This has been such an odd spring--very dry and mostly cooler than normal. So we cut hay at the end of May when the grass was headed out even though it was short. Zach baled it earlier than he'd planned because the forecast changed and he didn't want to let it get wet, hoped it was dry enough. Got in most of what we thought we'd need for goats and rabbits. This week had a long stretch with no rain and cut more hay and were to get the last of what we need and sell some from the field. But checking the hay put in a couple weeks ago found that almost of half of it was starting to mold, had to be taken out and dumped. Frustrating. Just glad he caught it while we could replace it with good dry hay.
The first year we were trying to make hay, we didn't have a baler yet. Just had the 2 goats to feed and thought we could rake it and bring it in and stack it in the barn in a stack. I'd helped with hay as a child but just did what I was told--not involved in deciding when to cut, when it was dry enough to come in. So we put in hay and found it starting to smoke the next day. At least we got it all hauled out before we burned the barn. And in the years since then, we've never had a problem until this year. People ask how we learned to do the various things on the farm and I tell them you can learn a lot from your mistakes if you're willing to admit that's what they were and figure out what to do differently next time.
So now in the loft, we have hay and willow and burdock leaves strung on poles to dry for winter feeding. Will be gathering brambles to dry soon and have a batch of stinging nettle and some field peas cut just as they began to blossom drying.
I was thinking this morning how much I've appreciated the folks here on RT who have been willing to share, not just their successes, but their mistakes to--so we don't all have to make the same ones to learn something.
The first year we were trying to make hay, we didn't have a baler yet. Just had the 2 goats to feed and thought we could rake it and bring it in and stack it in the barn in a stack. I'd helped with hay as a child but just did what I was told--not involved in deciding when to cut, when it was dry enough to come in. So we put in hay and found it starting to smoke the next day. At least we got it all hauled out before we burned the barn. And in the years since then, we've never had a problem until this year. People ask how we learned to do the various things on the farm and I tell them you can learn a lot from your mistakes if you're willing to admit that's what they were and figure out what to do differently next time.
So now in the loft, we have hay and willow and burdock leaves strung on poles to dry for winter feeding. Will be gathering brambles to dry soon and have a batch of stinging nettle and some field peas cut just as they began to blossom drying.
I was thinking this morning how much I've appreciated the folks here on RT who have been willing to share, not just their successes, but their mistakes to--so we don't all have to make the same ones to learn something.
