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.
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!
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.
Behind him is a rake that picks up the cut and dried hay and rakes it into windrows that can be baled.
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.
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.
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.
All the windrows are lined up next to each other with enough room in between for the baler to maneuver properly around the field.
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.
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.
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.
Once it is tied, it moves up this conveyor belt…
Here is Cesar in the hay wagon behind the baler ready to accept the bales and stack them.
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.
The baler circles the field processing the hay and throwing it back into the wagon every couple of minutes.
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.
Here’s the bale counter right on the baler – 208! That’s a lot of hay!
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.
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.
Cesar is in the hay wagon feeding the bales onto the elevator.
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.
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.
Here at my farm, it's that time of year again - when my outdoor grounds crew starts the process of harvesting the second cut of hay.
In most cases, hay is cut during the late bud or early bloom stage to maximize its nutritional value. Yesterday, my outdoor grounds crew cut and tedded the hay in my giant horse pasture. The first cut was done in June. This cut is greener, more dense, and filled with lots of protein - my horses love it.
Here are some photos and a video clip, enjoy.
Timing is everything when cutting the hay crop. We hope for at least a week of good, dry, warm weather, so we can work in the fields and guarantee a good harvest.
My outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa, keeps track of the weather during hay cutting time. It’s crucial he select the best days for this process. Yesterday, my run-in paddock was first on the list for cutting.
This is our mower-conditioner. It cuts, crimps, and crushes the hay to promote faster and more even drying.
The discs and blades are located behind the protective shield of the mower-conditioner.
The shield stays on the apparatus as it moves through the field.
On cutting day, Chhiring goes around the fields counter clockwise cutting all the hay. The process of cutting should take about an hour and a half per field. I have three.
The hay goes through the machine and processes the hay one wide strip at a time.
Here, one can see what has been cut and what Chhiring still has to do.
It is important that Chhiring moves slowly enough to get every area of the hay field cut. He does not want to miss any bit.
Once cut, the cut hay is ready for tedding, also known as fluffing. This is our hay tedder. It spreads and fluffs the hay in a uniform swath. It uses a rotary motion to grab the hay with spinning tines that cast it out the back of the machine.
Here is one of the tines that picks up and flips the hay.
The tines are connected to these rotors, which are the moving parts of the tedder that lift and spread the hay.
This part of the process allows air circulation for drying and is crucial for conditioning the hay so it is ready for harvest.
Fernando must drive through the field, carefully watching that he has flipped everything that was cut.
Here is an area of cut, tedded hay. As it dries, it will become less green and more of a tan color, indicating it is dry.
Chhiring says this is the best second cut hay he’s seen here at my farm – my horses will be so happy.
This field is now all cut and tedded. Next, the hay will be flipped again and then formed into rows for baling. The clip below shows how the tedder works. Stay tuned for the rest of the process.
This time of year is great for starting all those lawn maintenance chores.
Here at my farm, my outdoor grounds crew is busy edging the carriage roads, so they look crisp and clean - it's a task we do once a year. Edging roads, lawns, and around garden beds can be done manually with a variety of spades or edging type tools, but depending on the size of the space, it can also be very time-consuming. Rotary edgers, powered by gasoline, electricity, or portable battery reduce the time it takes to complete this job. These machines feature a spinning blade that cuts through the turf as the edger is pushed along the road where it meets the grass border. For this chore, I use my Troy-Bilt TBE550 Lawn Edger. It works really well for creating that beautiful, smooth edge.
Enjoy these photos.
Does your driveway look similar to this – where the grass has grown over the road leaving it messy and unsightly?
Are there areas where weeds and grass have grown outside the lawn edge? I have four miles of gravel-covered carriage road at my farm. Every spring, I notice how much the grass has grown into the gravel making it difficult to see the exact edge where the carriage road meets the lawn.
The covered nine-inch triple edge blade is self-sharpening and has three different bevel options for trimming. The machine is also very easy to maneuver and guide.
Pete and Fernando use bright colored twine and garden sod staples to mark the straight edge of the lawn where the edger will go. The twine is saved and used over and over for making straight lines for a variety of projects.
Pete puts up the colored twine one section at a time. Once taut, it is easy to see the guiding string for the edger.
Pete hammers in another garden sod staple to anchor the twine at the other end and looks to make sure the twine is aligned straight where he wants it to be.
It’s always important to wear long pants and closed shoes to avoid injury from any flying debris. Edgers can cause small stones to fly up to nearly 10-feet. Pete also wheres eye protection while using this machine. As it is running, Pete listens to the edger to guide the speed. The machine works harder when cutting through the turf and is generally quieter when it finishes.
Here is the finished line made by the edger – so clean and crisp. This task can also be done manually with an edging spade, but with the number of roads that need edging around the farm, it is a lot easier to use the powered edger tool. In this section, one can see where the edger has passed and made a clean line through the turf.
Once a section has been edged, Fernando pulls away the unwanted vegetation between the cut edging line and the lawn using a garden hoe.
Look how much is pulled away. Fernando stops often to check his work. The carriage roads are all about 12-feet wide, which is what it should be after any overgrowth is removed.
This area is alongside my pergola. It looks so different after it is edged.
Fernando uses a soft rake to gather all the debris into one place.
And then picks it up by hand.
The soft rake is also very helpful in removing the old, dead grass on top of the gravel.
Here, Fernando blows along the road with our STIHL leaf blower to clear any leftover dead leaves or debris on the lawn. He also blows any gravel stones back onto the road. These STIHL blowers are powerful and fuel-efficient. They provide enough rugged power to tackle heavy debris while delivering lower emissions.
Meanwhile, Pete uses a landscape rake to spread and level the gravel. These rakes have one straight edge and one toothed edge.
He uses the straight edge to move and level. These landscape rakes are easy to find at home improvement shops and some gardening centers.
The toothed edge is used for more detailed work such as pushing the gravel to the edge of the grass so all looks manicured and finished. Gravel roads are attractive, easy to maintain, and accumulate less pollutants over time.
Here’s a finished edge – it looks so straight and clean. It’s important to edge and shape the roads regularly, so they drain properly and look tidy. I like to use native washed stone in a blend of gray tones. This gravel is used all over the farm.
This day was mild with very little wind, so flying dust from the gravel was minimal. After a few hours, this section of carriage road looks completely different with its fresh, sharp edge. There’s a lot more road to edge – keep up the good work, Pete and Fernando!
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