The Telehandler Job.

 There wasn't a lot going on this afternoon so as it was a nice day I thought I would take a little walk around the place. I had a bit of a walk along the lane and then back along the river bank. I don't like the river, it disturbs me for some reason. It's not a friendly river at all, so I kept well away from it.

Dad and Eric had been treating some of the cattle so I stood and watched them for a while. At one point I saw Eric say something to dad that was obviously about me as they both looked in my direction, but because I was keeping out of their way I wasn't close enough to hear what they were talking about, plus the cows were making a right lot of noise. When they got finished dad came over and asked if I fancied doing a little job with the telehandler. For those that don't know what a telehandler is, but wish to do so, just google it. Basically it's a materials handling machine, the same machine that Eric brought the bags of fertiliser to the field with. However today dad wanted me to bring some bales of straw from the stack round to the yard ready to be used in the straw blower for bedding the sheds down. Eric had already gone round to the stack to lift the top three bales down to the floor as he said the machine is at it's limit at that height so he didn't want me taking those bales until he was confident that I would be okay with it.

"Go round to Eric then and he will show you what to do. But remember not to approach the machine until you are certain he's seen you and wants to you to do so."

I assured him that I wouldn't. I was very excited but also quite nervous as well. I watched from a distance as Eric lifted the top three bales off all across the width of the stack and place them on the ground, and when he waved me over I went to him.  He sat me in the seat and demonstrated the controls, most of which were situated on a joystick to the right of the seat. So you steer with your left hand and work everything else with the right hand. Much the same as the tractor really except there isn't so many controls on the telehandler. Unlike the tractor there is a button on the joystick for forward and reverse rather than a lever by the steering wheel. To lift the boom you pull back on the joystick and the opposite to lower it. To tilt the bale grab on the front you move the joystick to the left or the right. To open and close the grab there is a button on the joystick, and the same with extending the boom for more reach. I was told not to use that today though as there are more things you have to be aware of when working with the boom extended and I didn't need it extended anyway. That was it for the controls, pretty easy and I didn't have any trouble once I remembered which controls did what and got used to the reactions I got from them.

I was able to pick up three bales at a time but because I couldn't see very well with them on the front Eric said to reverse round to the yard. I already knew how they set the bales out ready for picking up so he stayed with me while I did six bales and then he left me to it while he went and did some feeding. I really enjoyed it, it was great fun, and by the end I wasn't even having to think about what control did what, it just came natural, sort of like just picking something up with your own hand.

I think Eric is becoming my number two fan after mum and dad, he keeps praising me up all the time.