Hay season is an important, but short, time period on our farm. We depend on the hay produced on our farm to feed cattle during the winter months. During the 2015-2016 winter, we fed 137 round bales to our cattle. We still have about 50 bales of 2014 hay stored under roof, plus 95 bales of 2015 hay stored under roof. Our bales are 4 feet wide and 5 feet in diameter, and weigh about 800 pounds each.

The weather cooperated during the past week, with a 7+ day window of no rain and hot days to dry cut hay. Like most Missouri pastures, our pastures are a mix of fescue grass, some red clover (in places), some wildflowers, and more fescue grass!

First, we cut the grass with a nine-foot disc mower. This results in multiple trips around each section of pasture, laying down the grass to dry in the sun. After the grass dries, usually in one or two days, the grass is raked into windrows. This summer, it was so hot and dry that the grass dried in one day! After drying, the grass was raked using a 1964 John Deere side delivery rake which was purchased brand new for use on our farm by the previous owner. Again, multiple trips around the pasture on the tractor result in long windrows of hay ready for baling.

We don't bale our own hay. A neighboring farmer bales our hay for us under contract. His baler wraps our round bales with twine and drops them in the pasture. We will then move these bales to outside storage for feeding during the winter months when our pastures don't grow. We are fortunate to have harvested 70 bales during this cutting. If the weather cooperates with some summer rain, we may get a second cutting from our hay fields in September or October. 

We are glad that our farm provides enough grass to feed our cows today and during the winter!