Begin forwarded message:
From: SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>Subject: Fwd: HAY LOADER AND BILL BROOKS MAY 2018 and Angus McEchernDate: May 30, 2018 at 9:33:59 PM EDTTo: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Begin forwarded message:
EPISODE 138
THE HAY LOADER…INVENTED1895….REPAIRED AMD MADE FUNCTIONAL 2018
alan skeoch
Oct. 2020
Setting:July Day, sunny day, beautiful day…year 1950, age 12
“Well, boys, today we have work to do. Hop on the wagon with a hay fork, each of you.”
“Where are we going, Angus?”
“Loading hay…cured perfectly by the sun…”Make hay while the sun shines,” and old saying…true saying”
“Anything special we should know?”
“Nothing. Just don’t stab each other or fall off the wagon as the load builds up.”
“How can we fork hay from the field if we are on the hay wagon?”
“No need to do that. See that machine in the hay field. Called a hay loader. it does most
of the tough work after it gets hitched to the back of the wagon. “
“What do we do?”
“You will soon see. There all hitched. I will drive down the windrows with the tractor. Don’t look
at me or you will be smothered in hay.”
And away we went. Hay came off the ground with wire tines…moved up the elevator and dumped
on us with a steady stream. We forked as fast as we could…piling the loose hay as neat as possible
but it just kept coming and we began to stand higher and higher until Angus stopped and unhitched
the hay loader. Then we rode the load to the barn. Angus McEchern knew how much hay he
would need to feed the cattle and horses over the winter. He still kept a team of horses for old
times sake. He loved is animals more than money.The new hay smelled like the finest after shave lotion that dad used or perfume.
Timothy hay with clover interspersed.
Once unloaded in the mow, we headed back to the field and rehitched the loader starting the
job all over again. We were as dry as popcorn farts by the third load so Angus had a special
surprise.
“I’m going to get close to the fence row. Park your forks and get your hands ready. Chokecherries
…grab a few fistsful. You might like the taste. Spit out the stones.”
Chokecherries are an acquired taste. Awful at first. Makes the mouth pucker up. Dry as an empty
dipper. Then they begin to taste good. Angus swung by the chokecherry bushes several times.
We grabbed and gobbled…and spit out the cherry stones. “You boys should pick a basket of
the cherries for your mom…make terrific jam. Do that after we get the hay in the barn.” And so
the day went by. Hay just kept coming from the gaping top mouth of the hay loader. Kept coming
and we kept forking.
That was one grand day. Never forgotten. Just the one day…only a few hours really. But
the day got lodged in my brain forever.
Decades later…perhaps 40 years later or longer…I bought that hay loader after Angus died.
And hauled it to our farm where it stood by the cedar grove for another 20 years or so.…
festooned with bittersweet vines helped along by two
poplar trees growing through it. A shame. So this year, spring 2020, we cleared the vines and
ousted the trees by t heir roots. The result? Look below.
The Hay Loader was invented in 1895 as a labour saving machine that would pick up hay that had been dried by the sun and
deliver the hay to a couple of men or women standing on a hay wagon pulled by a team of horses or a tractor. What labour
is saved? Tossing cured hay onto a hay wagon meant working against gravity. Tiring. A hay loader worked with gravity
by dumping the cured hay directly on to the wagon and therefore farmers just had to catch the stream of hay and place forks full
neatly on the wagon bed. A lot more hay could be loaded with a lot less effort.
More of the story to come…as told and shown by Bill Brooks…below.
That is not the end of the story….Back in 2018, Bill Brooks called me up.
“HAY LOADER REBORN AND READY TO GO.”
alan skeochMay 2018“Well, young fellow, you should see what I’ve just rebuilt”“Must be something ancient, Bill.”‘Drop by the shop today if you can.”
Bill Brooks and his wife Leah own a machine shop not far from our farm. Bill loves old machines…more than he
loves profits. He had just restored a hay loader that had been snapped up by a Mennonite family north of Kitchener.
Before he delivered the hay loader he wanted me to see it. I was flattered.
This is Angus McEchern with one of his pet Hereford steers. That story is coming next
if I can get the time.
alan skeoch
Oct. 12, 2020