I can remember my father, and even my grandfather, complaining about pains and aches when I was young. There was always a sore knee or elbow, and sometimes it was their back.

I never really gave them much sympathy, and thought that it was only an excuse to get out of doing work. But I now find myself at that stage in life when I realise their complaints were more valid than I first thought.

When I do some heavy work my elbow gets sore or I get a pain in my back, and sometimes I feel completely exhausted. It used to be that when I got a kick or a fall I would hop up and rush on to the next job. Now if that happens, I am complaining for days. I am starting to sound like my father and grandfather.

When I think back, they worked very hard, and a lot of it was manual labour.

It was complete torture

A good example of that is how we used to feed cattle. All the silage was cut in sections with a silage knife, and graped into the link-box and either brought out to the field or into some of the cattle houses.

When we had milk cows, they were tied in the byre, and the silage was brought in using a wheelbarrow. It was complete torture.

Then there were the wee square bales of hay. We used to have to carry them on our backs to some cattle in the far away fields. I am getting pains and aches just thinking about it.

Progress

We thought it was massive progress when my father built a large (80ft x 36ft) silo pit and a cattle house to hold all the cattle. The first year we graped it all into the link-box and brought it into the cattle house.

Thankfully I was at college at the time, and I was only home at the weekends and holidays. My father tried to get as much as possible put in when I was at home. I did not like it.

We got a shear-head for the loader and built more silos and cattle houses

Luckily enough one year was enough for him. The second year he got a front-end loader and a grab. It made the feeding of the cattle so much more enjoyable.

Over the years, things progressed. We got a shear-head for the loader and built more silos and cattle houses. Then we started making a few round bales, mostly from surplus grazing.

However, we are now making six or seven hundred round bales every year.

Memories

Well, this has brought back memories of my youth. Trying to grape round bales of silage is just horrendous.

I am not afraid of hard work, but this a real drag. After graping a few bales I can be found complaining about sore arms and shoulders – my family has a lot to listen too.

I have also tried bursting the bales up with the front-end loader

I have tried several things to try and make life easier. Initially, we left the bales close to the cattle so as they can reach most of it, but the problem with that is that they pull a lot on to the slats.

I have also tried bursting the bales up with the front-end loader. This definitely helps, but it means that you need two tractors and there is usually still plenty to grape.

Invest

So I have decided to invest in a new piece of machinery, and bought a bale unroller.

It seems to be a handy piece of kit. You just need the one man and tractor. There are detachable spikes which means that you can set the bales on and take the cover off and attach up again. Then you can unroll the bale out either side.

It is only fairly new here and we will probably get better at using it, but it teases the bales out nicely and saves a lot of graping.

Hopefully, it will make my life a little easier, and will mean there is less complaining to be done.

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