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Playing the game of checking the hay, and trying to get it up. The big bales, and loader make it a lot less work than the years back.

Richard, what baler do you use?

We just fired up one of our pumps this afternoon. Super dry here and we have to water the first cutting alfalfa.

Dad never bought a Round Baler until the little brother & I left home for College. I sure as hell don't miss the old days of square bales.

Sam, we hire two different people. One uses a New Holland, the other a Heston. They both work well.

Chilin, we think alike, all that work might have keep me slim---er, but I'm to old for that now. And, the farm boys are not around anymore.

Super wet here all spring, we've only been able to get in the fields about twice a week. Hopefully we'll finish our corn tomorrow. Then three more days of rain. No dry hay in sight.

Still wet Ben? We were soaked with the one big rainy spell, now once the hay is up, and nice inch would be good. The difference a few thousand miles make is a lot.

I'll make myself a bit more clear on the balers, we are trying for big squares on this cutting.

Yeah pretty wet. All of our wet weather springs are flowing and we've been getting atleast an inch and a half a week. Our soils pretty heavy, so it takes a while to dry out.

That's how we made beer and rodeo money in high school.

25 cents a bale from the field to the barn.

You were lucky Barry! The old man only payed me & the little brother .10 cents a bail

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When I first started hauling hay, it was .05 a bale if you used your own truck... .03 if you used the owners truck. When it went to .10 a bale... I was rich!

Well men, the first field is in the yard, the trailer is backed in the hoop building, and son is feeding cattle just now, in the dark.
Still a lot easier than the old days.

I hated baling! Some people wax up their nostalgics about the smell of new-mown hay. To me it only brings back unpleasant memories. Anyone else go into battle with an old New Holland with the Wisconsin engine on it?

I went for years at a time without feeding a bale of hay. All two hundred acres was chopped for haylage. Rain? Just wait a day or two for the moisture to go down and have at it.

A lot of farmers here have gone to wrapping their round bales. You can sure put it up fast like that, and it's good quality feed. We cut some wheat for hay, and really cranked the rollers down on the haybine so as to crimp it as much as possible. Still took 4 days of laying there in the sun before it was ready to bale. Have a neighbor who cuts a lot of wheat for hay, and he cuts, bales, and wraps his in 2 days time. I can't afford a bale wrapper, but a local guy has one that he rents out, and I may take a look at it next year.

Does wrapping hay make it dry faster? I would suspect that you would have to be more careful about drying to ensure that it does not catch on fire. miles

Miles, we have never do the wrap. I'm thinking it is more a a silage type hay?

John, yup, the old New Holland, that always sounds strange, "Old, New Holland", balers that made the bale on the side. I never worked with one. Ours was a 50T IH with a Cub engine.

There were a couple of fellows that still had the balers with the engines, when I was a kid. I remember seeing them working in the field, but I was too small to be involved. Dont know what brand they were.




When I lived in Ms., there was a fellow that used a machine that cut the hay and crushed it. I think they called the machine a conditioner, but I'm not sure. He would cut a field and bale it the next day. Always wrapped his bales and injected them.

It's called baleage when you wrap wet hay. moisture content is absolutely critical. A little to dry and you have heating at the core witch makes it worthless as feed. Although a spray on product called Hay-Saver will keep it from heating up so much. I don't have any idea how it works.

That conditioner is also called a crimper. It breaks or crushes the stem allowing for faster drying time and also makes the hay softer and more palatable if feeding as dry hay.

Well folks that cutting is in the hoop building. It dried right down this time, now we need a nice rain.