Half Cut

At last Angie gave me the go-ahead to mow one of the horse fields. We have different opinions on this matter and I have given up trying to get my views accepted,

while the other fields are now knee-high in long grass and tall weeds that the horses will barely touch, this field is full of short, broad-leaved weeds that are suffocating the grass. There are also quite a few ripe tall sorrels that will be enjoying the chance to enrich our lives next year.  (The bald patch is always there, 365 days year, pure clay).

So off I set without thinking to check the temporary fix Barry made to the mower last week. And so it came that halfway through I heard strange noises from behind and had the wherewithal to shut down the engine and jumped down to see the new expensive drive belt smoking away. Again luckily, I was within 10 metres of a hosepipe and managed to soak it with water until the heat had gone. Thankfully no real damage was done but it meant an end to mowing for the day.

In the photo, the centre stripe is uncut and the slightly curved line of my mowing shows what a wonderful tractor driver I am, probably the very best, ever. As you know, one needs to take account of the earth's curvature and thus compensate for the effect. If you believe this, you must be a Trump supporter,


At 4:00 pm 16:00, I went up to the agricultural engineers to seek help in finding a replacement pulley and fearing it would again mean a few days wait and expensive parts. I had searched for myself at home on the web but couldn't find the manufacturer's parts list for this old (at least 20 years) machine. So I took lots of photos and measurements of the bits and pieces and headed off.

As always they came up with the solution, most annoyingly finding the parts list and were able to order the relatively cheap parts from their everyday spare parts company rather than directly from the manufacturer (as had been the case with the belt two weeks ago)

In the evening MrsMY and Angie had a hack and we met up out in the fields where I had done a short walk with Flash. Scooped up Luna who was mad at not being allowed to continue the ride. In the extra photos, one of the girls between two maize fields. It was taken after 9:00 pm 21:00 and it was darker than it appears and is the reason for the dreadful blur. However, it shows how tall the maize is this year. In these parts, one says that on 7th July (i.e. 7/7) the maize should at least be 30.31496 inches 77cm tall if it is to ripen in time. While 77 is a minimum, it is usually not a great deal more at this stage. Well, this year most of the fields are around 250+cm (in decimal that is about 100 inches) and the flowering heads are well progressed. Crazy.

I suspect most farmers here in southern Bavaria will still say it has been a very dry year (they always need a reason to complain and hope for Government subsidies) I suspect it will be a bumper crop for most things especially grass/hay/silage/maize and indeed the relatively small amount of cereal crops. There is hardly a day that goes by without at least a shower of rain. This isn't the case the further north one goes where I am sure there will be serious shortages. I wonder what the grass & silage situation is like for British dairy farmers.

Another extra photo of a Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz FL2 612/5 HK tractor from 1957 seen at the agricultural engineers. Built between 1956 and 1959 around 15000 were built. I have been lacking on Tractor Tuesday contributions this year, so a late entry!