I was hoping to get some okra to pickle, but the okra is coming in at the same time as the farmer’s alfalfa needs baling. Okra is not the priority - he grows beautiful alfalfa & the hay is an important cash crop.
Unless some of the local produce stands have it, I’ll just have to grow it myself next year.
This evening, the ‘fluffer’ arrived next door - that’s what I call it. The field got cut, but the hay is lying flat. The fluffer does just that - fluffs it up so it can dry better & in rows that sit up so the baler can pick it up. These will be round bales - kind of cool to watch the hatch open & a round bale rolls out.
Since the field is now cut, I spotted my first fawn of the season, out in the field with mom. Last year there were 3 does with fawns, one with twins. I’m not sure why they haven’t been seen yet - it was fun watching the fawns grow up last year.
How a round baler works - there’s a lot going on in that machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBcUME026w0
The machine that ‘fluffs’ the cut hay is called a ‘Tedder’ or a ‘Hay Tedder.’ (They DO call it a ‘Fluffer’ in some parts and that is acceptable, too.)
And then you use a ‘Bar Rake’ behind the tractor to form it into ‘Windrows,’ (long even strips that the tractor hauling the baler can easily follow) and then you use the ‘Baler’ (round or square) to bale it after it dries for a day or so.
And usually it rains on you out of a clear blue sky, somewhere in the process, LOL!
You either stack it in a hay mow in the barn, or you bag it in plastic (which is another fascinating piece of equipment called a ‘Bale Wrapper’) and keep it along the edges of a field for later use.
And I only know all of this because I ask Beau a lot of questions about everything going on around the farm and since he’s been making hay for his Dad and two other farmers since he was strong enough to lift a bale, he always has the answer and ALWAYS corrects me when I use the wrong term for ANY piece of farm equipment. ;)