ted