Summer Hay Fever

The early part of the summer was so incredibly rainy that little haying got done. So, when it finally stopped raining and the fields dried out enough to get equipment out on them, haying began in earnest. And just take a gander at that big sky!:

Everywhere I drove, I saw hay fields. Some had already been cut, dried and baled:

This hay field sat behind a row of cattails:

And this one glistened in the sun behind a shady row of trees:

An old hay wagon was parked at the edge of this field, just waiting for action:

And this field was uncut but incredibly lovely:

The perimeter of this field had been cut and then they quit. Equipment breakdown, perhaps?:

More cattails on the left, hay fields and forest on the right:

And lots of Black Eyed Susans and other wildflowers along the roadside:

All the small bales had been hustled off to waiting barns, but the big round bales remained:

Four hay wagons, no doubt waiting for loads of small bales:

Hay is also used for haylage, and I believe that's what they were doing here: