Wednesday, May 21, 2014

From Field To Food...

Just for fun, I decided to show you the progression of a field in the past couple of days...

Saturday morning...Jim mowed the remaining rye grass field behind the barn. No more grazing for the cows there...


Monday morning...Jim tedded the rye to help it dry underneath...


Somehow I missed getting a picture of him raking it into windrows, but it happened.

Tuesday late morning, the rye was baled...


 ...and wrapped...


...and identified, so it doesn't get confused with the hay bales that came later in the day...


...and the field is once again bare, ready to be sprayed and planted in soybeans...



There you have it...the simple (?) progression from field to food!  Cow food, anyway!

11 comments:

  1. Wow, sooo much work. Thanks for sharing you pics.

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  2. Cool.
    Ok, so now why does the field have to be sprayed before you plant again?

    Happy farming :)

    K.

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    1. Kerin...when we no-til soy beans (or corn) into a rye grass field, the grass needs to be killed, or "burned off". If not, the grass would continue to grow, choking out the soybeans.

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  3. I love it when you show us where everything comes from!

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  4. Nice that you have a long enough season that you can get two crops from a field. I'm guessing you wrap the bales to keep the rain out. I'm wondering how you know when the bales are dry enough that the hay won't go moldy.

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    Replies
    1. Leenie...the bales are baled at high moisture, and wrapped to make them airtight and cause them to cure. After a few weeks in that wrap, we open them up and feed them out one by one, and the cows love the fermented rye or hay!

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  5. Well, field to cow food anyway. I'd rather eat what the cow produces. I miss milk straight from the bulk tank.

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  6. Looking good! I still love that you make marshmallows out of them. :-)

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