The barn loft was filled by pulling hay up by a pulley and pulling it into the mow. I worked for a farmer, as a kid, when he would set the knives into hay down below and when the rope was pulled on at the other end, it would raise the hay up to the peak.
When the hay hit the top peak, the hay would be pulled inside on the rail. The hay traveled across the rail and the knives would then release the load once it reached about ten feet inside the barn. I don't know what gadget caused the knives to be tripped to drop it but it worked the same way each time. One who is in the mow would hear the farmer yell when he was sending up the load and you had better be out of the way when that batch was dropped.
4 comments:
Wow! Interesting. I'll bet a few people got hurt, though, hay? I mean, hey? Iowa is a million miles away from British Columbia.
I was looking through some of your art work. You're very good!
As a boy I left the big city in the summer to work on my dad's cousins farm. Haying and pulling thistles by hand from the soybean field are strong in memory. I recognize the old & frayed haymow rope in your picture. :)
I think..that there were two ropes..one attached to the forks and one attached to a trip lever.. The second rope was pulled and tripped when someone hollered..I used to help with that part..sometimes the rope would get tangled and it wouldn't trip right..then we had to wait around for my Dad or someone else to pull on the ropes and cuss:)
Yes, I had forgotten about the second rope that was pulled to release it. The farmer I worked for at the time was setting the forks into the small round bales, so when it was released they just landed and rolled in all directions.
Post a Comment