The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: Blinkers on September 02, 2011, 09:21:40 pm
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Never in all my born days have I experienced such a horendous haymaking :P :P It was soooooo bloomin thick that the tedder just couldn't cope with it properly and we spent 2 whole days practically picking over BY HAND 5 acres of cut grass/!!! Finally finally baled this afternoon, and we got 513 AFTER having dumped about 50 bales worth which just never dried out. Incredible result, but boy oh boy are we kn***ered. Still haven't got it all in and supposed to rain tomorrow but just ran out of strength, energy and muscle power and daylight. So fingers crossed we manage to get the rest in tomorrow before it gets a soaking. Never worked so physically hard in my life before. Oh, the joys of farming :D :farmer: :wave:
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Well done you and the team. I know what it feels like. Congratulations on what sounds like a fine crop. :trophy:
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Blimey! Over 500, well done you! :trophy:
I thought our 180 was as much as a human could do......
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I've got muscles where I never imagined muscles existed :o :o Forcast says rain from 10am tomorrow......Oh joy :-\ :-\
Thnaks guys :farmer:
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Hey, at least you weren't as bad as this guy ;D ;D ;D
Crazy Farmer Hay Bales Himself (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPRGsljwIA8#)
Hopefully this will post the correct video this time and not anything offensive (like last time :-\)
Karen :wave:
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Well - I guess it beats having to carry it ;D ;D ;D
No - seriously - Well done blinkers!!! We were lucky with our haylage but it was still really stressful as we were at the bottom of our local contractors list and the weather was starting to look unsettled. Jeez - I looked at the met charts with FAR more interest than I ever looked at the stock market :) ;) :D
I was talking to somebody the other day about our smallholding "idyll". The quiet life, slowing down a pace etc.
I said - NO!! - nature is a hard taskmaster and has deadlines too - which are NOT negotiable......... the weather and the day length happen whether you have prepared your powerpoint presentation or not!!! Sick animals have to be acted upon - not re-prioritised, delegated or deferred to the next meeting........ and if one dies or gets stolen or all your potatoes get blight - it's a bit more upsetting than the photocopier being on the blink again or somebody walking off with the stapler.......
Ha - those soft bellied office wallahs have it easy ;) ;) ;D ;D
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Hope you get it all in Blinkers. Fingers crossed for you.
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Well, unfortunately the last 150 bales got pretty soaked, so we managed to get another 40 odd home and "drying off" !!!.....but then we gave the rest away to anyone who wanted any off the field and had space to spread it out and allow it to dry.....so its all off the field now which was the main thing in the end. On the bright side, we've got about 300 completely dry ones in the shed and were able to give 50 dry ones to the bloke that worked like a trojan with us yesterday and the day before, in payment.
So, fully prepared for winter now with that hay and also 28 big bales of haylage which we made back in July. Result......and Thank goodness that's over for another year. :wave:
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Quick hot bath Blinkers because our first load of straw has arrived and he drove off talking about contacting you to arrange delivery of yours. We are absolutely soaked here but now have hay and straw in the barn and feel very relieved.
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Hi - I'm jealous. The weather here all year has been so dry and the shortage of hay, straw etc is very serious. The French government are selectively donating one thousand euros for farmers in areas worst hit by the drought. Charente (Dept 16) where we are is very bad. Farmers and agricultural merchants have been shipping supplies in from Spain to try to keep up with the demand for feedstuffs and bedding. Needless to say the prices are horrendous and loads of farmers are selling off their stocks because they will be unable to afford to keep it. The price of meat hasn't gone up but the price of keeping the animals has. No win situation. We have had rain the last few weeks so may be possible for a very slight second cut but doubtful. We would normally have enough hay to last us a year but this year my OH reckons we have enough for 4 months and that is if we have a mild winter and dont have to use the feed too soon. Glad some of you are having a good crop - but I know you haven't had terribly good weather. We cant win but we must keep going. Regards to all Jan
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You are doing pretty well to make any sort of hay at all in September.