Final week, the climate forecast promised excellent climate for haying. Good high quality hay must be minimize whereas the grasses are lengthy, luscious, and inexperienced, however earlier than it goes to seed. The exception is once we develop wheat or oats for hay. Then we let it type grain heads and minimize it within the milk stage, earlier than the seed can mature. This provides the advantage of each grain and hay from the identical plant.
After chopping, it wants sufficient time to dry totally earlier than being saved. Rain will increase the chance of mould, so the forecast of per week of dry sunny climate meant this seasonal chore went to the highest of the to-do listing. Dan began Monday morning by scything it.
|
Dan planted a deer forage combine final autumn. The forage
mixes are economical and develop issues goats like too. |
Even on sunny days, our problem to drying hay is our heavy dew each morning. It usually takes till midday at first dries out. Dan turns it twice a day. Within the morning he rakes it into windrows to let the bottom dry off between the rows. Later, he turns the grass and spreads it out once more till the subsequent day. Fortunately, the climate cooperated by holding true to the forecast.
Monday by Friday have been excellent: sunny, 70sF (low 20sC), and low humidity. Rain was within the forecast for early Saturday, so after Friday night chores, we gathered in our hay crop.
 |
| First, it is raked once more into windrows after which raked into piles for choosing up. |
 |
| A wooden hay rake actually helps. Steel rake tines get caught on the stubble. |
 |
| Dan raked and I packed it down into the field. |
 |
| The field makes it straightforward to move and . . . |
 |
| straightforward to get into the hay loft. |
 |
| Dan pushed and I pulled. |
 |
| Tightly stuffed into the field, it took us three hundreds. |
If I am happy that it is totally dry, I will depart it within the bale-like form the field makes. On this case, the thick oat stems weren’t fairly dry sufficient for my satisfaction, so I unfold it out and can monitor it and switch it, to verify it is dry sufficient and never producing warmth.
Feeding homegrown hay to our goats offers a beautiful sense of satisfaction. To date, we have not been capable of produce sufficient for a full yr, however each little bit helps. We could get a second chopping, however we’ll have to attend and see. Annuals like grains have a tendency to not re-grow nicely after they’re minimize.
For the goats, our homegrown hay is a favourite. It is the very first thing they go for when it is within the hay feeder. Plus, each little bit of waste, each as dropped hay and digested as manure, goes again to nurture the soil. (Particulars on how we do that are in
How To One-Straw Revolutionize Your Pasture). It is another step towards self-sustainability.
