Cutting hay and irrigation

I cut hay today with my haybine for the first time.  I didn't cut my field; I cut Donna's.  She has 20 acres.  Everything worked well.  I cut her field in 4 hours.  To ensure the grass's sugar count was low I cut as soon as the morning dew had dried.  I cut from a little before 10 am to a little before 2 pm.

The biggest challenge was driving the three miles from my place to hers.  I drove the tractor and haybine yesterday late afternoon and returned this afternoon.  Yesterday there were a number of cars on the road.  Because I take up more than one lane I would manoeuver the haybine into a driveway approach when meeting cars or when I wanted to let someone following me pass by.

I have been moving the irrigation pipes about every 20 hours, give or take.  Moving them every 12 hours, or twice a day is too much work right now, and every 24 hours is a bit long for a new field.   This morning I got up and opened and closed the valves at 7 am.  The dew was very heavy on the plants and my pants were soaked just from walking out and back from the valve openers.

I moved the pipes this evening after waiting for a light rain shower to pass by.  At 10:30 pm I closed and opened the valves to the moved pipes.  15 1/2 hours.  That works as I don't want to open and close valves in the dark.