Round 1

Last weekend we completed our first round of hay.  We had a few clear days and the front two acres at Tucker Rd. were prime for cutting.  Daniel wanted to start with the two acres so that he could give the new equipment a good test drive without risking a large hay crop if something went awry.  The haybine worked perfectly!

The 8 acres at home was not looking very good.  The hay was at prime maturity but was not very high or thick.  Daniel took in a soil sample to see if we could diagnose the issues.  We are still waiting on the results.  At the last minute he decided to go ahead a cut our field.  It didn't amount to much, but it gave us the opportunity to add to the field and get an early start of the second cutting.  We have spread manure on the field each spring and last years' hay crop was very acceptable.  We are very puzzled about this years' growth.  We are really hoping that the cold weather and a late frost are the main culprits.  

Daniel raked with his new rotary rake and the jury is still out as to if it is a keeper.

We ended up with 3 days of high seventies weather and intense sun.  It was perfect curing weather.  

Our neighbor round baled both fields for us on Sunday.  Our field yielded 13 round bales and Tucker Road yielded 9 1/2 round bales.  Our goal is to have 75 round bales and 200 square bales before winter.  While we didn't start as strongly as we would have liked, we are almost a third of the way there with a lot of summer to go.  

Weather permitting we will be cutting the back 20 acres at Tucker Road in a few weeks.  We had an inch of rain today, so here's hoping for a better harvest.