Ready, Set, Hay!

I spent last week preparing for the start of hay season. That included all the mechanical stuff and maintenance on all of the equipment. Lots of grease, oil, and shop time. It even included a bubble bath for Holly, my hay cutter. Holly is 11 years old and not as fancy as she looks, but I like her. I actually also like the work of preparing for the harvest. It is stressful, especially knowing that there will be a narrow window in which to get the crop out at its peak quality. That's why the preparation is so important. When the crop is on the ground, minutes are valuable, and there is no time for a breakdown. Obviously, a breakdown can still happen, and probably will, no matter how much you prepare. Even so, it still pays to stack the deck in your favor when you can. Some may say, "Was the bath really necessary?" I say it's a small part of the whole mentality of preparation. Functionally, cleaning does help with maintenance since issues can be found when cleaning that could have otherwise been overlooked. Emotionally, cleaning probably plays a bigger role in maintenance. Even though it sometimes feels a tiny bit vain, I like for my equipment to look good. Especially at the beginning of the season. I feel better about it, and I pay closer attention to any unusual sound, smell, or other oddity that could cause a problem. The grass was ready, so we made it to the field on Friday evening to cut the first pass. I was amazed at the quality of ryegrass in our first field (see the second picture). It's dark green, thick, and beautiful. Julie said it best "It's so pretty I almost want to eat it... I definitely want to eat whatever eats it." Some of you may remember the field I wrote about several weeks ago, where I thought the deer would eat up all of my ryegrass. This picture is of the exact same field. I would have never thought the ryegrass could have outgrown the grazing pressure from that herd of at least 25 deer, but it did. I was able to cut down the remainder of this field on Saturday, and I'll be finishing it tomorrow. If you need me, that's where I'll be... in the shiny clean tractor. 😉 (FYI, this one field represents about 15% of our total ryegrass crop. I'll be busy with this project for a couple of weeks.)