First crop alfalfa
 

Well the first crop of alfalfa is off the field. This is our little field in front of the house the neighbor rents. Not like it used to be. :bigthink:

Cooooooooool!
Mechanization of farming has changed quite a bit I see.

My dad always told me "work smart, not hard" I guess these guys think the same way.

Looking good

I just saw one of those conveyor gizmos about a week or two ago. Whats the purpose, make bigger windrows without shaking all the leaves off like a rake does? How long have they been around?

Nice looking equipment, bet they hate it when the fields get wet, that stuff will leave some serious ruts!:bigeyes:

When I saw alfalfa, I was thinking 60-80 pound bales that I had to pick up. The last one I help haul had the wire strings. Very hard work.

This is a crew that started up a couple years ago doing the custom harvesting for the bigger farms in and around our area. I didn't get pictures of the cutter machine, not a haybine anymore, don't know what they are called.
But it looks like three flail mowers, one out front of the tractor and one on each side. The "tender" is what I call the windrow machine, and yeah it basically takes the cut alfalfa and puts it into a windrow, then on the opposite end they come back down and bunch it up on the first row.
Kind of funny thinking how long it used to take us to put up this field, and these boys were out of here in just under 20 minutes.:bigthink: I'm talking chopping time...
There's got to be some HP under the hood of that chopper, cause it never complained a bit with the size of the windrows.:beerchug:

Claas choppers are fantastic machines. Self Propelled Forage Harvesters or choppers are amazing in how much crop is processed through such a tiny opening. Add a kernal processor to crack open the corn kernal for more nutrient rich feed for cows...quite popular in WI. I miss seeing that scale of farming here in northeast Ohio.

That equipment is all on the near side of new. Someone is making some hefty payments there. It's all the same here around us in upstate NY. Fast unloading belt- veyor trucks. $700,000 choppers. Extremely rare to see a pull type chopper here. Manure drag line systems pulling the hoses from the ponds. Don,t see many pull type liquid spreaders running much anymore either.

Cool pics Todd, thanks for sharing. Dang, in my day I would be standing on the wagon pulling bales out of the old 14T baler. Times have changed!