Making hay while the sun shines

It may have been hot and humid in many other parts of the USA, but here in NW Oregon it has been quite cool and cloudy.  But finally the sun came out and my hay man, Ken, a neighbor, was able to bring his equipment over and start cutting in my field.

 First cut, with half the field still standing.

Above shows Ken turning the hay and making windrows for picking up with the baler to make bales.

 This is the cutter machine.

A close up on the cutting blades and the mechanism that pulls the grass towards the blades.

This machine turns the hay and gets it into the windrows.

This machine is called a Tedder rake.  It fluffs up the cut hay enabling it to dry more quickly.

 Here is the baler from the front where it gathers the cut dry hay.

 Then the bales are magically formed inside and pushed out here.

This baler uses two strings to tie up the bales.  These bales weigh about 55 to 65 pounds.

 This above piece of equipment is an elevator for getting the bales into the trailer.  It is hard to describe how it works but it is pulled along next to the trailer and you can see the chute on the bottom left side.  Bales get shuffled into the chute and pulled up by that barbed chain you can see that starts at the bottom and goes up to the top where the bale then falls out into the trailer.  Someone is on the trailer and they pick up the bale and place it in the stack.  I have never used one of these machines but find it interesting and ingenious.

I like the color and texture of the chute where the bales have rubbed the paint off and made it smooth as satin even though it looks rough and pitted.

The dogs like hunting in the fresh cut grass, it turns up lots of mice.
After the hay is baled it is time to get it in the barn.  We recruited our friend Jesse again this year to help.

 Drink plenty of fluids, it is hot and dusty work.

Jesse is tall and can reach high on the stack, plus he is in good condition.

The man in the middle is Ken, our hay man.  Steve (chain saw man) is on the right and the young man with the baby is Ken's son and grandson.  He likes to expose them right away to the hay process!  Many ranch kids learn to drive by being put in the truck to drive for the hay crew as they pick up bales, although I'm pretty sure they don't start them quite as young as this baby!

 Jesse and Chase, on top of the stack, heading for the barn.  I'm the driver, edging around in the field, stopping and starting while the men stack in the back of the pick up truck.

We were fortunate that the young men next door, Chase and Neal, noticed we were picking up bales and they came and helped with the last load.  My job was also unloading the truck but when Neal came, he took over for me so I didn't have much to do.  But I get to feed all that hay out slowly over the winter.  I'm glad the bales are only about 60 pounds, about half my weight.

Hay is in the barn and we are set for the winter feeding now!  Thanks for all the help, everyone!  They came in and had a big breakfast with us afterwards.  I should have gotten a picture of that too.
Happy to have that task accomplished safely for another year.
Be well.