Hay, Straw and a Heat Wave...

Jim says that the week that the barley is combined is always the hottest week of the summer, and this year is no exception!

But first, there was hay to unload.  Jim's in the middle of 2nd cutting of hay this week, and with no rain in sight for several days, he was able to get several wagon loads of dry hay.  We pulled a small crew together and they got it unloaded this morning.  Oh boy, was it ever hot! I think the temperatures were close to 100% today.  Yuck.

Just a few short weeks ago, this mow was completely empty, and housed a puppy kennel for the chilly nights (which are but a distant memory)...

We'll see how full this mow gets this summer.  It's not quite at the half way mark yet.  I climbed up the elevator for a different perspective.

The crumbs left in the wagon got shoveled into the hay racks in the meadow, for an evening snack for the cows.  That's the first place they go when they're left out of the barn for the night...and if there's nothing in the racks for them, do we ever hear about it!

Then it was time to head over to the barley field.  Those windrows of straw are what was left behind by the combine...

Jim started baling around lunch time, but the straw was still a little tough, so he stopped and waited a few hours to try again. It was nicer (drier) by then, but still not as nice as he would have liked, so he left the rest lay for another day.

I'm glad today is almost over, and right now, I'm thankful for a shower, clean clothes, and for the cool breeze blowing in the window beside me.

Houdini...

I came home from some errands this morning to see a calf in the meadow.

Hmmm...there shouldn't have been a calf in the meadow, especially one with a yellow ear tag.  It looked suspiciously like a calf that was born on Sunday afternoon, that we had moved to the calf hutches yesterday morning!

Here's her hutch door.  Closed and latched shut...

Here's what was in the hutch...

...and here's where I found her!

That's not her mother hovering over her, but a concerned citizen...

Now she's safely back in her cozy hutch, filled with fresh clean straw, and sunshine to warm her little body...

If she's gone on such an adventure already in her short two-day-old life, I wonder what other kind of trouble she might get into over the course of her life?

It seems that we have a Houdini in our midst!

Barley...

Every fall, Jim seeds cover crops of rye and either barley or wheat on some of our fields. 

The rye fields are usually grazed or baled and then "burnt off" before planting, and the barley or wheat fields are harvested for the grain.  After harvesting the grain, the remaining straw is baled for bedding.

This week the barley tested at an acceptable moisture level for harvesting.  So...today the combine arrived. 

The cows, curious as usual, are looking to see what has invaded "their" field.  That's the barley field right on the other side of the combine...

The combine starts through the field...Murphy trotting along behind.  The grain goes into a bin inside the combine, while the straw is discharged out the back. The combine is set to leave the straw in two windrows, which will be just right for our baler to pick up and bale later this evening...

Watching the combine coming across the field towards me...

Beautiful heads of barley up close, just before harvesting...

I rode once around the field in the combine...this is the view from inside.  Several areas of the field were "lodged", or knocked down from the heavy rains we had over the weekend.  When the barley lodges like this, it is difficult, if not impossible for the combine to pick it up, and some of the grain is left on the ground, wasted... 

The combine driver works in comfort in a roomy, air-conditioned cab, with the latest in technology at his fingertips.  This combine is equipped with a computer that has a GPS, which maps the fields as he works.   It tells him exactly how big the field is, the moisture level and yield of the grain, as well as which sections of the field yielded the highest, etc...

All in all, it was a good barley day.  The yield was good, although it would have been even better had it not lodged, and the straw has all been baled and stacked in the barn for bedding.  Next on the agenda for this field will be spreading manure from the heifer pens, and then a short season corn will be planted as a double crop.  And oh yes...there's more hay to bale tomorrow!

It looks like we won't be bored for the next week or so!