Here is a close up of the best front end 3 spike bale loader we have seen yet. It is a fully adjustable addition on our medium sized tractor. The problem is this device is quite out of our budget new. So we are going to put it on our wish list and look for one used or at auction. It made our round bale moving a breeze. We are so grateful to have friends lend it to us. I hope Santa can haul one like it on his sleigh for us this Christmas.
How many men does it take to unload 28 round bales of hay? How many tractors? For us it took 3 men and 3 tractors, 1 house trailer and 1 F-350. We picked up our bales from the hay farmer in the morning. He loaded up the bales with his green John Deere. We hauled the hay to our farm 4 bales at a time on the borrowed house trailer. Then we needed to remove the bales from the trailer bed using a friends tractor with the best 3 spike loader. My husband finished the job with the 3 spike borrowed tractor. We drove back and forth 7 times to collect all the bales about 1.5 miles away from our farm. Today we used our tractor to organize the 28 bales on wood pallets. Our tractor is not fitted up to lift bales off a trailer, yet. We drank about 5 gallons of iced tea doing all this on a hot July day. With the lack of rain we might not be able to get this much hay again before winter comes. And we have to feed 4 horses over winter. Being an observer/photographer to all these machines, men and hay can make a farm girl feel like a queen for a day.
We stopped over at the Rolla VFW hall to see their tank. It was not going anywhere as the rear wheels were welded. But it was fun to see one up close. They are very proud of their tank.
What to do on a hot humid July morning? How about move a 400lb washer, dryer, and an electric organ out of a basement? And what fun that was. Three adults were able to get these vintage machines up and out of a basement and onto a flatbed. We helped our neighbor get glass, paper and scrap metal out of his property and to the recycling center. It was worth the effort since scrap metal is worth some money. Beats rusting away in a basement. Since there is no trash service out here in the Ozarks we have to figure out what to do with it. It can get creative. At least were were able to get it all loaded and hauled off under the shade of the trees. 
This week I bought a bushel of peaches to can. The peaches are close to overripe and very sweet tasting. I canned only 5 jars this go round. I will make fruit leather and jam out of the remainder peaches. All the skins, buggy pulp and seeds went to our flock. It was a tasty treat for our hens on a hot dry day.
Here are our young ducks cooling off in their tubs. They swim, dive and chase each other into the tubs. The chickens just stand by and watch.
