I wrote this post during the last part of summer, just after our third cutting, and was intending on publishing it shortly thereafter. However, as you can tell that didn’t happen. The hard drive on our computer crashed and I was unable to access any of the pictures. Well, we now have a new computer and have successfully recovered the pictures, so I thought I would go ahead and publish it any way. It may not be about winter, but perhaps it will still be of interest. I know that I start thinking about next year’s growing season and leafing through seed catalogs about this time of year, so spending some time considering haying time isn’t that far fetched.
One of the many blessings inherent to true farming, as opposed to agribusiness, is the diversity of work the farmer is entrusted with. One day I may be thinning carrots while the next might find me assisting a goat to give birth to new kids, then I’ll be back to harvesting herbs or weeding the garlic. The possible combinations are almost endless and the work is never boring. How blessed I am to be given such rewarding work instead of being stuck behind a cash register at some retail giant like Wal Mart or Target. I love this life and would not trade it for any other. However, even in the midst of all this enjoyment there are still certain things, which for me, symbolize the pinnacle of agrarian life. Top on my list is unquestionably “my” goats; watching the spring kids grow to maturity, spending time with the Boers out in the pasture, or enjoying the company of the Alpines during milking. However, scoring an easy second is haying time. Hard work that it can be, bringing in the hay has always been one of my favorite jobs on our farm. When some people think of haying, what comes to mind is hot, dusty, strenuous work, (not that any of those things are bad), but for me it represents all that is best in this “good life.” Direct and personal stewardship of God’s creation, being able to pursue one’s work amid the beauty and bounty of the great outdoors, the opportunity to spend time working with my best friends, (my family!), the security in providing for one’s own needs and the needs of the animals under his care, the chance to learn valuable skills from the older generation, a time for laughter and conversation with those I care about most, and yes, even enjoying the need to get hot and dirty while doing strenuous work! In fact, if our farm were large enough to maintain draft mules, (or horses), to incorporate in the process it would be the next thing to heaven on earth … well perhaps that’s just a little exaggeration .
When we first moved to this property we originally let out the field to another farmer in exchange for keeping the weeds down and a small portion of the crop or profit. At that time Paul, (the farmer), generally rotated between the crops of beans and alfalfa. We provided the maintenance labor such as watering, corrugating and weeding when necessary while he would take care of the jobs like planting and harvesting, which required equipment we didn’t have. I can still remember when I first learned how to start and set siphon tubes, and the many hours in the sun Matthew and I spent ridding the beans of all the sunflowers. This arrangement worked out very well for us for some time, but eventually, especially after Grandpa moved next door, we wanted to begin taking care of the whole process ourselves. Thus Grandpa began attempting to acquire the needed equipment; some of which he procured from Paul along with various other sources. All of our equipment is rather ancient by today’s standards, but it is functional and we get around the consistent adjustment and repair by saying that it has more character than all that new-fangled stuff. We also were able to barter labor for much of it, thus acquiring it for very little cost to our pocketbook. Something that’s always appreciated.
Because I’ve enjoyed working with the hay, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in each stage of the process over the years. However, this was the first time that I took care of the entire process, from start to finish, by myself; albeit with Grandpa there to give help and advice when needed. After having done it all I must say that there is still much I could learn, especially in the more intuitive phases such as determining the moisture content of the windrows or adjusting the weight of the bales, but over-all I was quite pleased with how well it went.
Once the hay has grown to maturity, (which takes enormous amounts of water here in the desert), the first step in the process is to swath it. The swather cuts the hay and puts it into windrows where it can begin the drying process. As odd as it might sound, operating the swather is very reminiscent of our riding mower in the lawn care business, just a little less sensitive. It can turn on a dime and once I got used to the feel of the controls and into the habit of raising and lowering the reel at the end and beginning of each row it was really quite easy to use.
“Raking” is one of the most pleasant phases of hay preparation, although my favorite part is actually the pick-up and stacking. The point of the side-delivery rake is to lift the windrow and partially turn it onto dry ground. This helps the hay dry evenly by making sure the underside of the windrow gets plenty of air circulation, thus helping to prevent mold and spoilage once it is baled. In all stages of haying it is best if the weather remains dry, but during the time between swathing and baling is by far the most important because aside from soil properties and crop health this determines the quality of the final product.
Haying is a huge part of the agribusiness scene in our area, but when we drive around the country at harvest time, all but two or three odd-ball farmers are using ton ales. However, unlike everyone else around us, we put up all our hay in small square bales. This allows us to do all of the work ourselves since we can then pick-up and stack them ourselves and it also makes hand feeding the animals much easier.
Now comes the hardest part of making hay, at least in respect to the amount of physical effort you have to expend. However, as I mentioned before, “bringing the hay into the barn” (so to speak) is still my favorite part of the entire process. I think the reason for this is partly that I don’t have to be using loud, noisy equipment, something I am not very fond of, (perhaps this is because that’s what I spend most of my time doing out mowing), and partly because it brings more of the family into the action and as I’m sure you agree it is usually more fun when there’s more people to have fun with! This year, I happened to read a snippet from one of Mom’s Marry Jane’s Farm magazines that talked about how to securely stack 42 hay bales in the back of a standard sized pickup truck. In years past I have loaded the truck how I was shown by my Dad’s uncle, but with that method I was only comfortable stacking it three and a half rows high and that limited me to around 30 bales so I was quite excited to try this out. The old method also made the bales hang out over the sides of the truck which made backing down lanes somewhat difficult. With this “new” method I was able to stack between 40 and 44 bales per load and it was a much more secure stack and didn’t hang out over the sides. What an improvement!
When the end of the day has come, we may be tired or even a little sore, but there are few things that compare to working with one’s family on the farm. There is an immense satisfaction to be found in having provided a healthy and secure source of winter food for our animals and taking one more small step to being sufficient outside the corporate industrial system. By the way, the top picture was taken with the truck loaded using the “new” method of stacking while the bottom one was done the day before while I was still using the “old” method.
Tyler
