Hm. That doesn't really work in writing, but it's pretty silly when you tell it.
Today we FINALLY got our hay baled up. Well, most of it anyway.
Hay production has been a huge ordeal at Blue Heron Farm. Last year it rained so much, a great many folks around here lost their hay, us included. Because you need a few conse
cutive days of sunshine to cut, rake and bale - the ever present rains left us without any chance to get it in.Another part of our problem is our small size. No one wants to come cut a 10 acre field, as the bigger ones are easier to mow and more lucrative for the cutter. We had people tell us they would do it that never showed up.
This year someone showed up.
Sort of.
It's taken well over a week and the cut hay has been rained on once, leaching valuable nutrition from the grass, but a good 65% of it is finally baled up and in the barn now. He should be coming back to do the rest tomorrow.
Maybe.
Did I mention it's hard to get people out to cut and bale small fields?
Anyhoo - here are a few photos from today. When we get the last of the hay loaded into the barn I'll post before and after photos so you can see how we did.
We are both so glad this ordeal is almost over. There will be no second cutting.
3 comments:
If you tell them that they can have the hay themselves, they will be there in a heartbeat. We had about 8 acres in the pasture right next to the house that was badly overgrown, it needed to be cut. I contemplated keeping it for myself, but the barn needs a bit of work first before its in any condition to store hay, and, well, we dont have any animals yet... :)
I called farmer Barney and he called farmer Jimmy and lickety split, Jimmy was there cutting and baling.
I wonder how long it would take to get someone to make small bales for me to store on my farm?
The problem is that letting the hay leave the property totally ruins the "sustainability" goal. We have to nutrient cycle.
Also, this wasn't the best quality hay. It was pretty weedy - which is fine for goats; they like weeds and the variety - but it is not something you can sell for top dollar.
c'est la vie. We have about 120 bales now, I think. If we never get the rest of it up, at least we'll still have more than enough to get the ladies through the winter.
Agree about not wanting it to leave the property. Our problem is that we have barn "issues" with some rotten floorboards and a leaky roof. Im still in the middle of trying to get some contractors sorted out so I can fix those issues. Meantime, it really just needed to be cleaned up so that most of the weeds were cut down.
Its old fescue pasture. Some Reed Canary Grass. Mostly fescue.
Fescue and groundhogs, that is.
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