As of this writing, we’ve got a good start on our second-crop hay harvest. This time around the crop is cut, dried, side-raked and then baled. The process from cutting to harvesting takes days of sun in a row and a bit of wind to dry down the rows of hay.
We bale a few fields with our own equipment, using our baler, which makes those manageable, smaller square bales. There once was a time when we baled our entire second crop in that manner. However, as we age we find we need to manage the work a bit differently.
There are a number of ways to harvest hay, and each farmer decides what’s best for his needs at any given time. Last year for a couple of fields, we custom-hired a guy who baled huge, square bales that he dropped in the field as he formed them. Later, my husband went back and carted them home using a tractor with a three-point prong. This piece of equipment is better used for the large, round bales, rather than those huge square bales.
Speaking of harvesting large, square-baled hay, I must take a moment and talk a bit about an article I wrote a few weeks ago called, “Frantic farm wife.” My husband and I, along with our daughter and her friend, were making an ice cream run and came upon a farm couple having issues in a field adjacent to their home.
Their skid steer was parked at sort of a decline in the road, and as we approached we slowed, stopped and talked for a brief moment before letting them continue with their work. I discovered a couple of readers were wondering why we didn’t stop and help, rather than stop, talk a bit and simply move on.
Let me explain the scenario: This couple was handling the last bale on the field when we approached. These bales can easily weigh up to 1,000 pounds. They are substantial, hefty, massive bales that cannot be manhandled, no matter how strong or physically fit a person is. We, bodily, could have done nothing to help these fellow farmers other than to move on so we did not detain them further, which is what we did, spending just a few moments there at the scene. I’m hoping this explanation clears up a few questions.
These past few weeks have been very busy. Not to go into too much detail, but there has been a restructuring of sorts within the USPS, which concerns my off-the-farm job. I was to make a decision: separate completely or continue forward. After much prayer and many conversations between my husband and myself, we decided the timing is right for me to go forward.
Hence, I’ve been off the farm many days attending training and working, unfortunately at very crucial times during the harvest season. Whenever my husband gets a little antsy about my time away from the farm, I remind him we made the decision together and the work will get done; it always does. I do feel for him, however, as in my absence he shoulders the majority of the workload.
One day I spent an hour side-raking hay before heading to the post office. It was a beautiful day and there was nothing else I really wanted to do, other than to be out on that tractor side-raking the dry, fragrant, second-crop hay. Alas, I had to hand the reigns over to my husband, who continued the job.
Arriving home late that afternoon, I hopped back onto the tractor, this time to bale. Previously, as I had driven by the field, I had noticed an empty wagon was parked there, which told me what I was to do. Pulling into the driveway at home, the tractor was hooked up to the baler and a wagon, waiting for me. My husband had baled that afternoon and had just then shut down to begin night chores. Later, our daughter arrived home from her off-the-farm job and took care of my chores in the barn, and the next day all of us unloaded the hay we stored in the sheds that night.
We are very much learning, with patience and persistence, to work around each other’s work to make it work, one day at a time. And that includes harvesting our second-crop hay.
(“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7)
