For Folk who Wonder How Hay is made.

[Spookwriter]

Way back in my youth, we picked up hay for the local farmers
at four cents a bale. Stacking it in the barn was always the hottest
part.

I well remember my grandfather was old-school. Handcut the hayfield,
pitchfork it into the wagon, toss it in the barnloft. He never owned a
tractor. Horse and wagon man.

 

[theoldchick]

Quote:
The hubby's grandfather was the same way except he had a mule. He claimed the dang mule knew exactly were to pull, when to stop, and when it came time to quit for the day there was no arguing with that mule.

Dunkopf, are you talking about the rake? I wish I had a picture of it being used. That little tractor is perfect for that size rake. The driver takes off at a pretty good speed and whips around like he's got bees after him-sometimes you do have bees after you! If you go too fast the row is not neat and if done to slow the dust will choke you. If you use a large tractor and let the wife pull the rake she will flip the rake on the side (Not me! NO way! I would never do that!).


Although square bales are a pain in the patooty to load, haul, and unload, but many folks do prefer a nice neat square bale. And my favorite job is using the square baler. All you do is follow the rows of cut grass and let the machine do it's job. I was using the round baler once and the dang thing decides to spit out a bale on a hill. Dang bale took off like a runaway snowball down the hill, through the fence, and across the road to come to a halt at the duck blind near the pond.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Do you mean tedding? Tedding the hay is when we turn it so it'll dry better.

 

[patman75]

The round bails take all the fun out.

No more grabbing a bail with a dead snake on top scaring the pants off you.
No more making cool hay forts in the barn.
No more how high can you stack em contests.
No more laughing at your city slicker friends struggling to throw a bail.
No more stacking inside a 120+ degree barn...well dont miss that.

 

[theoldchick]

Quote:
Do you mean tedding? Tedding the hay is when we turn it so it'll dry better.

So many terms to keep up with-I call it fluffing because it kinda reminds me of a woman plucking at her hair.

 

[catwalk]

It the tedder the same thing as a rake? I just learned the name tedder last year at an emergency responders farm safety workshop, where we had to untangle a scarecrow from the PTO. I always called it a rake......

 

[theoldchick]

Quote:
So true! We store our square bales at a friends pole barn. He has lots of chickens and this time of year we come upon broody hens or rotten eggs.

Had to rescue kittens last year when they fell down between the bales.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Do you mean tedding? Tedding the hay is when we turn it so it'll dry better.

So many terms to keep up with-I call it fluffing because it kinda reminds me of a woman plucking at her hair.

I think terms are different throughout the country. After I asked that I wondered if they call baling, tethering.....the only thing I've ever tethered were horses.

We call it tedding and just plain old raking the hay. There used to be a lot more people who called it tedding, but I guess that old timey term might be going out of style.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Do you mean tedding? Tedding the hay is when we turn it so it'll dry better.

No, I meant tethering; just like they mention in this blog:

http://www.self-sufficient-farm-living.com/making-hay.html

(It may be the same thing, but called different things in different regions of the country)

 

[mom'sfolly]

I worked on a small farm as a kid. The hay was cut and raked with a tractor, but it was stacked and loaded with pitchfork. My haying accident was falling off the loaded wagon while going from field to farm...concussion and road rash all over my face. My friend's accident was a pitchfork through the foot. I don't miss those parts. I've also loaded after baling with square bales. Forking hay is much harder, but it is cleaner and less itchy. I miss the smell of new mown hay.