Baling the Second Cut of Hay in Run-In Field
It was another good, warm, sunny day here at my farm - perfect weather for continuing the hay baling process.
Earlier this week, my outdoor grounds crew cut and tossed an entire hayfield to begin the crucial drying process in preparation for baling. Yesterday, they raked the hay into windrows, then harvested and stacked 208 bales for my horses. It’s an arduous process, which depends largely on the weather, but the team got it done - and this crop of hay is excellent.
Here are more photos.
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- Here is a freshly baled “square” of hay grown and harvested right here at my farm. My hay is a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clovers – all great for my horses. And they love this second cut!
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- Here’s Fernando on my trusted Kubota M4-071 tractor – a vehicle that is used every day here at the farm to do a multitude of tasks. The hay was cut and tossed for drying two days prior. Now it’s time to bale.
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- Behind him is a rake that picks up the cut and dried hay and rakes it into windrows that can be baled.
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- There are different kinds of rakes – they include wheel rakes, rotary rakes and parallel bar or basket rakes. This is a parallel bar rake. This type uses a gentle raking action with a lower chance of soil contamination than the wheel rake.
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- The bar rake is hydraulically driven. This rake allows for consistent movement across the fields making well-shaped windrows. The rake moves at a slight angle to create the windrow. A windrow is a long line of raked hay.
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- Fernando moves at about six to eight miles per hour. The speed actually makes a difference in creating the windrows – slower speed results in a wider windrow that is not well filled in the middle. High speed results in a narrower windrow that is over filled in the middle.
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- All the windrows are lined up next to each other with enough room in between for the baler to maneuver properly around the field.
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- 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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- The motor helps to move and propel the bales into the wagon. A measuring device – the spiked wheel – is turned by the emerging bales. It measures the amount of material that is being compressed and then the knotters wrap the twine around the bale and tie it off.
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- Once it is tied, it moves up this conveyor belt…
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- Here is Cesar in the hay wagon behind the baler ready to accept the bales and stack them.
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- Here is a bale of hay as it is lifted in the baler’s reel and moved up the conveyor belt and then propelled into the wagon by a mechanical arm called a thrower or a kicker. The bales are manageable for one person to handle, about 45 to 60 pounds each.
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- The baler circles the field processing the hay and throwing it back into the wagon every couple of minutes.
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- In less than an hour, the wagon is almost completely filled with bales of hay. 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. I have two hay trailers. Each one can hold about 250-bales.
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- Here’s the bale counter right on the baler – 208! That’s a lot of hay!
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- The best moisture range for hay bales is generally between 12 and 18-percent. This range is crucial for maintaining the hay’s nutritional value and preventing spoilage. Helen tests many bales and they are all showing up within the desired range.
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- To get the bales up into the hayloft of my run-in stable, 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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- Cesar is in the hay wagon feeding the bales onto the elevator.
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- Cesar and Helen will load the elevator until all the bales are up in the loft. Phurba and Matthew take in the bales and stack them inside. This process is the most laborious – the bales are heavy, but this experienced team gets it done in less than an hour.
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- This run-in field provides a great crop of hay. There are two more giant fields to go. It makes me so happy to know I can grow good, nutritious hay for my horses right here at my farm.
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