First Cut Hay 2022
We now have lots of newly baled hay here at my Bedford, New York farm. This first cut of the season is higher in fiber content and lower in protein and fat - all my horses will love it.
Hay is a harvested plant that’s dried and cured after being cut in the field. In most cases, hay is cut during the late bud or early bloom stage to maximize its nutritional value. Over the last week, my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring, and our entire team worked hard to cut, toss, rake, and then bale the hay in my fields. Ideally, after the hay is cut, it's good to let it dry for a couple of days before baling in order to prevent rot. Chhiring's son, Mingmar, who also works at the farm, took drone images to capture the process.
Enjoy these photos.
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- This is one of two hay trailers or wagons that I have here at the farm. It is used to catch the bales once they are formed and tied. It’s covered to protect the bales from any unexpected rain and to offer shade to those who are stacking the bales as they are thrown. Fortunately it was a beautiful late spring day with temperatures in the 70s.
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- And here is the baler. A baler is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store.
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- Large rolls of twine are positioned and tied to each other, so they can feed into the baler and secure the hay just before it shoots out into the trailer.
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- Here is the motor that helps to move and propel the bales into the wagon.
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- Chhiring hitches the baler to my Kubota tractor. I am so glad I have all the necessary equipment here at the farm. Having the “right tool for the right job” is very important.
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- Here is a close look at a row of hay ready to bale. I have three separate areas for growing hay. They are all planted with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clovers – all great for producing good quality hay.
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- Chhiring does this process midday when there is the least amount of moisture. The tractor rides to one side of the windrow while the baler passes directly over it to collect the hay.
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- The hay is lifted by tines in the baler’s reel and then propelled into the wagon by a mechanical arm called a thrower or a kicker.
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- Here is a bale moving through the machine. The bales are manageable for one person to handle, about 45 to 60 pounds each.
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- Here’s a closer look as a baled “square” moves up to the arm. A measuring device—normally a spiked wheel that is turned by the emerging bales—measures the amount of material that is being compressed. If the hay is properly dried, the baler will work continuously down each row. Hay that is too damp tends to clog up the baler.
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- Chhiring goes evenly and slowly over every row of cut, tedded hay.
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- Mingmar maneuvers the drone, so he can capture every part of the process. Here it is easy to see what the field looks like after the hay is collected.
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- The hay wagon has high walls on the left, right, and back sides, and a short wall on the front side to contain the bales which are stacked neatly from front to back.
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- This bale in the tractor bucket accidentally fell out of the wagon and was picked up separately. Each bale is about 15 by 18 by 40 inches large. The number of flakes in the bale is determined by a setting in the baler. Many balers are set for 10 to 12 flakes per bale.
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- The trailer fills up pretty quickly. Each one can hold about 150-bales. Chhiring drives up and down the windrows of all the hayfields which takes a couple of hours.
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- Once the hay wagon is full, it is driven down the carriage road through the long boxwood allée to my stable hayloft. Here, one can see the wagon on the left. One of my allées of lindens runs perpendicular to the boxwood.
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- To get the bales up into the hayloft, a long motorized bale conveyor, or hay elevator, is set up. A hay elevator is an open skeletal frame, with a chain that has dull three-inch spikes every few feet to grab bales and drag them along. It works as a pulley system on a track that moves the bales up to the loft.
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- The bales are loaded one by one onto the elevator and then at the top each bale is released from the elevator for manual stacking. This process continues one bale at a time from the wagon to the hayloft… until the entire wagon is empty.
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- In general, a standard 40 lb. “square” bale of hay lasts one horse about three days, but this also depends on the individual horse, the type of hay, and the amount of access to pasture grass.
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- Here is an aerial view of the middle field. The fields will grow another crop and we’ll harvest the second cut come September. I am so excited to see all these bales of hay made right here at my farm. Do you bale hay where you live? Share your comments below – I would love to read them.
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