They began baling mid afternoon, and went on through milking time. The landscape soon changed...
As the baler continued to bale, Jim began wrapping bales and bringing them in from the field. He would wrap one bale in the field, pick up another bale, and bring them both in to where he wanted to store them. He would then dump the finished bale, and begin wrapping the second one. Over and over again...
Here's a video of the wrapper at work...
My memory card got full just before the finished bale was dumped into it's final resting place. Bummer. But when it was finished, it was rolled to what is the right side of the picture, and dumped towards us into a row...
We ended up with fifty six bales! They will sit for a few weeks to cure before we open them up and begin feeding them. Hopefully the cows will be grateful!
Next step for this field? Planting corn...stay tuned!
Remember the Stay Puff marshmallow man from Ghostbusters? Well, every time I see bales wrapped in white plastic it looks to me like the Stay Puff man has been there and he had to, well, you know..even he has a call of nature, so to speak. :)
ReplyDeleteWow I cannot believe 56 bales my cows would be so happy at your house now. They want green stuff to eat:) Yeah corn I love your posts. Hug B
ReplyDeleteOh I love the look of those big bales of rye silage. The cows will be happy. Good job on that video.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how many layers does your husband uses to wrap the bales. It was hard to tell. Were they wrapped twice or three times to prevent air from getting in so that there is no spoilage?
Thanks for the video.
Hugs,
JB
I love those bales. Doesn't it make you feel rich to see all that cow feed? I think it would make me feel that way.
ReplyDeleteI love planting corn too. Have a wonderful week.
I bet it smells wonderful! So green and lush for your cows. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat video, Alica! I am not familiar with that kind of bale wrap, but I like it! All I've been around in the past are the bags. This wrap looks like it would really seal it up well. Do you have much trouble with rodents or birds making holes?
ReplyDeleteSo very different from the way my dad baled hay. I can see the need for bagging bales in a humid climate but I wonder---do you have any trouble with damp hay going rotten when it is in those bags?
ReplyDeleteIt looks so warm and green there. I wish it was here. I enjoy your lessons. We never wrapped bales as a kid. I was also wondering about damp hay and fires.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to answer a couple of those questions...
ReplyDeleteRay...we've been pretty fortunate...we haven't had much trouble with holes in the bags. When they're stored close to the buildings, like these are, especially. Those plastic layers are pretty thick. Last fall we had some crow damage on a few bales that were far from the buildings. Not good! We taped them up and salvaged most of the hat, but not before the air got inside and caused a little spoilage!
Leenie ...I asked Jim how to answer your question. The hay (or rye in this case) is baled between 40%-60% moisture, and when wrapped tightly and remain air tight, the bales cure and make a great feed. We do it this way because rye would take way too long to dry. We bale hay this way when we don't have a long enough window for proper drying. (and some farmers say the feed is better) As long as we feed them quickly once they're opened, they don't spoil.
Bonnie...If they were intended to be dry bales, and were too wet and stored inside the barn, there would be fire danger from spontaneous combustion, but not this way. They really heat up inside during the curing process, but they're air tight.
Another fun and informative post! Those big bales of rye grass look beautiful! :)
ReplyDeletewow! that wrap is extensive! we don't do but a scrap of that in texas - maybe one roll around the exterior circle and that's about it, here!
ReplyDeleteIt's weird, but I love the look of all of those wrapped bales. So nice and tidy. :)
ReplyDeleteI see some of that type of bale wrapping here but didn't know much about it and why. Thanks for the explanation.
ReplyDeleteLove you blog!
ReplyDeleteWe started planting corn here a week ago. We got rained out for a few days and are now back at it again....yay!
What do you do with the used plastic wrap when you open the bales? Do you recycle it?
ReplyDelete