Working on my fourth cutting of hay today, and the bailer broke after 500 bales or so. It's the end of the season, and most of the tractor dealers have spare capacity in their service departments, so it's not the worst time to have a breakdown, but I still had 2 acres of raked hay to put up.
It's very nice hay, too. It's mostly alfalfa with a little orchard grass, and I hate the idea of wasting it. I'm not going to be able to get the bailer fixed before the rain is forecasted to start.
So I enlisted a little bit of help and a few pitchforks, and off we go for the hay ride. And ride. And ride. I just stacked it loose in the barn; I'll feed it first this winter. The dogs are having fun rolling in it and sleeping in it.
This is the last hay event I have this year. It's been a very good year for hay. Plenty of sun and long stretches that made haying easier than usual.
It's forecasted to rain in a few hours tonight. Nothing better than hearing the rain with all of the hay safe in the barn.
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A friend of mine (actually this guy) uses a silage cart to pick up hay. I'm not sure of the English terminology but in French it is autochargeur. It has spikes to pick up hay or silage like a baler and then crams it in to a big trailer. When the trailer is full he backs into a barn and unloads. It saves on baling and he feeds the herd straight out of the barn under a hot wire. These things are really cheap - he just takes out the blades that chop the silage and only uses it to pick up the hay.
There's a photo of a cheap feeder barn here (excuse the finger).
I used to watch my dad make hay stacks, they shed rain and the cows ate around the sides so they had fresh dry hay all the time. It takes real talent to make a Stack right I think, the Amish still do it. Dad called them a hay doodle I think. Before balers I guess.
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