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.

Hay Season

I haven't been blogging much lately, I hope you didn't miss me. Life on this farm is pretty laid back but during hay season everyone works. Above you can see my field before the grass is cut, and below, just after cutting. We had unusually cold and wet weather clear up until past the 4th of July so haying went on a bit later than average but it is a great crop, with most folks saying they had a bigger number of bales produced than normal.

After the hay dries out on top for a day or two or 3, depending upon the weather, next they fluff it and create rows, like below.

Here is the machine that does the fluffing and row making. It is called a tedder rake. I don't know why. Probably someone named Tedder invented it. I usually call it the fluffer.

Below you see the nice view (ahem!) of the newly baled field.

Above is a picture of Farmer Jan, bucking a hay bale.  They are about 60 lbs. I usually do my fair share of bucking bales (picking them up and putting them in the wagon and into the barn) and can keep up with the rest of the gang.  I can't throw them up high though, I leave that for the guys.  This year I hurt my hip somehow and had to refrain from heavy lifting.  I was able to drive the truck. 

Above you see the baler machine, raking the hay rows into the screw like mechanism, then into the magic box where the bale is formed and somehow tied up and

spit out the back.

Then it is time to stack the bales onto the trailer

and head for the barn.

I thought there might be some of you that had never have seen the process before.  You can see the land around my property is covered with forested rolling hills.  It is a great place to live and work.  I hope you enjoyed this little instructional journey.

Be well.