Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Making Hay

What has the husband been up to?  Making hay.  I don't really know why it is called "making hay", but it just is.  In this picture he is mowing the hay.
After the mowing is done, it is tedded.  This is done more than once depending on the thickness and the dampness of the hay.  Then it is raked into rows for the baler.
Ah, the new round baler equiped with the all important "net wrap".  The husband swears that net wrap has changed his life (for the better, lol).
Here are some of the finished bales in the field, waiting to be picked up and loaded onto the trailers.
Yep, in the Spring and the Fall I am pretty much like a single parent.  He leaves in the morning and he gets home at dark-thirty.  Farming 101.  What is the difference between hay and straw?  Hay is cut when it is green, it can be square or round.  Cows will do strange things for a good bale of hay.  Straw is baled after the combine has cut the grain, and is square.  It is dead, your animals would not touch it for all the tea in China.

4 comments:

Rockin' it up said...

yeah, I know the difference, but I always get the names mixed up. Straw is the one that's just good for growing grass and stuff right? What else can you use it for?

Shannon said...

It will keep weeds from growing as quickly around your garden plants. Some people even plant the tomatoes directly into the bales. Other people put them on the back of a trailer and sit on the straw, then call it a "hay ride", when there is actually no hay in sight, lol.

Fantastagirl said...

We use straw for bedding in a pinch at work. Oh, I miss being on a farm, growing up I couldn't wait to leave, but I miss it.

BE said...

That was neat to see. I knew cows ate hay and straw was not eaten, but I didn't what made them different. So I learned something today. :)