The Farm. Haying and Cattle Thread

[Martin Seebach]

lol. I looked today and the ECM has us for 5 inches Sat-Tues. GFS has the perfect amount of about quarter inch. Even if we don't get rain the sun will bleach it out. Dew helps. Just takes longer. It is a tough crop for this area. Trying to predict best time to mow so not to mature with trying to get a little rain then couple good days for a baling window. I would say we have made perfect straw twice in the last 5 -6 years we have done it. But we have never lost a crop just not pretty. And have never made black straw but its been close. One batch did get close to 5 inches and on ground I think 2 weeks. At least this year no mud.

This was our start to straw 2025

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Not all of the field was that bad though. Notice the mower. Just past perfect for the flowering stage. This year it is perfect. In fact Saturday when we baled hay as I drove along the field I was looking for flowering and found 2. Sunday after checking cattle went and looked and 70% was in flower. A difference of 12 hours. I was originally planning on mowing Tuesday didn't want to deal with that much pollen.

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Black bales, ugh, haven't seen those. We don't have the kind of rain you do. Lived in NW NJ for some time and never quite got used to the 3 or so days of rain weekly. There are other ways to lose crops. One year the wild boar destroyed 500 bales in fields, 1/4 of crop that year. A different loss that took out nearly all the bales was caused by Tule elk after baling. They are taller and about the same weight as a huge Belgian draft horse. Their horns can be 6' tip to tip mounted on a neck that is all muscle and shoulders tie into them also. They were throwing the bales straight up to loosen 3 wires. After 1 or 2 throws they'd stomp it. Had another year when I called into town and told Dad baler would be fired up around 3:30am. Walked out of the house near a couple of hay fields, stopped dead, dropped coffee cup and just stared. When I'd gone out to check dryness there were windrows stretching end to end about 6' apart. When I got to the field it looked like a tornado had gone through. Wild boar tore it up to eat the seeds. Those 3 years were the beginning of sell the herd, 50+ mommas and 2 bulls with replacement I'd had a hassle with. He hooked his horn into my leg and tossed me over the squeeze fence. Then he blasted through fence and I'm running with blood pumping out of leg. I made it up and over manger into the barn landing face first on an oak desk I'd stored there until I could get my house together. Had to pull roof off house due to rodents having free run for 80 years the place was empty. Tried to do it from below but knotty pine steepled ceilings and walls...good time to put insulation above. Pic is NW corner of living room, niche is behind oven that gets heat from large fireplace in center of hearth.

 

[deere4040]

Not sure what I was thinking but mowed yesterday. This morning they moved the rain up to Saturday morning. Really only one good day, today Friday. Full sun no wind. Made it rain yesterday on it and tedded it twice. Dried down good. Will I get it dry?? Those that follow this will know my confidence level based on acres. I mowed 5 acres.