Wednesday: All weather reports were certain that clear, dry weather would remain through Monday so Art cut about 17 acres of hay.
Thursday: The weather reports changed and we now have a 50% chance of rain after 9:00pm. We were hoping for the best.
Friday: The chance of rain increased to 70% after 9:00pm. I was frantically checking the radar every 15 minutes watching a storm system make it's way towards our hay. Art rushed home from work (leaving a very unhappy boss) to rake and start baling the hay. I left work at 3:00 and drove like hell to get home as I fast as I could to help. We began baling at 4:00 as the sky was getting darker in the West. It started spitting around 7:30 when we had 3/4 of the field done- I have never prayed so hard in my life.
(A note about hay: Once you cut the grass, or 'hay', you let it dry for a day or two, then flip it over, or 'rake' it and allow it to dry another day. If the hay gets wet before you rake it, it's not the end of the world and is still feed-able. If it rains after the hay has been raked you get what I like to call "sh-t hay" (sorry, Grandma); it's brown and dusty and just not good. While beef cows will eat any kind of hay, dairy cows are more particular and it is ingrained in Art to make the best hay possible. If you bale the hay while it's still wet, it will mold and heat- many a barn has burned down because the hay gets so hot it catches on fire. Hay is stressful and I hate it.)
We were able to finish baling the hay and, with the help of our friend Josh, we got all the wagons inside or covered with tarps. It continued to rain all night.
Saturday: Our friends Andrew, Emily and Joey came over to help us unload the hay (Emily and Joey were visiting from Chicago and even though I told them we were going to be unloading hay, I don't think they thought it would be four wagon loads...) We unloaded two wagon loads- about 350 bales. Joey and Andrew unloaded the bales on to the elevator (see picture below) while I took them off the elevator and Art stacked them in the mow (the top of the barn). It took about three hours and after, the beer was flowing.
Sunday: All of our help went home so it was up to Art and I to unload one last wagon (actually, we ran out of wagons and used his car trailer) I unloaded the bales on the elevator and Art stacked them- this time about 100 bales. There is still a full wagon load (about 150 bales) in the corn crib, but Art will just sell those bales first.
Monday: Art rushed home after work to rake the water-way hay since he didn't rake it Friday knowing we wouldn't get it baled before it rained. We had also cut about 5 acres of hay that is owned by a friend with the full intention of baling it for ourselves, but we just didn't have time so our friend ended up round baling it for himself.
(Another note about hay: Our main field is the good stuff- timothy, clover and alfalfa grasses that cows love. We also mow the 'water-ways' of one of our neighbors- these are the grassy areas you see around corn/bean fields. There is some alfalfa, but it's mostly just grass but it still makes good hay)
Again, I drove like hell to get home to start baling hay. We finally got started about 7:30. The water-way didn't take as long, about an hour and a half and it was only one wagon load (another 100 bales). It was pretty good stuff, even though it was rained on but, like I said, beef cows aren't picky.
We had a grand total of about 700 bales. That's a lot of hay. And it was only first cut. Two more to go (but hopefully not for another five or six weeks)....
Loading bales on to the bale elevator
Some of the hay in the mow
Raking the hay
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