awhitva's video: cutting wheat and hay w our 1948 Farmall M Ford 501 sickle mower

It is not easy keeping a tractor running that is older than the State of Isreal (build date Jan. 1948). I hadn't started the tractor in a while and the float valve in the carburetor was stuck and kept flooding the engine - I had to regulate the carb with the fuel shutoff valve on the sediment bowl and with the throttle (6:10) until the problem worked itself out. The PTO somehow disengaged itself early on (1:23), too, which as you can see made the sickle stop running. On top of that, the field was full of young rabbits (9:25) and I had to go along extra carefully to make sure I didn't kill any. I ended up cutting on just one side of the field to give the rabbits a chance to clear out. FYI, the cows graze the wheat in the fall and then the ripe wheat/ hay mix gets fed to our laying hens. Video highlights: 1:23 - PTO disengages 6:10 - carburetor trouble 9:25 - first bunny 10:10 - second bunny 10:40 - lost pin on the right lift arm 12:05 - third bunny 14:00 - another bunny 16:15 - start cutting one side to allow rabbits a chance to escape 20:38 - another bunny 31:10 - last bunny * the last photo shows a truckload of wheat - this field produces several truckloads that all get fed to our chickens over time.