What the Hay



        Making hay has been taking up a lot of time lately. Baling hay is a multi step process. First the grass is cut and has to lay and dry for a number of days until the grass is dry and breaks easily when bent. Wet grass will not keep and would start to rot before we need to use it over the winter. Once the hay is dry we use a big rake to pile the grass into rows and then the baler comes and rolls it into the nice tight bales. In our area we do a lot of ditch hay which we feed to the cows during the winter as part of their feed ration. Paul tells me that we have done about 500 bales this summer so far and there is still more grass to be cut.

       To keep the bales protected from moisture we stack them into piles and cover them with a tarp. It takes some strong tractors and gymnastics to get the bales all stacked right and the tarp on correctly. After the tarp is in place then it is held down with twine and tires. We need to make sure the wind doesn't blow the tarp off.  The kids were big helpers fetching tires. The men tied the twine to a small board and then threw it over the pile to the one waiting on the other side.  Then they would both tie their end to a tire.

Luke posing in the front of the loader among some of the tires that will be used.

David helping make a stack

Simon helping dad get the tires out of the back of the pickup.

 

The tarped and tired bale piles also made cute kid photo backdrops. Like tire swing all lined up in a row.

All 5 in the tires.

         As you can see we had some fun while we were working on the farm. The kids love being outside and part of the action. They like helping out and experiencing new things. Having the around helps keep the time fun and reminds us why were are doing all this work, so they could someday have the possibility to live and work on the family farm.