The Bovine Bugle

Finally, dry weather makes for good haying

This past week was the one we have been waiting for since late July. Up to this point we had not had enough sunny, warm days in a row to make dry hay into square bales. We need at least 3 nice days in a row to dry the hay enough so that it won't mold and spoil once it is baled. The "square bales" (actually they are rectangular) are about 3 1/2 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 1 1/2 feet thick and weigh 30 to 40 pounds. We use these bales to feed the younger animals that are kept in the young stock barn.

Dennis Demar, our forage supplier, mowed the hay on Monday and it was ready to bale on Thursday. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon Dad pulled in with the first wagonload of bales. Dad trucked the wagons back and forth between our farm and Dennis', about 5 miles away. The unloading crew was comprised of Karen, Ben, Justin, Noah, me, and my brother, Steve, who graciously came home from work early to give us a hand. Over the next 2 1/2 to 3 hours we unloaded 5 loads of hay for a total of 700 bales. Each bale was placed on a conveyor sitting on the wagon, taken off the end of the conveyor inside the barn, tossed to a waiting pair of hands, and then carefully stacked into the growing criss-cross pile of bales in the haymow. After the extremely wet summer we have been suffering through, we were extremely happy to have these precious bales safely inside our barn.

Of course, there was still the evening milking and chores to do. We finished around 9 p.m., tired but satisfied with a day's work well done.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont