It's not the winter solstice yet, so I am keeping in the mind set of warmth and fall scenes. :) Supposedly we were going to have warmer weather according to the online weather people. I know the temps overall are warmer, but it does not feel like it. The humidity is higher than normal for us up here in Minnesota. I think I remember seeing something like 89% humidity on the online weather sites. It is usually way lower maybe more like 30-40%. We are known for our drier weather up here, especially winter.
The positive thing of it all is we have not been as cold like 20-30 degrees F below zero, which is a huge possibility. I really don't want a repeat of last winter and it was all winter. My animals even grumbled about it. We also have a lot less snow. I am not complaining just hoping for a more mild and amicable winter than we have had in the last 2 years.
Why I am talking about weather? I have been hoping it warms up enough to work on my Allis Chalmers D-15 tractor. She runs alright in general, but starting is an issue. This is an unusual occurrence for this tractor. One who starts in 40 below F weather with only a little grumble is grumbling a lot with temps in the 20s on the average. I have done everything but put a new coil in and replace the 'new' points I got 2 years back that were not 'right' back then. Sort of a long boring frustrating story. Anyways, the humidity being high and the temps colder has not been fun trying to work around cold steal. Reminds me of my days as a kid when other dumb kids would stick their tongues on cold steel and well get stuck there. I never tried it myself and have no intention of trying it either. hahaha
I do have a very small shop, but I have plants in it I am wintering over and smaller repair projects taking up space. It is still not really big enough for a tractor. It has kind of a low ceiling and door way. I know some would say I need a repair shop. I do in ways but it is just not heated. :)
The animals seem to be happy in general though, except for the occasional bale of swamp hay I run across the neighbor sold me. :( I am not happy with that at all. They just don't eat it, it is too coarse, does not keep well, and as for the taste that must not be all that delicious either. Some might think it is like being forced to eat vegetables. At least veggies are suppose to be good for you. There is very little food value in swamp grass/ reeds canary. My guess it would be like eating cardboard. I have ate crackers that reminded me of what it would be like to eat cardboard. Yuck! It makes good bedding that is about it though.
I will be glad to finally be able to make my own hay now that I have acquired a round baler, a Vermeer Rebel 5500. I can run it with my also newly acquired old antique Oliver 880 tractor. A few minor repairs to the baler and overall maintenance check up, then try out the Oliver's hydraulics on the lift gate in the back of the baler to see what adjustments if any I need to make it work properly, and I am in the big round bale haying business. I do have a New Holland 273 square baler. That is so much work the majority of it being mostly handling of the bales. Getting them off the field and then having a place to store them until I can actually feed it. It's all the stacking and lifting that is work. I got that baler several years ago at an auction for $500. It was really a good buy. It has been a very dependable piece of equipment and worth every penny. Even though it is work, it has saved us money in hay in many ways. We just lack square bale storage space and the equipment to make the work easier. Of course all that costs more money too. It all seems to come down to having the money to get this or that to do this or that. It is never something the average farmer has a lot of in their pocket.
I have bought hay for many years now because I could not afford to buy haying equipment. Some other reasons, one being it was cheaper to buy years ago and not have the equipment to maintain. There still is some truth to it up to a point. I can think of several reasons making your own hay is in ways better and cheaper. The biggest one is you know what you are getting you made it and how and when it was made. Did it get rained on? Did it get baled a little too wet, the cause of moldy dusty hay. Did you bale it too mature? Animals hate hard stemmed forbes that have basically went to seed. They will eat the seeds sometimes, but that falls out in the baling process most of the time. What kind of field did you make hay on? Was it upland hay like a mixture of good palatable forbes and grasses? Plants to look for would be timothy, clovers, dandelions, fescue, birdsfoot trefoil, etc. Or was it a lowland field pasture with mostly reeds canary and sedge grasses. The latter cuts the edges of their mouths. They won't eat that anyways even grazing.
So many things to consider when making hay. I can have someone come in and bale my hay for me, but then will they do it when it needs to be done? Probably not. I have had neighbors help me out when I was in a pickle. I am grateful for that. :) When buying hay a person knows none of these things and is almost blind to what they might be getting until they actually feed it. A familiarity with haying, grasses, forbes is helpful here, but even I have been duped a few times. The other side knowingly or unknowingly doing it. The better quality the hay is the better the animals will do on it. In the end it could cost less, because a person will not need to supplement with other things to keep them healthy.
I am excited about being able to make my own big round bales of hay. :) A person can cover more ground, get the hay up, and stored before it gets rained on. For us this will be a blessing in many ways. :)
Happy farming
Love and light
Liana
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