Our farm includes about 40 acres of hay fields, a necessary crop for providing food for our llama herd. But, hay is also a cash crop for us. The 21 llamas require less than 1500 bales/year. In a good year, we may harvest 3000 bales between first and second cutting.
Our ‘hay crew’ consists of John’s 90 year old dad, John himself (who by the way is in need of a knee replacement, and probably, a new hip as well), me, when I am not at a farmer’s market or having to watch the store, and Maxx, if he is not working at Stop and Shop and we beg him hard enough! From time to time, a neighbor might take pity on John and pitch in for a while. I actually love being out on the wagon, but it really is quite strenuous work, particularly in the hot and sunny weather required for a successful hay harvest.
We sell our excess hay to horse owners, other animal owners, for mulch, and for Fall decorating. The mulch and decorative hay is usually the result of poor drying conditions, like when it rains after the hay has been cut and partially dried. Hay is probably one off the most weather-dependent crops in existence. You need rain in the spring and during the summer to make the hay grow, but you also need 2.5 - 3 days of sunshine, preferably with a nice breeze in order to cut, dry and bale the hay. First cutting usually starts in mid-June and, with perfect conditions, we can finish before July 4th. This allows sufficient re-growth for a second cutting in mid-to-late August. The second cutting is called Rowan, and is more tender and tasty than the first-cut hay.
This year has been a tough one for making hay in western Mass. The farmers that raise cows have done a green-chop which they essentially roll in plastic or put in a silo to make haylage (which is like the silage made from corn) which they will feed to the animals over the winter. People that depend on hay to feed their animals are stressing, though, because no one has hay to sell. We got a good start in early June and had about 3 wagon loads of hay available. That was gone within a week, though, and the constant threat of thunder storms and showers prohibited us from cutting more. Finally, on June 30th, John took a risk and cut a marginal field, thinking that if it got rained on, the hay could be fed to the less-picky llamas, or sold for Halloween décor. Things looked good, but late in the afternoon of July 1, it rained on that hay. John pushed forward and continued drying that batch and in the evening cut a front field, hoping for a couple of days of sunshine. The rain held off and we started baling at about 1:30 on July 3. Racing the clock, we were able to get a few hundred bales on the wagons. The sky opened just as John was putting the last of 4 wagons in the barn. So now we have hay to put in the barn for the llamas, as well as some to sell to those desperate animal owners. We have 2-3 more sections to hay before we can leave on our summer escape to Lake Winnepesaukee, NH (courtesty of John’s brother, Bob) and the forecast is still calling for scattered showers. We have high hopes, though, that ‘Mother Nature’ will appreciate our need to take this break!
To learn more about haying and its history, click on this link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay#Early_methods
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