Update from The Fixer Upper Farm....hay and holy crap!

[fergusnc]

Yes, this is a great "problem" to have, I know.

We have about 3.5 acres dedicated to in fescue hay, no fences just crop.

Bought the farm two years ago. A month after we moved in we offered the neighbor (who is the grandson of the previous/only owner) any hay he could bale for his cows. Horses weren't here yet and no pastures were fenced. Grass was blah.

Last year, spring cutting of the 3.5 acre hay fields yielded 48 square bales...about 40-50 pounds each. Pretty hay but not much of it.

I did what my hay guy told me as far as making the soil happy again. Fall cutting was prolific but had too many weeds in it to feed to horses, so I offered to hay guy to bale for his cows. I continued to do as he advised for soil support.

This week he cut. It looked wonderful to me, but he blew me away when he estimated 200 to 250 bales. I couldn't imagine the increase. Plus that was my estimated max for storage. Fast forward to baling.

DH and I put up 384 bales in about 2 hours one day and six hours the next day!! 384 vs 48......holy crap! And it is gorgeous hay! Finished up at 10pm yesterday. 90 degrees and humid and sunny all week. There is hay shoved all over this place....garage, horse trailer, covered truck bed... I even texted friends last evening to see if anyone wanted to buy out of field....added panic of incoming rain potential. Of course no one was available. And now I am glad that I will have more than enough for a year, and hay guy is prepping me for idea of selling entire fall cutting.

Hay guy aka "Our Guy" is who I have mentioned in other posts. Grew up on our road, tons of family still on our road, used to farm this property for previous owner. Has helped with soooooo many things around here project-wise but also taught me a ton about having my own place.

So now, I have to figured out how to clean out enough space/report enough "stuff" in a very crowded barn bay to at least get the 51 bales out of my horse trailer asap for peace of mind. And it is still 90 and humid and sunny.

But what a great situation to be in.

[Rockabilly]

That's great. Does it make you feel like the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper? The Ant works hard putting food away for the winter while the Grasshopper plays on and wonders why the Ant is working so hard. I always, always thought of that story as beautiful bales of hay were put in the barn on a hot summer's eve. It's such a good feeling.

[Chisamba]

Congratulations on your superb yield

[PaulaO]

Nothing like the smell of fresh hay, and the satisfaction of having over 300 bales. Job well done!

[fergusnc]

That's great. Does it make you feel like the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper? The Ant works hard putting food away for the winter while the Grasshopper plays on and wonders why the Ant is working so hard. I always, always thought of that story as beautiful bales of hay were put in the barn on a hot summer's eve. It's such a good feeling.

Need to remind myself of this, as most days over the last two years, we have been ants for sure...in lots of different examples!

I spent another two hours in the nasty heat and humidity today...in The Little Gray Barn doing a re-org of things stored, made room to lay 4 more large pallets out, and hoping that we will have enough ceiling height to get those 51 bales out of the trailer. I do not like an inaccessible horse trailer! that was one of those chores where you remind yourself that you had no idea you would have to do it this weekend, but that it needed to be done eventually and now you're 50% closer to the final goal for that area of the barn.

[Tarlo Farm]

Congratulations! What things did you do to the soil to improve yield? I'm a little concerned, you keep mentioning how humid it is. Are you sure you got your hay dry enough before it was baled?

[fergusnc]

Yes, the hay seems fine. Very dry. It was cut, sat, flipped, sat, etc. just gross NC hot weather way too soon in the year. Fertilizer, nitrogen, lime needs to be done, just the typical steps for around here. I have to wear jeans and long sleeves due to allergies with hay, which didn't help how gross it felt weather-wise, add that to sunny and late afternoon/hottest part of day.

Just got the last 61 bales in the newly re-orged space in The Little Gray Barn. Horse trailer is empty, swept, and put back to bed...did some good work for use today. Yay, us!

[Tarlo Farm]

It's NEVER cool and cloudy with no threat of rain when it's time to put hay up. Well done!!

[khall]

Yeah for unexpected hay windfall!! I certainly understand the sheer happiness to have hay in the barn from your fields. We just put up 108 from our 5 acre field first cutting. Should get 4 cuttings this year again if rain fall is good.

[LeoApp]

That's awesome! You farmgirl, you!

[fergusnc]

Gotta say, it's a great feeling...especially now that we're DONE!!!

[kande50]

Gotta say, it's a great feeling...especially now that we're DONE!!!

It is a great feeling when haying is done for the year. We haven't even started, because it hasn't stopped raining since the hay got high enough to mow. But we seldom get first cut until June, and sometimes not until July depending on the weather.

[piedmontfields]

WOW, that is pretty awesome work, fegusnc, especially for a new hay farmer! Impressive yield improvement.

[Backyarder3]

Terrible problem to have ! Not! Way to go on being a good hay producer!