The round bale hay unroller is finally finished!

About 5 years ago I bought this used trailer, an old heavy duty generator trailer in a past life. We used it as a water trailer for our pastured chickens for a year or two until we put in underground pipes for water delivery. A few times the pipes and storage tanks ran dry we used it to move water in emergencies, but it's been under utilized the last couple years as we've learned and adapted.

Now that we are focusing on cows we exclusively buy and feed round bales of hay. So it felt like the perfect project to repurpose this trailer. The bale unroller trailers we saw ran about $4k including delivery fees. My welding skills are non-existent but she's done and ready to be tested. Even if I break some welds I am developing the skills necessary to perform repairs.

Step 1 was disassembling the upper body with the goal of reusing as much of this steel as needed.

Next came removing the steel bed plate. That thing was heavy. I bought a cheap plasma cutter for the job. The steel I salvaged is likely worth more than the plasma cutter. In the process of plasma cutting my air compressor decided to break--actually a $20 part broke and being that the compressor was multiple decades old fiat law determined this otherwise perfectly functioning piece of equipment was needing replaced. So that happened. After tons of work and rework the tractor separated the frame and plate.

The frame was too narrow to fit a hay bale so about a foot had to be added to the cross member of the frame.

I didn't capture any pictures of the actual stretching, cursing, and otherwise rockety science redneck engineeringish that went into the frame bending, but it was a thing. Not a thing of beauty, just a thing. It involved the tractor forks, 2 heavy street ratchet straps, a come along, and some sledging to get lined up-ish.

Probably my favorite weld on the entire build. The D ring was salvaged from my late uncle's garage/man cave and some pipe salvaged from old bar clamps that got new pipe recently.

The first time the upper cradle and frame came together it started to feel real. I was terrified I'd ruin the entire build at this point getting the hinges lined up right, but it went smooth and turned out okish.

Fabrication error. The upper arms need to sit over and slightly in front of the axle for optimal weight distribution when trailering. This was error two requiring cutting welds out and fixing things. I knew better, just excited to weld more. This error cost about 3 hours of labor. Mistakes with metal aren't like mistakes with wood. Fixes take much longer.

Wheels on for the first time and bale cradle complete! Another mistake discovered. Didn't leave adequate clearance for the wheels. There's about a sixteenth of an inch between wheel and frame... And that's with the rims flipped the wrong way. That's a permanent mistake. The fix will be the installation of hub spacers.

Final touches of the winch mount and bale spears and this thing is ready for action (spacers not installed yet). Build complete.

To own your own notes and post meaningful notes to leave for your kids as a memoir of your time on Earth.

You're assuming their fascists and not socialists, but I'm not interested in your political undertones ✌️

It's not about learning who is running the government. It's about making government irrelevant with freedom tools.

The most important thing normies need to learn from the #TikTok ban isn't that they need #nostr.

It's learning about the tools available (and how to use them) to circumvent corrupt governments that overreach on basic inalienable human rights like freedom of speech, freedom of expression, the right to privacy, etc.

#vpn

nostr:nprofile1qqs9g69ua6m5ec6ukstnmnyewj7a4j0gjjn5hu75f7w23d64gczunmgpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qz9thwden5te0v35hgar09ec82c30wfjkcctexf34p3

#foss

nostr:nprofile1qqszr7k0w6gclv3usnqmey68uzs6h2yt7dpw2dyeqt0sh8ehaxl8xyqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qz9thwden5te0v35hgar09ec82c30wfjkccte89v5nr

#Obtainium

#selfhosting

#PGP

... And many more.

Nostr is only one piece of this puzzle.

Post election we've endured the manufactured crisis hoopla of drones and we're probably nearing the end of the CA wildfire news cycle, which was most definitely created by the same bad actors.

The inauguration is just around the corner.

Any guesses on what's next on the media mania news cycle?

Anybody want to gander a guess at what the next black swan is going to be too sink the markets to distract the new president from implementing the major changes he's been dribbling the past year?

Bitcoin memes need more Hunger Games

nostr:nevent1qqs0e6eh0x7wq5lmd23elu8qmw3zltwfkzzgq302dac295dwzw3wfxgpzemhxue69uhkummnw3ex2mrfw3jhxtn0wfnj7q3qlrj3lsskez59qu68v5fpnur7ythe7s5e4qcelclha6t6r9q5pqgsxpqqqqqqzrcnyuz

The Hunger Games deserves more meme action, but The Matrix gets all the attention.

Sounds like you're deeper down that rabbit hole than me. I explored the works of the Why Files podcast and The Count came up a few times. Seemed like an interesting figure. I'm no expert, just a fan of the stories and such.

GM. I just came here to say, I miss the Comte in my feed. It was pretty freaking awesome being friends with THE COUNT.

But don't bend your knee to me.

Good day ✌️

nostr:nevent1qqsquqk4pg2whcslmq2y0d4zqunxtdexn7ys827aj4h62ms8yfnffycpremhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8wetvd3hhyer9wghxuet59upzpn3uxpw57677zpstcvvnu8cc7dsemw7ejvyzmfvr3lt5fy02rhntqvzqqqqqqyru05as

nostr:nprofile1qqs0m7vn2q3zrccumrqkxaepzmdpkx20dgu6m4vyx5crd9v5w8htdtcppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp08udf48 and nostr:nprofile1qqsww0ncvgjvdxzzzraplst3f5v2zcuq2eg8szmre5uu5zgp8npwmnqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhsfzqadl accelerating what should become a requirement for all Bitcoin meetup groups around the world.

GET YOUR LOCAL MEETUPS HOOKED UP WITH AN NPUB AND GROW THE MESHTADEL! If your group doesn't have a presence on nostr yet, YOU should take the reigns to change that.

nostr:nevent1qqs00z702qfs9hntw27aw4vm0s3t4pjnxve8sa2aq85u5dla9kfmhygppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgs0m7vn2q3zrccumrqkxaepzmdpkx20dgu6m4vyx5crd9v5w8htdtcrqsqqqqqp8xr825

Nostr only is the future. Just preparing early 😁

P-ville, nostr:nprofile1qqs9val6td43edk4hmnct5yg4yzv6zqgy4ft7awl8eps9n4qzkja8cgpremhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8wetvd3hhyer9wghxuet59uq3wamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wdah8xct5wvhx7un89uq36amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3dwfjkccte9emkcann9eehqctrv5hsj3pt3x?

Where's Lanc, nostr:nprofile1qqs2zd3y0kx27l3shaqr6vsqd7hv5ryarnk859s8teq59sh76m9ducqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhszxthwden5te0wfjkccte9eekummjwsh8xmmrd9skctcpzemhxue69uhk2er9dchxummnw3ezumrpdejz7k8yfra? 😉

Meshtadels in action on nostr, nostr:nprofile1qqs078t9u79vs9vjlflth84le8ckxyywp0hcpacktrp9f9l28q75j4cpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhsuv288m!

Not surprised at all to see this note 😁 just wait until the cows are out on pasture in the spring 🤤

Same. Wife feeds it to our toddler straight up every morning. Brain booster.

Next step: nostr only

We've done that too in different conditions than described here and have found that it depends upon the recipient. We learned who appreciated it and who came across rather indifferent for something we take great pride in.