Time to cut hay! it is starting to bloom! When the hay just starts to bloom the protein content is the highest.
Our world smells like just mown hay.
Delicious!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm
Life on a Colorado Farm (All Rights Reserved)
Life on a Colorado Farm 
When Dad spotted the first bloom in our alfalfa, he would panic. It didn’t matter what we were working on, the mower was hooked up and the alfalfa came down. We had at least 125 acres of the darn stuff and with 50’s and 60’s technology, it was no small task. As for baling, it was only done after dark. During the day the alfalfa was too dry and brittle so we’d wait until the dew came on during the night which was usually around midnight. Too much moisture and you risk spontaneous combustion. The protein is in the leaves and when it’s too dry, the leaves fall off during baling. Bale all night and do the other farm work all day. Wasn’t much time for sleep, or play. It paid off, though. Dad had every cutting tested at SDSU (South Dakota, not San Diego) and he had the highest protein content ever found there.
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That is how we still do it. Wait for the dew. That way there are leaves on the stems. We never have trouble selling out hay
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Baling back then was a lot different than it is now. First, we cut it with a mower with an 8 foot bar. Then, before it got too dry we raked it into windrows. After it was drying well, we tipped it with a rake. Baling included someone on the tractor and a second person on the hay wagon stacking the bales. Men and women participated equally. Dad’s theory was that the bigger you made the bales, the fewer you had to sling. Throwing bales is a real art; you use your legs and momentum. I get a kick watching the actors on TV on Yellowstone carrying bales. They’ve obviously never done it before.
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And their bales of hay are all straw!! Yep, been there done that!
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By the way, our bales averaged 90 pounds. When we were too little to lift them, we rolled them to Dad who would then stack them. I was the oldest of 4 and my Dad waited until I went to college before buying a hay system to reduce the manual labor. I always thought my little brother missed out on the joy of stacking 90 pound alfalfa bales on a hay wagon behind a baler.
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OH! Gosh! I don’t miss those days—EVER!
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Oh wow! I remember that smell well ~
You’ll have to take a close up photo of the plants & flowers before the next cutting.
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? To get the bugs? We have so many ladybugs we don’t have aphids.
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Nothing smells better than new mown hay, but I must admit I don’t miss the bailing!
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For me it’s the hauling in that exhausts me
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Everyone was trying to bale hay (grass and alfalfa) over the weekend. Some got lucky. Some got rained on :-/.
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Rain not good at haying time.
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Hope you get lots of bales!
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We will….over 1,500 in just one field.
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Java Bean: “Ayyy, I have heard of making hay while the sun shines, but I think this is the first time I have seen it!”
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You would enjoy it, Bean!
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