The Hay Is In The Barn!

 The hay is in the barn! And in wheelbarrows, loose... Baler was not terribly cooperative. The best thing about haying this year (besides the fact that it's done) was the cooperative weather... no rain and not too hot. However the nutty weather earlier... endless rain followed by freezing cold and no moisture at all... created rock hard soil that kept the lotus from getting as lush and tall as we would have liked. As unpredictable as the weather this year has been, maybe it will surprise us and give us rain this summer and a second cutting in the fall. Well, I can dream.

Although I sure don't want to buck more bales and they don't hop magically into the barn loft. I am compensating for the diminished bale count by opening up more areas for the goats to browse. We need their help in keeping brush down anyway, because of fire danger. Photos of the hay operation, when I remembered to take them... totally out of order...

Johnny mowing the B field (2nd of 4 fields)

The herd who eat all that hay

The herd out on brush control duty

The traditional jumping the last bale: the takeoff

the jump start

...in the air...

and the landing!

First day friend Mary drove the tractor. She had always wanted to drive a tractor and thoroughly enjoyed it. That was a great help for us. I pick up bales and put them on the wagon, Johnny stacks.

Johnny baling the South field (4th of 4 fields)

Mary on her first day... grinning like crazy

Johnny spent more than one day repairing the baler

I guess I never did get a photo of Johnny raking. And the first photos should have been of him repairing the mower... that was quite an undertaking. The rake and baler are ours but we borrow the mower from a neighbor. It always needs repairs. This year one of the discs had to be replaced... Johnny finally found a suitable replacement part: a cast iron frying pan...

I told the story here: 

https://lindafink.blogspot.com/2023/05/johnnys-farm-projects.html

post script:

Johnny, never one to let a piece of machinery defeat him, spent the better part of two days, after haying was "over", trying to figure out why the knotter on the baler didn't work right. He eventually succeeded and rebaled all the broken bales and loose hay. Three days after the alleged end of haying, we put those last 9 bales into the barn.