Makin' Hay

When I was a boy, this is how my family put up hay. Without the luxury of the barn, of course. :>)

Allan

"Right now is a memory under construction". :>)

Allan

Built stacks out in the fields and then cut them apart and hauled them in later in the fall. Lots of work compared to sitting in our air conditioned tractors these days!

Do you remember buckin' up the bottom of the stack with the sweeps? And building that damned "roof" on the stack? Don't forget those corners. Had to be perfect.

The first day I ever saw a round baler run, I thought fer sure that I had just been "delivered" out of the jaws of the monster. :>)

Allan

We just built stacks out in the field and they were huge! Built my last haystack in 1972.

What the picture doesn't show is those poor devils on the receiving end. Now, that is work, no other way to slice it and, when the snakes came in with the load, they were always mad! :>)

There used to be one of those barns down here on the river; don't know if it is still there or not, but that was an experience being up in that loft. The guys doing the stacking inside had to carry the hay back and throw 'er all up into an inside stack by hand with a pitchfork.

Whew! Blessed be the round baler. :>)

Allan

Just amazes me that you still put up loose hay in 1972.

Loose hay ended here in the 40's and 50's.

But it was all put in a barn.With the bales more pounds would fit.

I suppose with the open air, storage space was not an issue.

But we baled our first rounds in 73 when the barn got full of squares.
Gary

The first baler I ever laid eyes on was also one of those gizmos where the fellas had to sit back there and knot the wire.

My dad did that once on 10 acres, 'bout 1952, '53 or so.

After that one cutting, we were all totally convinced that it was a sure sign and proof positive that there had to be some in-breeding going on somewhere in that guy's family who owned that baler.

Too darned much work! Way, way easier to run the pitchfork. Hence the reason we dove head-long into the Farmhands and loose hay. :>)

Allan

The first time I was ever around a baler my granddad had a custom baler come in with (if I remember correctly) a Case wire tie that 2 guys (the ones that drew the short straws) sat on seats beside the bale chamber and pushed the wires through and then twisted the wire by hand. Not many of the small round Allis balers here in our area of eastern Nebraska. And of course the big round and square bales was much later on.

Allan

Dad did the stacking,Sis drove the stacker tractor and I run the hay sweep. Dad had a certain way of stacking so I got out of that job. Then Dad bought a used F-10,mounted it on the TE-20 Ferguson and later the TO-30. And later on bought a used Cockshutt 30 with a F-10 on it so he wouldnt have to change heads. It wasnt untill the late 1980"s we went to the large round bales. steveormary