Hay in

Wednesday evening Wyatt finally baled my hay. The hay was dry - dry enough that he could have baled it Monday or Tuesday. Wyatt likes to make sure the hay is dry but even he admitted he should have baled the hay Tuesday at the latest. I still have some bales from last year and this year's hay is no greener than last year's hay after a year of sitting in the barn.

I knew I would have less hay this year as the grass didn't seem as tall as in most years. I was right. I got only 40% of the amount of hay I had gotten last year. I got 158 bales, down from almost 400 last year. And as I only get 40% of what Wyatt cuts I ended up with only 64 bales, not quite two ton of hay.

I am not alone in getting less hay. The local newspaper had an article Wednesday on how much less hay everyone in the Valley has gotten this year as it had been a cool and dry Spring.

I did notice than in large areas of my field the grass was not short. Wyatt claimed he cut the field short but the grass grew since then seeing as how we had all that rain prior to him cutting my field. I don't know... I think it is a combination of the grass growing and Wyatt not cutting it as short this year. Even Dan commented on how green my field was considering it had been cut. Oh well, more grass for my cattle once I let them into the hayfield.

While Wyatt baled the hay I gathered bales two at a time with my little cart. By the time he finished the baling I had gathered sixty bales of hay and stacked them in my barn.

Dan planned to buy Wyatt's share of the hay. As I thought I'd have a little more hay in my share of it I didn't think of buying Wyatt's share until after Dan got first chance at it. Thursday morning Dan came by to get his hay. He had loaded 30 bales in his pickup by the time I got out to the field.

Even though the bales are only 50 to 60 pounds, Dan's shoulder was hurting him. He was thinking of letting his brother buy the rest of the hay as he didn't want to lift any more bales, but I mentioned that I was interested in the rest. So I ended up buying the rest of the hay.

Since the remaining hay bales were in the south side of my hayfield I hauled them back to the barn with my pickup. It sure would have been nice to have a rancher girl driving my pickup to the hay bales across the field so I wouldn't have had to keep getting in and out of my pickup all the time.

So my hay is in and another annual item is off my list of things to do.