Baling Hay

I only had one small field to hay this year. I'd used it for pasture in the spring and then bush hogged it in early July, knowing that it would be hayed late in the season. Well, the day finally came and a neighboring farmer began by cutting it:

 The mower cut wide swaths:

 And then laid it down in rows to dry:

 Two sunny days later, he returned to rake it:

Raking the cut hay enables it to dry thoroughly in the sun and, like the mower, leaves it in rows for the baler to pick up:

After one more day of drying in the sun, he returned with his baler and began driving along the rows which the rake had left:

The baler picked up the rows of cut hay and turned it around and around until it was five feet in diameter. Then it tied it up with twine:

 And opened up to let the five foot diameter, one thousand pound bale roll out onto the ground:


 I paid the farmer for haying my field and then brought out the dogs for their annual top-o-the-bale photos. I put clover and Daphne, AKA The Silly Sisters, together:

 This was a first for little Jack and he was very nervous. He jumped off the bale on the first try, but I got him to hold still just long enough for a photo on the second try:

 Fergus has endured this silliness before, so he knew it wouldn't hurt him:

I thought that I might be able to get Seamus on top of a hay bale now that he's lost so much weight, but he wouldn't even try. And I couldn't just lift him up and set him there, so we settled for another ground shot. I had to scrap some of the the photos, because the other dogs kept horning in. But all in all, it was great fun. Also, I got thirteen giant bales of good hay to add to my supply for winter: