Cutting the hay...

[BrokenolMarine]

Our guy came out and cut the hay this afternoon. We finally found someone who can / will do it. The last two years Tina has just kept the tops clipped to prevent weed growth, sprayed as needed, and then bushhogged if it got out of hand. We had just four cows for most of that time, but they did a pretty good job on it thru the three seasons. We just needed hay in the winter. We are doing a split with the hay guy... so no cost to us and we should get enough for the winter. Next year, we'll get two cuttings.

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I think the hay fields are beautiful. He'll rake tomorrow, and bale tomorrow evening or Monday.

[Sir Henry]

Our guy came out and cut the hay this afternoon. We finally found someone who can / will do it. The last two years Tina has just kept the tops clipped to prevent weed growth, sprayed as needed, and then bushhogged if it got out of hand. We had just four cows for most of that time, but they did a pretty good job on it thru the three seasons. We just needed hay in the winter. We are doing a split with the hay guy... so no cost to us and we should get enough for the winter. Next year, we'll get two cuttings.


pan shot hay cut comp.jpg


I think the hay fields are beautiful. He'll rake tomorrow, and bale tomorrow evening or Monday.

I like to see them with the bales in the field.

[daytime dave]

I love the smell of fresh cut hay.

[BrokenolMarine]

Our guy came out and cut the hay this afternoon. We finally found someone who can / will do it. The last two years Tina has just kept the tops clipped to prevent weed growth, sprayed as needed, and then bushhogged if it got out of hand. We had just four cows for most of that time, but they did a pretty good job on it thru the three seasons. We just needed hay in the winter. We are doing a split with the hay guy... so no cost to us and we should get enough for the winter. Next year, we'll get two cuttings.


pan shot hay cut comp.jpg


I think the hay fields are beautiful. He'll rake tomorrow, and bale tomorrow evening or Monday.

I like to see them with the bales in the field.

I'll sometimes stop and take pictures if I get the right angle and the sun is right. Makes nice wallpaper for the computer. I lost all the ones I had saved when the virus killed the old computer. I hadn't backed "those" up.

[Hatchdog]

Beautiful yes but after spending 10 years stacking bales and then unstacking to feed horses some of the beauty has waned. But since it’s been eight years since I last touched a bale I’m starting to see the beauty again. The locals are starting the first cut right now. At my last place there was a huge hay field directly across the road and for the second or third cut (he irrigated) often he would bale at night. I loved the sound of the bailer thump thumping quietly in the distance.

[BrokenolMarine]

Thirty years ago, when Tina and I first married... she had a horse. A few years later, she had more than one. She managed horse barns during the early years of the marriage when we lived on the single acre in the small house with four kids. In exchange for the barn management, she would get stall space, ring time, and the opportunity to train horses and teach riding to various students. This funded the grain and vet bills. Her hobby rarely cost us anything. Hay? We would throw hay with local farms and take our pay in square bales. Yes, I remember that the hay looked beautiful laying in the field, until those 600 bales laying in the field looked a LOT like work.

Now, they bale round bales and we move them with the tractor. Move them into the barn and close the gate, then pull one out and drop it, put a ring around it and they eat it. Pull another out and drop the ring around it... they eat it. The tractor does MOST of the work. Last year the 60 acres across our east fence line got cut.... baled... it was beautiful.

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It laid in the field less than a day.

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The owner and his son had it lined up and ready to load on the custom hay trailers and gone in two days. Hay was so scarce last year, bales would disappear if left in the field too long.

[Sir Henry]

Our guy came out and cut the hay this afternoon. We finally found someone who can / will do it. The last two years Tina has just kept the tops clipped to prevent weed growth, sprayed as needed, and then bushhogged if it got out of hand. We had just four cows for most of that time, but they did a pretty good job on it thru the three seasons. We just needed hay in the winter. We are doing a split with the hay guy... so no cost to us and we should get enough for the winter. Next year, we'll get two cuttings.


pan shot hay cut comp.jpg


I think the hay fields are beautiful. He'll rake tomorrow, and bale tomorrow evening or Monday.

I like to see them with the bales in the field.

I'll sometimes stop and take pictures if I get the right angle and the sun is right. Makes nice wallpaper for the computer. I lost all the ones I had saved when the virus killed the old computer. I hadn't backed "those" up.

This is from last summer. I’ll be gone to Alaska this year about the time they hay. This is a 3X telephoto view from my front deck.

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They only left the bales in the field about two days.

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[John M]

We are feeding out now to the cattle, alpaca, goats and deer.

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[BrokenolMarine]

Nice...

[CT_Shooter]

We are feeding out now to the cattle, alpaca, goats and deer.

Such a beautiful place. Wonderful. Thanks for sharing these photos with us.

[Shakey Jake]

When I was a kid we had a baler that did the square bales. Geesh, I would have given up almost anything not to have to shuck hay. Picking up bales, stacking them on the trailer, and then having to stack them in the barn. My, I really don't miss those days at all.
Jake

[dave77]

I still need about 10 bales to get my 2 goats through the winter. Grass hay and most around here have gone to 75lb bales. A lot easier than the 2 tons of 100lb bales I needed when I had my horse and goats. I don't think I could get a 100lb bale 5 high anymore.

[dave77]

We are feeding out now to the cattle, alpaca, goats and deer.

Funny that I see deer around my place year around, they come down to the creek and I occasionally see them in my pasture (they can jump my 5 foot fence like it's not even there) but I've never seen any sign of them getting into my hay.

[Stray Cat]

When I grew up on the farm, the best thing I liked about a hay field was when it saw a moldboard plow! But then the previous year's cornstalks were disced and overseeded with oats, clover, alfalfa, and timothy to start the cycle all over again. It was a great feeling when we had three barns full, you can't beat the feeling of seeing fat content cattle during the winter.

[BrokenolMarine]

We have herds of deer in the pecan orchard year round, but especially heavy in the winter when the old pecans are on the ground. At first the donkey would chase them off if he and the cows were down there, but now they are all best of buds. Fawns will graze right along side his grumpy old butt. Anything Canine is in his sights though.

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

I used to let the deer hang around my land. One time I counted 25. They got so used to me that they would just stand still and watch me. One day walking down a path, a deer just stood there as I was approaching. She wouldn't move and I finally had to stop and tell her to get out of my way. But, I had too much trouble with ticks. I hated it, but finally had to run them off. It took a little while, but they seemed to have gotten the message. I rarely have a couple just once in a while.

[BrokenolMarine]

We don't let them up near the farmhouse, or the coops. They are down in the orchard or in the north pasture. We don't have too many problems with Ticks as we have free range guineas, which can fly really high and the coyotes can't normally catch them. We have less problems with coyotes now because donkey likes to stomp them into paste.

[BrokenolMarine]

He will also kick them like a soccer ball, then scream GOOOOOAL in donkey.

[Vaquero]

Hey, John M, I really like that hay wagon there.
Had horses for many years, so I know all about those square bales.
I do miss them a little. My brother and I had cows for a number of years, we did the round bales for them.
Always liked cutting hay, and all that went with it, as long as we rolling, instead of baling.

RP