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We have rain in the forecast… again.  Surprise, surprise.

With that in mind, I decided that baling hay should be at the top of my priority list.  I had cut  our east 5 acre field of grass-mix hay and a 3 acre clover-mix paddock/pasture, back on Thursday or Friday (I think).  Around here, a rule of thumb is – if you want to make it rain, just cut your hay.  And on Saturday, we got rain – .8″.  This gives us a nearly 6.5″ for the month.  That said, I didn’t need the downed hay to get rained on again.  With some dew still on the wind-rowed hay, I set out with the Farmall H and rake.  I turned the hay wind-rows, exposing the greener hay to the sun and air.

Come afternoon, I checked the hay, for the most part, the turned hay was dry or nearly dry.  I felt it was dry enough to bale anyway.  The hay in the paddock was another story though.  That clover dries poorly and as it does, it turns a blackish-green color.  Clover does not make good looking hay.

We still had Farmer Mike’s John Deere 336, small, square baler here, from last year.  I hate using balers for the first time in the season.  They never seem to work correctly. Old hay, old twine, dust, moisture, etc., makes for a rough start to baling.  Sure enough, this baler met my expectations… but after having about 15 missed-tied bakes, the baler was working again, just as it had last fall.  By 4PM I had finished the 5 acre field.  I then checked the clover hay, it was not quite dry enough to bale.  Perhaps it was time for a cold beer.

As I was cooling down with my Busch Light, Carol and Madison drove up with the pick-up truck.  They had it full of bread.  Previously, Carol had been in contact with the manager of a local bakery and this gal needed to get rid of some their store’s aged bakery products.  Today was one of the days to do a bread run.

A Truck Full Of Bread

To see that much bread, buns and bagels was almost surreal.  Our thoughts?  We’re going to feed this day-old and outdated bread to the hogs and chickens… kinda like what we have been doing since Carol started baking bread.  There are 2 things to remember about homemade bread, 1) it tastes best fresh, and 2) its cheap… so why not feed it to the critters after its no longer yummy?!  Now, we can feed our grain eating animals bread on a mongo, huge scale.

We got the idea of doing this from one of Carol’s friends.  As I understand it, they’ve been feeding their homestead and 4-H pigs this stuff for awhile now.  The thing is, with county fair season upon us, they will be needing less food for them.  Here’s the deal, shortly after the fair, the pigs go to market.  Once butchered, pigs don’t eat much.  So… Carol’s friends passed the bakery torch to us.  And a big “thank-you” goes out to them.

After Madison and I fed a few hamburger buns to the pigs, I headed back out to finish my baling.  By this time, it was about 5:30PM, dry enough or not, I was going to get the clover hay baled.  I did not want it rained on [again] and destroyed.  An hour later, I was done baling.  With this hay, the baler worked flawlessly.  So if Farmer Mike is reading this, your baler is greased, the chains are oiled and the cob-webs are knocked out of it.  Should you need it, it is field ready.  Thanks for letting me use it.

Related posts:

1. I Love This Bread
2. Pickle Bread, Fruit Leather And Valentines
3. Bread Labels
4. Baling Straw Is Done For The Season
5. Oooops! Did I Do That?