Hay Time On The Farm

They came and cut our hay a couple of days ago. We have a local man who will do the first cutting on shares. They came and used the tedder which spreads the hay out to dry and then they rake it into rows. The baler is next. We always do the first cutting in big round bales for the cows. It is usually the least nutritious of the cuttings. These first 2 pictures are the local man taking his share home.

Michael got out his rusty trusty tractor to put our share away in the barn.

The big pole on the back of the tractor is called a hay spear. They lower it as low as it will go. Then they back into a bale of hay on the round end. Then they lift it up with the hydraulics and take it into the barn. Once it is in place, it is lowered and the tractor pulls away and the weight of the bale on the ground (around 600 lbs.) holds it in place. Our tractor is not big enough and can't reach high enough to do a row on top of bales already on the ground, unless he has 2 strong guys to help push it up there. =) Tonight he only had me, so the hay will be one row high.

This is the upper part of our bank barn. It is huge. If you click on the picture and look you will be amazed to learn that the man we bought the property from had this barn disassembled somewhere else and brought here and re-assembled. I am totally in awe of that fact each time I go in and look around.

Here is Michael backing in to drop a bale down.

Star caught herself a pigeon. She will eat it. They fly a bit too low and the dogs snag them out of the air. We don't want pigeons in our barn, so we don't discourage them. If you click on this picture and look at the larger version, you will notice LOTS of pigeon poop in the hay on the right. They sit up in the rafters and poop all over our hay.

There is the first bale all in place.

I love to look out on the field all dotted with big round bales.

Here is a short video of Michael putting a bale in the barn. I am standing in the front of the barn with the camera.

Thank you Lord for the hay. Thank you for keeping it dry and helping us to get it in the barn!!

I called Michael's tractor his rusty trusty tractor. If you have children there is a book by the title. You can purchase it through this link and I get credit. It is a great book and tells about how the farmer doesn't want to buy a new shiny tractor, but relies on his old rusty trusty tractor. It is a must have farm book for children (or Mom's if you are like me). =)