{"id":6096,"date":"2020-10-12T11:09:59","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T15:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6096"},"modified":"2020-10-12T11:13:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T15:13:51","slug":"episode-138-hay-loader-and-bill-brooks-may-2018-and-angus-mcechern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6096","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 138 HAY LOADER AND BILL BROOKS MAY 2018 and Angus McEchern"},"content":{"rendered":"

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From: <\/b><\/span>SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>
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Subject: <\/b><\/span>Fwd: HAY LOADER AND BILL BROOKS MAY 2018 and Angus McEchern<\/b>
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Date: <\/b><\/span>May 30, 2018 at 9:33:59 PM EDT
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To: <\/b><\/span>Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>
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  EPISODE 138 <\/div>\n

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THE HAY LOADER\u2026INVENTED1895\u2026.REPAIRED AMD MADE FUNCTIONAL 2018<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 2020<\/div>\n

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 Setting:July Day, sunny day, beautiful day\u2026year 1950, age 12<\/div>\n

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\u201cWell, boys, today we have work to do.  Hop on the wagon with a hay fork, each  of  you.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere are we going, Angus?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLoading hay\u2026cured perfectly by the sun\u2026\u201dMake hay  while the sun shines,\u201d and old saying\u2026true saying\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnything special we should know?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNothing.  Just don\u2019t stab each other or fall off the wagon as the load builds  up.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow can we fork hay from the field  if we are on the hay wagon?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo  need to do that.   See that machine in the hay  field.  Called a hay  loader.  it does most<\/div>\n
of the tough work after it gets hitched to the back  of the wagon. \u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat do  we do?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou will soon see.  There all hitched.  I will drive down the windrows with the tractor.  Don\u2019t look<\/div>\n
at me or you will be smothered in hay.\u201d<\/div>\n

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And  away we went.  Hay came off the ground  with wire tines\u2026moved  up the elevator and dumped<\/div>\n
on us  with a steady  stream.  We forked as fast as  we could\u2026piling the loose hay as  neat as possible<\/div>\n
but it just kept coming and we began to stand higher and higher until Angus stopped and unhitched<\/div>\n
the hay loader.  Then we rode the load to the barn.  Angus  McEchern  knew how much hay he<\/div>\n
would need to feed the cattle and  horses over the winter.  He still kept a team  of  horses for old<\/div>\n
times sake.  He loved is animals more than money.The new hay  smelled  like the finest after shave lotion that dad  used or perfume.<\/div>\n
Timothy hay  with clover interspersed.<\/div>\n

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Once unloaded in the mow, we headed back to the field  and rehitched the loader  starting the<\/div>\n
job all over again.  We were as dry as  popcorn farts by the third load so Angus  had a special<\/div>\n
surprise.<\/div>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m going to get close to the fence row.  Park your forks and  get your hands ready.  Chokecherries<\/div>\n
\u2026grab a few fistsful.  You  might like the taste.  Spit out the stones.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Chokecherries are an acquired taste.  Awful at first.  Makes the mouth pucker up.   Dry as an empty<\/div>\n
dipper.   Then they begin to taste good.  Angus swung by the chokecherry bushes several  times.<\/div>\n
We grabbed and  gobbled\u2026and  spit out the cherry stones.  \u201cYou  boys should pick a basket of<\/div>\n
the cherries  for your mom\u2026make terrific jam.  Do that after we get the hay in the barn.”  And so  <\/div>\n
the day went by.  Hay just kept coming from the gaping top mouth of the hay loader. Kept coming<\/div>\n
and  we kept forking.<\/div>\n

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That was one grand  day.  Never forgotten.  Just the one day\u2026only a few hours really.  But<\/div>\n
the day  got lodged in my brain forever.<\/div>\n

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Decades later\u2026perhaps 40 years later or longer\u2026I bought that hay loader after Angus  died.<\/div>\n
And  hauled  it to our farm where it stood by the cedar grove for another 20 years or so.\u2026<\/div>\n
 festooned with bittersweet vines helped along by two<\/div>\n
poplar trees growing through it.  A shame.  So this  year, spring 2020, we cleared  the vines and<\/div>\n
ousted the trees  by t heir roots.  The result?  Look below.<\/div>\n

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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<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
is  saved?    Tossing cured  hay onto a  hay  wagon meant working against gravity.  Tiring.   A hay loader worked with gravity<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
neatly on the wagon bed.  A lot more hay could be loaded with a lot less effort.<\/div>\n
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More of the story to come\u2026as told and shown by Bill Brooks\u2026below.<\/div>\n

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That is not the end of the story\u2026.Back in 2018, Bill Brooks called me up.<\/b><\/font><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n


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\u201cHAY LOADER REBORN AND READY  TO GO.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
May 2018<\/div>\n

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\u201cWell,  young fellow,  you should see  what I\u2019ve just rebuilt\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMust be something ancient, Bill.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2018Drop by the  shop today if you can.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Bill Brooks and  his  wife Leah own a machine shop not far from our farm.  Bill loves  old machines\u2026more than he<\/p><\/div>\n

loves profits.  He had just restored a hay loader that had been snapped  up by  a Mennonite family north of Kitchener.<\/div>\n
Before he delivered the hay loader he wanted me to see it.   I was  flattered.
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This is  Angus  McEchern with one of his pet Hereford steers.  That story is coming next<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

if I can get the time.
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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 12, 2020<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Begin forwarded message: From: SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com> Subject: Fwd: HAY LOADER AND BILL BROOKS MAY 2018 and Angus McEchern Date: May 30, 2018 at 9:33:59 PM EDT To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com> Begin forwarded message:   EPISODE 138  THE HAY LOADER\u2026INVENTED1895\u2026.REPAIRED AMD MADE FUNCTIONAL 2018 alan skeoch Oct. 2020  Setting:July Day, sunny day, beautiful day\u2026year 1950, age […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}