Haying Season

Driving to work yesterday, I passed a field where hay is already being cut. If we get enough rain, this field should yield at least two more cuttings before summer is out.  

I stopped to watch (and get pictures) as the farmer stuck a huge spike, mounted on the front end of his tractor, into a round bail, trundled it over to his trailer and loaded it on.  He then drove on over, and spiked the next bail.

Modern technology has brought great changes to farming in the last 100 years.  When my grandmother was a girl, Great-Grandpa boasted that he could get more done with his daughters in the field than his brother could with his sons.  (My grandmother was one of 13 girls, 9 of whom lived to have families of their own.  The only son died of influenza.)  

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When Grandma was a girl, the haying wagon was pulled by a team of horses.  So was the dump rake.  (See “Moonlight and Mathematics” for a description of a dump rake and how it operates.)  The hay was loaded on to the wagon using pitch-forks.  Grandma said that it was a real relief when “Daddy” brought home a load of over-alls and let the girls wear them to the field.  “Many a time,” she remarked, “We would get a fork-full of skirt right along with the hay.”

Image Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Haying.jpg

Building a haystack that could sit in the open and not get its insides wet was an art-form that involved the help of several members of a family.  Older members would fork bundles of hay onto the spot for the stack.  These would be arranged carefully, and younger members would tramp the hay down.  This would pack the fibers so that the stack would stand up.  This would continue for several layers, till the stack was about shoulder high.  Then the junior hayers would get off the stack, and more experienced family members would fork on the “crown”, or top part of the stack.  Correctly arranged, this would shed water, keeping the lower part of the stack dry till needed for fodder.

Image via Wikipedia

The advent of the hay baler eliminated some of the hand labor involved in haying. (Again, see “Moonlight and Mathematics” for a description of hay harvesting in my childhood.)  Helping haul hay provided summer jobs in many farming communities.  The introduction of the large, round bales ended that, making it possible for one man to lay in his hay crop.  In an era that frowns on child labor (not a bad thing, in many ways–just an observation here), and encourages small families, this has become pretty much of an economic necessity.  What it will mean as gas prices continue to rise is anyone’s guess–but I suspect it will mean higher supermarket prices all around.  Unfortunately, it is unlikely to mean more money in the farmer’s pocket.