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Author Topic: Is it possible to make hay by hand?  (Read 18955 times)

lachlanandmarcus

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2012, 12:27:28 pm »


Do you have a copy? Could I borrow it  ;D

Too precious to let out of my sight!.....But Amazon have it for a tenner
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-From-The-Green-Valley/dp/B000BND09Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341141936&sr=8-1
and you can get it and Vict Farm together as a bundle too for less than £15
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victorian-Tales-Green-Valley-Collection/dp/B002GP7Q18/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341141936&sr=8-2
 

Ladygrey

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Basingstoke
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2012, 03:00:27 pm »
I make hay by hand each year :)

The grass is cut with a push along strimmer and I leave it to dry in the sun, its usually ready by the next day's afternoon. Its raked into rows and then the rows are raked into a big pile of hay.

I use a feed bin (or black rubbish bin) and lay the bailer twin inside it in a X shape with the bits hanging out the end. The hay is then stuffed in until pretty solid, the string is tied and the bale lifted out, its hard work but the bales do stay together.

I used to use a cardboard box but the hay can be compacted much more in a solid feed bin.

I have to admit that this will probly be the last year we have made hay, due to us needing the grass for grazing and being supplied with big bale hay for free. So not much point in making it any more

MAK

  • Joined Nov 2011
  • Middle ish of France
    • Cadeaux de La forge
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #17 on: July 02, 2012, 08:39:21 pm »
What a good idea - We have hay drying and rather than use a cardboard box I will borrow the re-cycle bin. Bit warm to gather too much tomorrow but I want to try the technique you describe.
www.cadeauxdelaforge.fr
Gifts and crafts made by us.

Ladygrey

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Basingstoke
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2012, 09:31:21 am »
 :thumbsup: great!

If you stand it up near somewhere or hold onto someone's shoulders then its easy to stamp it right down. Although my bother uses the "sit in bin" method and squishes it down that way...

We got 19 bin size bales from a 3rd of an acre, trying to find a photo but seem to have lost them...

tizaala

  • Joined Mar 2011
  • Dolau, Llandrindod Wells,Powys
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #19 on: July 07, 2012, 09:25:23 am »
have a look on utube
http://youtu.be/Cs8qiucZZx0
 
and
 
http://youtu.be/VLikshKMi_I
 
Or if you want to build an old fashioned hay rick in a high wind get a large woman and build it in her lee :innocent:

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #20 on: July 07, 2012, 09:33:03 am »
I pick up my scythe today  ;D

The trouble with that technique Tizz is that I would be both the woman and the person building the stack   :-J

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #21 on: July 07, 2012, 09:45:23 am »
before machinery were invented all hay and harvesting was done by hand
and it was the woman or a lot of them that did the binding stooking and stacking   with the children helping
scything in the morning was more productive than during the day      it has to be cut before it can be air dried     every stage has to be just right or it will just decay                even baled out of stacks it can heat as it is compressed tighter :farmer:

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #22 on: July 07, 2012, 11:18:04 am »
I pick up my scythe today  ;D


Oh that's three reasons to come and see you soon!  :D  Well, as soon as it's dry enough to play with the scythe and the quaddie topper.  Whenever that will be...   Hey ho, just as well there's a third reason, huh  :D
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #23 on: July 07, 2012, 11:56:35 am »
Haven't even tried to get the quad topper started! That might be a summer holiday project. Just managed to get the strimmer going, I was going to say nasty, noisy thing but at least it started and it does round the rocks and walls which would damage a scythe. Might have to acquire a sickle too for the small fiddly bits  ;D

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #24 on: July 08, 2012, 10:46:24 am »
Ok, I have brought home my scythe and tried it out on the very lush rye grass that substitutes for my lawn  ;)

Didn't think I was doing amazingly well until I raked up the grass I'd mowed, which was a lot! It's knackering mind you, I need to develop the arm muscles that I need to sharpen the blade and my back and stomach muscles for turning it.

Do I like it better than strimming - oh yes! But I can only do about 5 minutes at a time at the moment. Still, this could be the new green gym - by the end of the summer I might have scythed myself a waist and my deltoids will be as disgraceful as my biceps  :D

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #25 on: July 08, 2012, 12:40:32 pm »
Do I like it better than strimming - oh yes! But I can only do about 5 minutes at a time at the moment. Still, this could be the new green gym - by the end of the summer I might have scythed myself a waist and my deltoids will be as disgraceful as my biceps  :D
;D ;D ;D

And there's your diversification - green gym!!
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #26 on: July 10, 2012, 09:50:22 am »
Found this lovely site whilst looking for a nearby 'improvers' course (I need to get onto peening and I'm sure there is a lot more I can improve in terms of technique/postureto increase my stamina).  Cant wait till the 28th.  Anyone interested in a Hay making course in North wales (Ive asked him if he wants to put one on at our place)?   I'm so miffed I missed the hay making 'social' on Sunday.
http://scythecymru.wordpress.com/hand-hay-making/
« Last Edit: July 10, 2012, 09:52:16 am by FiB »

rockstar

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • powys
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #27 on: July 26, 2012, 10:09:45 am »
I have made half acre of hay from saturday through to wednesday,2-3 hours a day .I cut it with hedgetrimmer and turned with rake and fork,.With the help of my dad and son we loaded it on a large taupaulin dragged it down to stack loose on pallets.Hard work but hopefully worth it,smells lush.

Sylvia

  • Joined Aug 2009
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #28 on: July 26, 2012, 04:40:55 pm »
My ex-husband and I once cut a one acre field with a scythe, turned it by hand and carried it all home, bit by bit.......on the back of his motor-bike. So, anything can be done if you're determined :)

Buffy the eggs layer

  • Joined Jun 2010
Re: Is it possible to make hay by hand?
« Reply #29 on: August 01, 2012, 07:44:12 am »
We have just got our neighbour to top a couple of areas of overgrown grass in two pastures. It was long and altough we turmed the thicker areas we didnt manage to get it all fully dry before the rains were due last night. We decided to rake it all up and stuff it into those big open sacks that you get building materials in and wheelbarrow it into the stables to finish drying off.
We can toss it and turn it in there and hopefully it will finish off in there without moulding.
The areas of cut pasture are part of a lagrer area of grazing that will soon have sheep on it. Is there anything that I can do to give the cut area a boost before the sheep go in it?
 :farmer:

 

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