We had a dry April...and now a wet and cool May. It's time to be thinking seriously about planting corn, and soon after, soybeans.
The fields have been sprayed, and the weeds are dying. That's a good thing.
The weather has been cool and rainy. That's not such a good thing. Not when it doesn't stop.
But first things first...
The rye grass was just beginning to mature, and to get the best nutritional value for the cows, it should be harvested before the heads form. The weather wasn't looking too promising, but Jim thought he might get a window of sunshine, so he mowed on Thursday. The rye grass was thick and beautiful...
On Friday it rained all day, but because the grass hadn't dried yet, it didn't do too much damage.
On Saturday the sun came out, and Jim used a tedder to spin the cut rye grass out and flip it over so it could dry more thoroughly.
Sunday was sunny and breezy. Good news!
Yesterday was cloudy, and we hoped the rain would hold off, which it did. Jim raked the grass into windrows...
Last night over milking time, the round baler came and baled. We got 43 round bales off of seven acres. That's a good harvest! No pictures of that, because I was milking and Jim was busy wrapping bales. He finished around 1:00 am.
This morning when we got up, it was starting to rain.
Here's the line up of bales along the water way here at home. (That's a roll of ag bag tape you're looking through)...
A couple of the bales had some damage, so my job was to find the holes and tape them up thoroughly. The bags must be airtight, or the feed will mold and spoil...
The bags were wet, so I took a wad of paper towels along with the ag bag tape and taped them up...
Here's the empty field. I'll have to ask Jim what will be planted here next...corn or beans?
My helpers eagerly ran along side of me on our way back to the barn. Sorry girls...it's too wet for you to ride in the truck, and besides...it's good exercise!
Now we wait for a week or so before we start feeding the rye grass.
The cows should be happy!
