Baling Hay

[fritz]

Thanks to one well timed rain of over 4" a few weeks ago, I have been able to start cutting hay.

 

It ain't what I would like it to be, but it's a far cry from what it was a few months ago. Which was nada. My cows won't even look at me anymore, but they will once that grass grows shorter by the day.

 

The smell of that fresh cut hay, and the sight of that first bale coming out of the baler, was just undescribable. It reminded me once again that this is what I really stay here for. I could pack up and move to greener pastures (but my cows can't), so I stay. And pray. Pray for more rain to keep up the harvest, both of hay and my ability to make a living off this hard-scrabble land.

 

fritz

[swamprat]

Fritz,

I don't think there is a prettier picture than fat cows standing belly deep in green grass nor a better smell than fresh mown hay. Unless the smell is coming from one of those fat cows roasting over hot coals! Glad you got your rain and hope you get more as needed.

 

Swamprat

 

[Horsefly]

fritz,are you square baling or rolling?If your square baling,maybe some of the guys that offered to help Spec4 move will help you haul your hay.I think I just rememberd you mentioning before you had a round baler.Oh the memories of hauling hay at 105 degrees,stacking it in a barn against a tin roof,knocking down wasp nest and having a pissed off snake in the bale,all for 2 /12 cents a bale.The last I hauled was 10 cents and gas was furnished.Dad finally got some rain up on Red River,and after he showed his cows how to graze 'cause they'd never eaten anything without wire around it,he said they just stand around with a queery smile on their face from being so happy.Jerry

[odies dad]

All the farmers around here know that the best way to get it to rain is to cut your hay.

My theory is that the dust that is emitted when you cut the hay ascends into the clouds causing a nucleus for the rain drops to form. Kinda like cloud seeding.

[fritz]

I'm round baling right now, but will probably bale some of the second?? cut in square bales. The thought of having to haul up those bales got me directed towards the 567 Magawide JD.

 

Now if only the damned AC in my JD tractor would hold a refrigerant charge, it would be a pleasure to bale. It gets awfully hot in that cab with only a whisper of cooling.

 

Yeah, I guess I am showing my age. There weren't no air conditioning in tracors when I was young. But since I was young, I could tolerate it better.

 

I'm hoping for cooler weather, along with wetter weather, but then that is what I have been hoping for all my life. I'm from Texas, and the two are far and few between.

 

 

fritz

[usmc0332]

Fresh cut hay attracts rain, just like tornadoes are drawn to trailer homes, around here anyway.

[swamprat]

Fritz,

All this time I thought you was a poor farmer! Now your talking about air conditioned cabs on your Johnny Popper. I had pictures of you on a 41 Alice. That old tilt umbrella over your head and a straw hat on it (your head that is, not the Alice). Next thing you'll tell me it's all done remote control! You sit in your office and call it in.

Ever rode, drove a Gleaner open seat combine through a wheat field? If so remember the up dates to the space suit to combat the dust? Now that was progress! Choke to death on the dust or die of suffication in the suit.

 

Swamprat

[fritz]

My old Gleaner, an A-2, had a cab but no AC. The fan just circulated hot air around you. I still have it in the barn taking up space. It will never be used again. But I had some good and bad times with that machine, mostly bad times. Combines with open seats were alright for some climates, but not in the heat of S. Texas.

 

There is a chance, just a slim chance, that a tropical disturbance will come into the area this weekend. But I'm not holding my breath, you folks in Florida better get ready. This one will probably curve your way again.

 

Anybody wanna buy a well-used Gleaner, no AC or power steering. Will sell cheap.

 

fritz

[Guest Uncle Amos McCoy]

I recall helping my Grampaw get up hay, he used horse drawn equipment, wouldn't let a tractor on his place or any other motorized equipment bigger than a pick-up truck.

He cut the hay with a mower, then laid it out with a rake that had big curving tongs that had to be hand lifted to dump the accumulated hay in somewhat regular rows, then when dry, he hitched up a hay wagon and drove between the rows, the ground crew threw the hay onto the wagon with pitch forks, when the wagon was full, it was hauled over to where Grampaw had his haystacks, this was just an area near the barns that he had melted pitch over to keep the moisture from weeping up from below, at some point in the past...Grampaw had mounted a tree trunk in the middle of each pitch soked circle, and we piled the hay around these, he would tie a short post onto one of the short limbs left on the tree trunk for this purpose, these short posts kept the hay pressed in place, when the stacks reached the top of the tree trunk, more posts were added along with an old piece of tarpaulin to shed rain from the top. There were six of these hay stacks plus the haymow in the barns loft, when we finished getting up hay each day...we took off to the river to swim......more fun than washing the dust in a washtub with Granmaw scrubbing you and looking for ticks!

I will remember these days all my life.....ain't been many times in my life I was happier...my cousins trying to see who could get up the most hay, Granmaw bringing big plates of food out to the tables beside the well house, and water from a well that was cold enough to frost a glass! I didn't enjoy many things growing up on that farm......but I would not have traded the memories for a gold palace.

[flaco]

Not to be outdone by a bunch of hicks from the South--LOL--here's an image of haymaking in California, circa 1906.

 

 

The girl with the reins is my paternal grandmother. She went on to attend UCLA--when it was called Los Angeles Normal, a teacher's college--and be principal of a small school in rural California.

 

Don'tcha just love the hats?

 

flaco

[fritz]

We never put up the loose hay like they did years before, but we did have that hay stack arrangement around a tall pole. Damned, it never occured to us to use pitch to seal the ground under them, good idea.

 

We would put up the hay with a rowbinder (it was planted in rows) and make shocks of the bundles that looked like tepees. Then when dry, we would pitch fork these bundles on a wagon and haul to the barnyard where we had the tall poles set up. My father was the only one allowed to make the stack, as the bundles had to be laid just right. But there was plenty of chores for the rest of us.

 

That hay kept as well as any modern baled hay today. It was all in the design of the big stack, and we placed an old tire around the pole at the top. The old farmers had a bit of pyramid building knowledge it seems.

 

We never had that real cool water from a well, but it still tasted good coming out of that open top cypress cistern (at least until a squirrel fell in and drowned). That and a snake falling down in the well casing caused a bit of bad taste to the water.

 

Wonder how we survived, eh? We didn't have the EPA or OSHA or those other do-gooder federal agencies to take care of us. And life was fine, for those on the farm.

 

Take me back, maybe someday?

 

fritz