A Day of Preparing

The weather forecasters are calling for 3 days of rain before breaking off for a week of warm and very warm weather.  That is the signal for us to be geared up and ready to jump into hay season with a frenzy.

While cloud bursts and heavy rain fell on and off through the day. We worked on building a retaining wall in the bull pen. Then on to fixing the Henry loader pick-up chain, a 20 foot chain with metal ‘teeth’ that scoop up bales in the field and pick them up over the bed of the farm truck so they can be stacked. We also had some adjusting to do on the mower, this simple task took 3 people, the instruction manual, several trips across the river for more tools and more than an hour, just to drop the cutting blades an inch lower when running. (This is where I could spend an hour blasting the confounded editors of the instruction manual, but I would digress from the story and you have probably already had your own horror stories about diagrams and written words not making sense.)

With the equipment ready to roll. The waiting begins. The final day of showers will be the first day that Mike will move the mower into the field and begin cutting. The rain and dampness of the ground will not affect the quality of the hay. It actually slows down the drying process making for a better, more vitamin and mineral-packed hay. Mowing in the rain does make it harder to mow, but good for a final product.