Final haying

I've put up the hay for this winter; it's a mix of orchard grass, canary grass and clover from Wons' farm a mile down the island. Won has been messing with his baler again this year, and so the bales are all a little different sized, which is a bit of a problem because I'm buying on a price per bale. Next year I think I'll weigh it and get a price per ton -- that's fair to both of us.

But in the mean time, having differently sized bales is annoying to stack.

The hay barn is about 16' tall, and the bales form a windbreak for the farrowing pens that I'll use this winter. Right now the weather is nice enough that the sows can farrow on pasture without too much loss.

I lost about 10 bales from the strings coming off while we stacked; the loose hay went to the cows and sheep, and the pigs ate some of it too.

That's about as full as I can get it. The bales that are in the foreground on the left are stacked in a "stair" so that I can climb them to get to the top of the hay. I've made a coyote stand up there so that if I have any more coyote problems I can position myself there, out of the wind and rain, and watch for the coyotes in comfort.

The hay smells really good. Like sunshine.