Rye Grass 2016...

Oh my...the weather this spring has been a challenge!

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!

Sunday Afternoon Stroll #3...

Ok, they're beginning to become habit forming, these Sunday afternoon strolls.  I don't know how long they'll last, though...because it's getting pretty hot out there!

Yesterday afternoon, after a late lunch, Jim and I headed out for a walk around the golf course across the road.  There's a paved trail the whole way around it...2.3 miles from our front door, around the golf course and back.  I won't tell you how far we made it...but I will say that we turned back part way around and headed for the shade.

Ben, the Amish farmer to the left of the trail has "dragged" this alfalfa field, in preparation for first cutting hay.  He rode his horse through the field, pulling a heavy metal bar behind, to lay the alfalfa over a bit, so that his sickle bar mower will cut it more easily.  You can't see it from the picture, but you can trust me...we could tell it was done!

This old oak tree just off the path is huge!  We wonder how old it is?

Almost home...

This farmer must have baled some rye on Saturday...

See that row of marshmallows along the driveway?

Oh...it' our farm!

Yes...the rye was baled on Saturday afternoon, and the corn planter is parked in the field ready to go first thing Monday morning...

The planter got started this morning, and will hopefully be able to keep going without any headaches.

After he's finished, it can rain!  It's really dry right now, and we could use a good soaker!

Happy Monday!

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!

Round Bales of Rye Grass...

It's always a challenge...fighting the weather to either get crops harvested...or to get them planted!

After the loooong winter, it's been a late spring here.   The alfalfa has been seeded and is coming up nicely, and Jim finally got the ryegrass baled this week.

After mowing it on Saturday morning, he tedded it, raked it, and hoped that the "iffy" weather forecast was in our favor.  We had a light shower on Monday evening just as he started baling, and the rye seemed just a bit too wet yet, so he stopped after a few bales.  Yesterday morning (Tuesday), the rain came again.  Thankfully it didn't last long, and the afternoon was warm and breezy.

This is the tedder that he uses to flip the ryegrass (or hay) so that it can dry underneath...

This is the field they were working in, at the highest point on the farm...

Looking back towards our barn...I love the colors at this time of evening...

Over milking time, Jim and our Amish neighbor Dave began baling.  For the amount of acres that we bale, it's more economical for us to rent a baler like this, rather than buy, maintain, and store one of our own.  It works out nicely.  Jim pulls the baler with his tractor, and Dave rides on a platform between the tractor and baler.  He tells Jim when to stop, he operates the controls and the bale rolls out the back.

This video is a little long...over two minutes...but I took it after milking last evening as they were finishing up.  You might find it interesting to watch...

They ended up with 28 round bales.  They're now wrapped and lined up along the driveway, just doing their thing...curing so that they can become great feed for the cows in a few weeks!

Now...it's time to get the corn planted, if only the rain would hold off a bit!

When Two Worlds Meet...

I thought this was kind of fun today...watching two worlds meet.

We have wonderful farm neighbors...and most of them are Amish.  We get along with them well, and help each other out when needed.

But how often do you see a team of horses working in an English man's field?

There are several Amish men in the neighborhood who own round balers, and who do custom baling.  This one, who came to finish up our rye grass and alfalfa hay today, used his mules to pull the baler.  Jim operated the wrapper with our tractor.  I thought it was fun, seeing them working in the same field together.

No matter that we do things differently...the end result is the same!

Rye Grass...and More Rye Grass...

On Friday's post, I posted a couple of pictures of the rye grass field...mowed and ready for baling.  Here's what happened next...

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!