Friday, June 21, 2013

Second Cutting Hay...and "the Culprit"...

Finally...a nice stretch of sunshine to get some dry hay baled!

Jim mowed the new seeding of alfalfa along with the second cutting of the older fields a few days ago, and began baling this afternoon.  Several of our neighbors, along with Eric, unloaded 3 1/2 loads of nice dry hay this evening after milking.

The guys in the hay mow had their routine down, and the wagons were emptied relatively quickly...


When he was finished baling, Jim joined them...he hopped on the wagon and threw the bales onto the elevator.  This was the last wagon...


Several new layers of hay on top of first cutting...


After the wagons were emptied, we took them down to the meadow and shoveled the loose hay into the racks for the cows bedtime snack.  They got a little impatient, and started eating right off the wagon...




 The empty wagons are lined up for baling again tomorrow...


And now...the moment you've been all been waiting for...(yeah, I know, I'm going a little overboard, but oh well...when we catch one of these we're happy!)

The culprit that's been eating the beans...


...is a groundhog!  Actually, we think it's a whole family of groundhogs, but this is the only one we've caught so far.  I hope he enjoyed his meal feast!

16 comments:

  1. What a wonderful looking farm blog. I live in the middle of farms and enjoy watching he seasonal changes, but it's nice to hear some of the inside story. I'll enjoy following yours.

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  2. oh, wow! a woodchuck! :)

    i could almost smell that fresh hay!

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  3. Love the hay!

    Those old groundhogs are suckers for a nice meal in a box, aren't they?

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  4. Oh nice to see hay in the barn we do not have one bale and not dry enough to cut and bale yet. I bet it smells good.
    Oh that is the culprit he looks guilty:) Have a nice weekend. B

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  5. I bet that hay smells like a piece of heaven ! Always love seeing pis of your farm, especially the chickens and cows. Hope all is well with your family, say ho to your parents for me.

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  6. We are haying first cut and have brought in a lot of hay so far in huge round bales and also some grass silage bales. The weather is always a big challenge.

    Yep, groundhogs always love a take out dinner in a box, lol.

    Hugs,
    JB

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  7. I am so glad I don't have ground hogs. Gophers are destructive enough. I can't imagine one as big as that guy. I bet it is a whole family too. I love the smell of new hay. I bet your barn is just fantastic. I like your shadow in that picture. :)

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  8. I was expecting a bunny, not a ground hog! I also love the smell of fresh hay. It looks good to see the barn filling up.

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  9. Yay, for catching the bean muncher! I hope you get the rest of them.

    We are still a ways off from haying. We only get one cutting here in short grass country. The May 25th hail storm we got set us back a few weeks.

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  10. Those groundhogs can really eat a lot! Love the hay. We've had rain all day, but it's supposed to be dry the rest of the week. I'm hoping to bale by the weekend.

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  11. Listening to the old timers, ground hogs are pretty tasty when braised with onion and garlic... Just saying. Glad you caught the guy - they can wipe out a veg garden in no time!

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  12. First: Thank you for the tip about the wordpress blogs!!!! I appreciate it so much, I am sick of the email cluttering. When we lived in Leavenworth, we had groundhogs everywhere. Now we are 25 miles away, and we have seen only ONE here... and Lilly killed it.
    Odd. We are haying here, too, but first cutting only. Sorry about all the snake pictures lately!

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  13. We put up big round bales but used to do the small square. That's a lot of work and so rewarding when it's done! We just finished our first cutting.

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  14. Must be wonderful to see those bales all neatly stacked. Love the cows eating from the wagon. :)

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  15. Oh I wish we had hay put up- that is yet to come in this heat! Glad you caught the rascal who was dining in your bean field!

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  16. I love to see square bales!
    My sister & her husband will be baling hay at my parents' fields this weekend.. the kids love riding the rack & helping stack bales.

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I enjoy hearing what you have to say! Thanks for your comments!