Hay Ewe, Let's Roll!

Once a year we head on out into the paddock and let the good times roll. Well... that's not entirely true, we have good times all year round. There is, however, a job that occurs once a year that has a whole lot to do with rocking and rolling. Welcome to the repetition of carting hay rolls! I'm very thankful that we don't produce whole paddocks of hay like some of the farms surrounding us. Here is why...

Firstly our crops are not specifically grown to become hay. On this farm we grow oats that we use as a standing fodder crop for our weaners. What does this mean? It means the lambs that have just come off mum are moved into a paddock of tasty and nutritious food at just the right height for nibbling! The only problem is that weaners aren't so good at walking through a standing crop. You can imagine that walking through a tangle of plants that are the same height as you can be a little tricky, this also means they can't really find their way to the dams very well. We get around this drama by using a contractor who cuts hay from the outside lap of the paddock and at regular intervals across the paddock. This means the little weaners can wander to their hearts content, they can find water, and there's hay to cart out of the paddock. We still have to push them to water to make sure they're all drinking but with 'footpaths' it becomes a far less arduous task. 

So, I get to rock on into the paddock with the little green tractor and it's forks.

I get to cruise around in the air con with my iPod playing (I can't imagine the days of no cabs or radios!) picking up these bales.

Yes, we were a little delayed in the carting, that's why there's a 'chomp' line around the bale. Thankfully they didn't do too much damage. When picking the bales up you have to be careful not to raise them too high as it can unbalance the tractor.

Once they're on the forks you don't have the best visibility for strainer posts so you try and line up from further back than usual. Eventually you end up with all the bales stacked in the hay paddock like this.

We store them end to end like this for minimal weather damage. When we store them in pyramids (two lines on the bottom and a third on top) we have to tarp them during winter as the water doesn't run off the stack properly. 

Now, most people would stack the hay onto a truck in the paddock, drive the truck to the hay paddock and use a second tractor to unload the bales. We didn't in this paddock as there were only 12 or so bales to collect and it was less than a km back to the hay paddock. Why am I grateful we don't grow whole paddocks of hay? Stacking hundreds of bales takes a very long time, not to mention how boring it can be driving around the same paddock hour after hour!! So, now you know how we let the good times roll!