Making Hay for My Horses
Here in the Northeast, the weather has been sunny, warm, and just perfect for cutting, drying and baling hay at my Bedford, New York farm.
When I moved here, I designated three separate areas as hayfields and planted them with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clovers - all great for producing good quality hay. The hay is also treated with agricultural lime, a soil additive made from pulverized limestone or chalk that works to correct the acidity of the soil, eradicate any noxious weeds, and raise the overall health of the land. Over the last week, we cut the hayfields, tossed the grass for the crucial drying process, and then baled the hay.
If you follow my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, you may have seen some of the photos and videos.
Here are a few more, enjoy.
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- Time to make hay for my horses! I was so pleased to see the forecast for the week. The weather was expected to be pleasant and dry for the next five days – perfect for working on the hayfields. Here’s the tractor ready to go out to cut.
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- Carlos Triguero, a very skilled hay baler came over to prepare the fields. I am fortunate to have all the necessary equipment here at the farm. This is our mower-conditioner. A hay conditioner crimps and crushes the hay after it is cut to promote faster and more even drying.
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- When weather conditions are ideal, these machines allow farmers to cut wide and fast – the best formula for quality field productivity.
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- Here you can see the mounded rows of cut and crimped grass.
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- Here is another view after the mower-conditioner goes back and forth over the field.
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- By the next day, the grass is already looking dry. The mounded rows are called windrows – rows of cut hay or small grain crops. They are so beautiful and all perfectly straight.
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- Next, Carlos and his crew follow behind with the hay tedder. A tedder spreads and fluffs the hay in a uniform swath after the mower-conditioner has made the windrows.
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- The tedder uses these moving forks to aerate or “wuffle” the hay and speed up the process.
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- Here is the tedder moving up and down the field taking all the greener hay from the bottom and turning it over.
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- Here is another view – look how the tedder picks up and fluffs the hay with its forks.
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- Here is some of the fluffed up hay, which will continue to dry for the next day.
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- In this photo, one can see the fluffed hay on the left and the hay waiting to be fluffed on the right.
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- These fields are very large. I am so happy to be able to make all this hay right here for my dear horses.
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- After the hay is tedded, it is then raked. Raking the hay is easily the fastest part of the process. The rake is used to create more windrows that the baler can pick up.
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- This is the rotary rake, which picks up the cut and drying hay once again and rakes it into more windrows.
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- Here is a closer view of how the rotary tines turn over the hay.
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- At every turn, Carlos raises the rotary rake tines and then lowers them again at the beginning of each row.
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- And here is a row completely raked and ready for the last stage – baling.
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- Here is a view from the back as the raker continues up and down the fields.
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- Carlos will rake the middle fields, the upper fields, and our run-in field before the day is done. And the weather looks great for baling over the next two days. Here in the Northeast, this was a perfect week for this first cut of the season.
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- Here is a view from above taken with our drone – all the rows are perfectly straight. They will continue to dry out until they are baled.
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- By day’s end, here is our run-in paddock, ready for baling. I am excited to see how many bales of hay we get from this cutting. I’ll share the very interesting process of baling hay in my next blog.
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