Hayfield first cut

Yesterday and today I cut my hayfield.  The earliest ever for me, but the grass was high. Time to cut.  Saturday noon I saw an animal walking in the hayfield.  I saw the ears, top of the head, and sometimes its back. What animal was this?  It was a deer, not a dog.

I saw other people had cut their hay.  Usually they cut early as they want three hay cutting in a year.

The weather forecast looks good for hay cutting and drying.  Warm to hot temperatures and mostly dry.  Of course, after I cut my hay the forecast now has a rain chance later this week.  Normally it wouldn't be a problem as I normally can bale in four days after the hay is cut.  But in the areas I had seen hay cut on Sunday and Monday - or was it Monday and Tuesday? - and saw they had raked the hay on Thursday; on early Saturday afternoon their hay was not baled.  The hay was drying, but didn't seem quite ready to bale.  Hay is drying longer this week.  I hope my hay dries quicker.

I had to fill diesel in my tractor.  Almost 40 gallons so I wanted to drive my tractor to the gas station.  Better to do that on a weekend instead of a weekday as there would be less traffic.  And there was.

I filled my tractor yesterday afternoon and got to work to hook up the mower conditioner.  The cattle had eaten most of the grass in the NE pasture and fruit tree area and time to let them out to the north pasture.  I wanted to wait to do that after I got the tractor and mower conditioner into the hayfield as that would mean less gate watching as I drove through.  Slowing me down was after I got the tractor ready the cattle decided to take a siesta next the gate to the north pasture where I would drive my tractor through.  I waited an hour and then the cattle went back to the fruit tree area and I was able to drive through the gate.  When I finished cutting on Saturday I then let the cattle into the north pasture.  They were happy.

It was late so I only got 7 rows cut Saturday.  The first row was slow going as I wanted to cut near the fences but not into the fences.  The grass was so tall in many places that it was hard to see the mower conditioner as it moved near the fence.  So, slow going.  But no fence damage.

Also in the southern part of the hayfield kind-of close to the south pasture I saw two male deer in the tall grass.  They were growing nice antlers.  They kept staying in the grass each time I came around.  Today they were gone.  But as I cut today I saw quite a number of areas through the hayfield where deer had laid down flattening the grass.   The deer will have to find new areas to bed down now.

Saturday I drove at 2.2 mph.  Today I drove a 2.9 mph.  At times when the hay was not as high or thick I may have been able to drive a little faster, but I kept at the steady 2.9 mph speed.  I was making good time.  I remember the last time I cut my hayfield after fertilizing it.  That was when I had my old New Holland swather.  The swather struggled and I had to drive at the slowest speed and even take a few stops every now and then so the cut hay could get through the swather.  The mower conditioner - no problem.  Back when I fertilized and cut with the swather it took me almost three days to cut my hayfield.   This year, 8 hours over two days.  This is why I wanted to get a mower conditioner to replace the swather.

Today's cut was off to a sad start. When walking out to the tractor I found next to the hayfield gate, in the house yard, eggs in a nest.  It looks to be turkey eggs.  Several damaged, others not so.  The hole in the one egg was due to a magpie that flew off when I approached.  But no turkey.  Either my cat, or when the cows were in the yard eating grass they disturbed the turkey and she left.  I never had a turkey make a nest in the yard before.

Then when cutting the hay, when cutting my second row for the day, I saw on the first row a dead bird.  I think it may have been a hawk.  It wasn't a turkey.  And I don't think it was a pheasant.  Why the bird didn't leave the grass as my mower conditioner came, I don't know.   Then a few rows later on the east side of the field - the dead bird was on the west side - I looked back at the mower conditioner and saw a bird fly out of the grass just in front of the mower conditioner.  If the bird waited 10 seconds later it would have been dead.  The bird looked like the dead bird.  That is why I think it was a hawk.   Then for 5 or so go-arounds I would see the hawk standing on a windrow near where it had flown away.  Most likely it had a nest there.  So sad.

The power line towers are so annoying to cut around.

The field is cut.