Got The Hay In

Well, my goats SHOULD be happy this winter! I have more hay then they will need in the barn.

It rained very little in August, so it wasn't very thick, but we are thankful for what we have.

I got to use the rake I found "in the weeds" a couple of years ago. It is an older (1950's) "ground driven" style, made by Dearborn. Usually, people hook it up to the drawbar of the tractor and pull a rope to disengage the reel when they need to.
I hitched mine up to the 11 hole 3 point drawbar, instead


Hooking it up this way makes it possible for me to just pull the lift control handle on my 8N and the reel comes off of the ground. To "engage" it again, I just lower the handle. It works MUCH better then tugging on a rope.....

Here is a photo Deb took of me raking:



Our neighbor came over and baled for me. It is his "last" go round for hay, since he has retired from putting it up. The baler - a New Holland 273 Hayliner - used to be his, along with the Haybine that is now here.

We hitched up a "bale basket accumulator" to the rear of the baler. It worked WONDERFULLY! It is SO much nicer to be able to have the bales dumped in piles of 10, then to drive all over the field to pick them up.

I can't wait until NEXT summer so I can put up hay again! We don't do much, but I enjoy doing it. Between my Dad and my neighbor, I two pretty good teachers.

Saturday morning, we managed to start picking the corn. We got several nice ears for chicken feed this winter. Only three rows are done but, I shredded them down so we can get the wagon into the field.

All I need now is to build a small temporary "corn crib". I haven't decided yet but, I will probably use several pallets to make a long, narrow one.

I sat on the tailgate of the pickup yesterday before noon, and husked corn. I put all of the husks into the loader bucket and dumped them over the fence into the goat pen. They really enjoyed munching them down - even without the ears! Even the "newbie" goats like them.



They will likely get a lot more of them.