Making Hay While The Sun Shines

It was two weeks later than last year's hay making, but we finally got good hay weather. Two neighboring farmer brothers arrived to cut my hay one fine day:

The mower is an exceptional piece of equipment, handily making tight turns and piling the hay neatly into windrows to begin drying:

The standing hay had looked too weedy to be useable, but they assured me it would look better, which is to say grassier, once cut. They were right:

They began in the small south field and then proceeded to the north field. The biggest portion of the south field is now a pasture for the cattle and does not produce hay for the winter:

They began raking the hay on the following day:

The windrows were turned over to allow it all to dry in the sun:

The cut and drying acres of fresh hay filled the air with a wonderful aroma:

And I found it fascinating to watch the ingeniously designed farm equipment at work:

On the third day, they brought over the hay baler:

They drove along the windrows and the baler picked up the cut hay, spinning it inside that big, red box:

When the spinning mass of hay reached the correct size, they stopped and the baler wrapped everything in orange twine:

Once the bale was collected, spun into a five foot diameter bale (about 1000 pounds) and wrapped in twine, the baler opened up and out rolled the bale. It reminded me of a giant, mechanical chicken, laying an egg. Here's a brief video: