---

MILACA, Minn. – Making hay can be stressful to any dairy farmer, but Dave Fetters has learned the hard way that sometimes it is better to stop, laugh and try again the next day. 

Fetters was only 16 years old when he and his brother, Donnie, bought their dairy farm from their parents. They milked 30 cows in a tiestall barn at their farm near Milaca. 

They had only been farming for a couple of years, and it was time to make first-crop hay. 

It was 10 a.m., and the brothers and their dad, Millard, had completed morning chores and finished breakfast. They headed back out the door for a productive day in the field. 

“My brother had this big day planned, and the hay was cut and ready to go,” Fetters said. 

Millard took off with a tractor and rake while Donnie and Fetters started baling with their Farmall 400 tractor and flatbed wagon. Donnie drove the tractor and baler, while Fetters was on the wagon stacking bales. 

“We got 50 bales baled, and then the plunger arm broke on the baler,” Fetters said. “So, then we had to stop, take that apart and run to the parts store. We took a plunger arm off an old baler to fix ours; then we started baling again.”

By now it was 1 p.m., and the brothers were finally able to start baling again. 

Once their dad was done raking hay, he came over and started driving tractor for the boys as they stacked the bales. 

The trio had just finished their second load of hay for the day. 

The wagon was full of 120 neatly stacked bales. Fetters was sitting on top of them and Donnie was sitting on the baler as their dad drove them back to the other end of the field. 

“Dad turned too sharp, and that caused the wagon to overturn,” Fetters said. “The bales fell right off the wagon, and I was on the top. I was like, ‘Oh here I go!’”

For once, luck was on their side, as neighbors came walking by on their way to go fishing in the river nearby. They joined in to help unload the wagon, tip it back up and then restack the 120 bales one by one. 

After an hour, the task was done, and the Fetterses were able to continue baling. However, their good luck was short lived. 

“We got to the next field, now on our third wagon, and we got a flat tire on the tractor,” Fetters said. “We stopped, but my brother said to just keep driving; he was mad.”

With a flat tire on the Farmall 400, the Fetterses continued and were able to complete the third wagon of hay for the day. 

“When we were done with that load, we were hooking up to another wagon to do the fourth load, and then the other front tire went flat,” Fetters said. 

By now it was 6 p.m., and so the team decided to leave the tractor in the field, bring home the wagons full of hay and do the rest of their evening chores. 

However, the day was not over just yet.  

The brothers went to unload the first load of hay only to have the main drive chain on the elevator break. 

“We stopped and got that fixed and moved onto the second load,” Fetters said. “Then the little number 40 roller chain would not stay on, and we barely got done unloading that load. My brother was so mad.” 

The next morning after chores were completed, the brothers went to Gotvald Implement and purchased two innertubes for the tractor and a chain for the elevator. Once the elevator and tractor were fixed, the brothers went back to baling.  

“We didn’t start baling until one in the afternoon,” Fetters said. “But, we still ended up baling 700 or 800 bales instead of the 300 maybe 400 like the afternoon before. Everything went three times better the next day.”

While Fetters greeted each mishap with laughter, Donnie was a little more determined to get things done and grew frustrated. Once both brothers decided to take a slightly slower pace for making their first-crop hay, things went much smoother. 

“It helps to give it a good laugh instead of getting mad or frustrated,” Fetters said. “We were in such a rush, and it just didn’t work out like we planned. Now, we both look back and laugh.” 

---