Baling Hay for My Horses
Our big hay baling project continues at my Bedford, New York farm.
Hay is a harvested plant that’s dried and cured after being cut in the field. In most cases, hay is cut during the late bud or early bloom stage to maximize its nutritional value. This week, farmer and hay expert, Carlos Triguero, and his team worked hard to cut, toss, rake and bale the hay in my fields. It’s an arduous process, which depends largely on the weather, and these last few days have been perfect.
Enjoy these photos.
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- In my last blog, I shared photos of how my hay was cut, tedded, and raked. A tedder spreads and fluffs the hay in a uniform swath after the mower-conditioner has made the windrows. The windrows are all ready for baling, and it is another beautiful day here at my farm.
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- A baler is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store.
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- Carlos hitches the baler to my tractor. I am so glad I have all the necessary equipment here at the farm. Having the “right tool for the right job” is very important.
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- Six large rolls of twine are positioned and tied to each other, so they can feed into the baler and secure the hay just before it shoots out into the trailer.
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- Behind the baler is the hay trailer, which will be used to catch the bales once they are formed and tied.
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- In just a few minutes, everything is ready to go. Carlos begins in the lower hayfields. I have three separate areas for growing hay. They are all planted with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clovers – all great for producing good quality hay.
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- Here is a closeup of a windrow before it is picked up by the baler. Carlos starts this process midday when there is the least amount of moisture.
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- The tractor rides to one side of the windrow while the baler passes directly over it to collect the hay.
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- The hay is lifted by tines in the baler’s reel and then packed into the bale chamber, which runs the length of one side of the baler.
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- All the hay is dry and passing through the machine smoothly. If the hay is properly dried, the baler will work continuously down each row. Hay that is too damp tends to clog up the baler.
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- Carlos has one of his crew ride in the trailer to catch the bales as they shoot out of the machine.
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- A baled “square” is seen traveling through the shoot. A measuring device—normally a spiked wheel that is turned by the emerging bales—measures the amount of material that is being compressed and then knotters wrap the twine around the bale and tie it off.
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- Once done, the bale comes out the back of the baler wrapped with two pieces of twine.
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- The bale is then propelled into the wagon by a mechanical arm called a thrower or a kicker. The bales are manageable for one person to handle, about 45 to 60 pounds each.
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- This bale accidentally fell out of the trailer and will be picked up on a later pass. Each bale is about 15 by 18 by 40 inches large. The number of flakes in the bale is determined by a setting in the baler. Many balers are set for 10 to 12 flakes per bale.
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- The hay trailer has high walls on the left, right, and back sides, and a short wall on the front side to contain the bales which are stacked neatly from front to back. The trailer fills up pretty quickly.
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- I have two hay trailers. Each one can hold about 150-bales. Carlos drives up and down the windrows of both the hayfields which takes about an hour.
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- Carlos reminds everyone that he can only bale until about 6pm as the evening weather tends to generate more moisture in the hay. In all, it took about three days to bale all the hay at the farm.
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- It is easy to see what rows have been baled and what rows Carlos still has to do.
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- Here he goes to bale some more in the next field. After the trailer is full, it is brought to the stable, where the hay is unloaded and stored. I am so excited to see all these bales of hay made right here at my farm. Do you bale hay where you live? Share your comments below – I would love to read them.
Here is a short video showing how the hay shoots out of the baling machine and into the trailer.
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