Rhino Repair

I've been doing quite a bit of mowing lately using the Rhino SR15 behind the John Deere 6120E.

  

 We bought the Rhino several years ago as a used mower.  Actually,  very used.  The axle spindles that support the rear wheels had been severely eroded making it difficult for the bearings and seals to work well.  Recently the bearings on the outside wheel of the center section went out and it started flopping around.

After removing the wheel, it seemed that there was no point in trying to put new bearings and grease seals on that spindle.  So, I've ordered some parts (looking forward to seeing what actually arrives). 

 In the meantime,  mowing still needs to be done.  I cycle the sheep around different pastures.   After they leave a pasture, it needs to be mowed to cut down the plants they don't eat.  Otherwise,  the undesirable plants would begin to take over.   With the outside wheel missing the mower is very unstable with the wings up and I have to be very careful when traveling from one point to the next. 

So we undertook to move the inside wheel to the outside position.   However, the spindle was very frozen into the housing.  It would not budge, even using a large pipewrench with an 8 foot pipe extension to the handle while beating on it with a slege hammer wouldn't move it.  Jeffrey even tried welding a bead of metal on to the housing to heat it up, while I tried to move it with the pipewrench.   

Here Jeffrey is grinding back off the weld bead he applied so we can try the next idea.  That is to cut a slot in the housing to try and break the shaft free.

With the slot cut, Jeffrey welded a chain to the end of the shaft so I could pull on it with the Fiat tractor while he beat on it with the sledge and turned it with the pipewrench. 

And after all of this, it came out.

We beat out the inner wheel.

Once the housing interior was cleaned out and the inner wheel spindle cleaned, it slipped quite readily into the outer position.

So, we are back in business, at least temporarily until new parts arrive and a more permanent fix is made. 

Feeding Kites

This time of year the bahiagrass pastures grow so rapidly it is hard for the sheep to keep up with forage and it rapidly becomes rank and unpalatable.  So, periodically I mow the pastures to renew them.  Mowing stirs up many insects; the grasshoppers especially can be quite large and fly up into the air 10s of feet.  This action attracts many birds that feed on the bugs.  Cattle egrets scoot around on the ground next to the tractor grabbing bugs; they are fun to watch.  Even more interesting and spectacular to see are the swallow tailed kites and Mississippi kites soaring, swooping and diving after the airborne bugs.

I am mowing with a Rhino SR15 attached to my John Deere 6120E.

Here are some photos of the swallow tailed kites. 

The Mississippi kite has a more fan shaped tail and is grayish and white as opposed to the black and white of the swallow tailed kite.  Mississippi kite photos are not as good, more like silhouettes. 

The Mississippi kite on the right appears to be transferring a bug captured with its talons to its beak.

Swallow Tailed Kite

July 13,

I believe this is a swallow tailed kite.  When mowing the bahiagrass pastures, I often see them soaring and diving as they hunt for airborne insects and small rodents stirred up by the mower.  There are a surprising number of large grasshoppers in these pastures. 

This is the first time I've seen one resting in one of the dead trees.  This tree was killed when a tornado came through here a few years ago.  I never got around to cleaning it up, probably a good thing.

July 14,

It's a day later, this morning I saw four of them soaring around together above a corner of the front field. 

July 17,

Haven't seen the kites since the last post, in spite of a lot of mowing being done.  This morning when taking the sheep out to pasture, I saw one on "their perch".  He or she flew off as the sheep and dogs went by, but came back after a few minutes. 

The 3/4 moon also managed to get in the photo.

The flock of sheep are moving in.

View from Top of Hill

Here is a view looking west from the top of the hill near the old cattle corral.  In the foreground,  just across the alleyway fence is the middle field with cowpeas just emerging out of the bahiagrass sod.

Zoomed in a bit,

through the gap in the trees is the east bahia field with chicory growing (not very well).  Further out is the west bahia field with sheep grazing on the bahiagrass. 

Beyond the west bahia field are the beaver fields, the high growth visible is a test planting of eastern gamagrass.   It is doing well here, but the planting in the Coast Electric field did not take.

Cattle Egrets

Cattle egrets are often seen around the sheep.  They will lineup on fences, catch rides on sheep, and move with the sheep (Odin in foreground is a good guardian dog, he stays with the sheep as they move around. 

Ewe Flock

Ewe flock is grazing on the bahiagrass seed heads in the alleyway on their way to the west bahia field seen in the distance.   To the right, the cowpeas planted in the middle field are at about the same height as the bahiagrass seed heads.