These pictures are from Father’s Day weekend. The first crop of hay is usually cut well before then, but all the rain we had during May and into the first part of June pushed things back. You need to allow time for the hay to dry after its cut, before baling it, turning it over with the rake a few times to help things along. Finally the planets aligned and we got a few straight days of sunshine.
We rent 14 acres of alfalfa/clover hay from one neighbor, and another 5 acres of grass hay from another neighbor. The alfalfa/clover hay is high in protein and gets fed to the stocker calves that we’re feeding out to eat. The grass hay gets fed to the cows.
Matt hires the hay cut…
then does the raking himself…
and then hires the hay baled into large rounds.
Holidays and Sundays don’t mean anything – when the hay is ready, it’s ready. Our baler came the afternoon of Father’s Day to do the baling for us.
Matt gets the bales off the field as quickly as possible. Some are stored in our sheds, some in the neighbor’s shed, and some outdoors.
Hopefully the next 2 cuttings will go as well as this first one!
Nice sequence of photos. Now if I could get you to deliver a couple of those rounds to my Missouri pecan plantation, I think everything would be about right in the world!
And the first cut is always the best! My friend Margie is bemoaning the fact that the guy that cuts their hay is dragging his feet. You can’t forever to get that stuff baled up. I love to see the baler working, it’s cool.
I itch just lookin’ at these snaps and I can smell the fresh cut clover bales from here. What is the make of Matt’s tractor? Looks like a shiny new one.
Oh yeah, I forgot to wish you a happy fourth because that tractor of yorn got me so excited.
Farmer John – It’s a New Holland Boomer TC35. We bought it new in 2001. At the time it was the second largest model they had, but I believe they have some bigger ones now. The dealership was trying to get Matt to trade up to a new one by offering him trade-in value on this one that was pretty much what we paid for it. So far I’ve held him back 🙂
Well good luck to you. You know what they say about a man and his toys… err I mean necessary and required machinery to get the job done. In my head, I’m pulling for you but in my heart, Matt’s got the lead.