Cutting Hay

Guv'nor made another arrangement with the neighbors who have the hay cutting and baling equipment. We may never be able to afford our own equipment for this process, so until then we are glad we have neighbors who will do it at a reasonable rate. We paid $20 per finished round bale and $1.50 for a square bale. This is about half the current price if we had to buy them.

They had some trouble with the square baler about halfway through the process so we didn't get as many of them as Guv'nor had wanted. He had wanted square bales from one section because he can handle them easily on his own, whereas the round bales will require a tractor to move them.

The 12 acre hay pasture yielded 25 round bales, up from last year. The 6 acre front yard pasture yielded 18 square and 10 round.

Cutting hay is a four step process:
1. Cut the hay
2. Rake the hay into rows
3. Bale the hay
4. Move the bales to storage

The mower is an attachment pulled behind the tractor.

The mower cuts a 10 foot row.

The hay rake attachment rakes the hay into wind rows.

The baler gathers the hay from the wind rows and compresses it into bales.

This is a square baler attachment.

One square bale

Round and square bales sitting in the front yard pasture.

Round bales in the hay pasture.