We have been waiting for Karla and her bigger tractor to arrive to cut and bale our pasture grass for over a month now (our little tractor just couldn't "cut it"!). She has been very busy and the weather has not been cooperating. Talk about making hay while the sun shines!! We are going to do the anti-rain dance for the next 3-4 days in hopes that we can get "all this grass" dried and baled. Welcome to the world of keeping your fingers crossed and hoping for warm, dry weather.
Here are a few photos of our first experience with putting up our own hay....
Here are a few photos of our first experience with putting up our own hay....
Me or the field scarecrow...take your pick.
See how tall the grass is....
See how tall the grass is....
The grass is several weeks past its prime and has gone to seed already,
but we'll take what we can get.
but we'll take what we can get.
We took the electric fence down to make room for the bigger tractor
to fit through to the back pasture.
to fit through to the back pasture.
Finally Karla and her tractor arrive....20 days after her first estimate
thanks to the Colorado Monsoon rains.
Let the cutting begin!
Isn't it beautiful...all that nice GREEN cut grass...
soon to be hay.
And now we waitand hope for warm, dry weather.
AND we're doing the anti-rain dance here in Southwest Colorado!
Farming is no picnic. It takes nerves of steel and it helps if you are a little bit nuts. All the farmers I used to know spent lots of nights crying and praying either for good weather or an end to the current weather. In the end, they had lots of excellent meat, like sugar cured ham, fresh eggs, steak and plenty of mashed potatoes and gravy during World War II and mom and I were hustling to make the chickens lay more so we could trade the eggs for a piece of cheese or a pound of coffee. I often wonder if mom spent more for the extra electric just to keep the chicken house lights on to get the hens to lay more, or if she even considered it. Those were the days and the difference between us poor city slickers and the fat farmers. LOL
ReplyDeleteI do hope you got the hay baled, rolled or forked on the hay wagon like we used to do it. And then your team of horses hauled the hay on the wagon into the barn where a chain slid it off onto the barn floor and that giant hook dropped down and picked up a load and another horse pulled the rope and it was hauled up into the barn where kids forked it around for winter.
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Wishing you luck with the weather, I'm sure it will be fantastic hay! :))
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is beautiful. I hope you have perfect weather.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you. I hope it does NOT rain or even think of it!
ReplyDeleteWe have had a difficult year getting hay that has not been rained on!
Many of our fields look just like yours, a bit 'over ripe' as it were...but like you, we take what we can get.