Baling Straw and New Grass Seeding

Earlier this year, I frost seeded red clover  on a 40 acre field that my mom owns. Toward the end of June, the renter combined the wheat that he had planted as a companion crop with this new seeding.

Shortly after it was combined, we decided to go ahead and mow off the wheat stubble for two reasons; 1) we could use the bedding for the pigs and 2) it would give the smaller grasses and the red clover a chance to catch up with the timothy. For whatever reason the brome and orchard grass haven’t done nearly as well as the timothy. The timothy, however, did very well. In fact, there were some places that the timothy was so thick that it actually overtook the wheat making it impossible for the renter to combine the wheat in those areas.

This is one of those spots where the wheat wasn’t combined. You can see the wheat heads sticking up but there is also a significant amount of timothy. This much green grass makes it hard to combine.

This is a strip that we hadn’t mowed yet, but that was combined. You can see all the green, that’s mostly timothy. The wheat stubble is the golden color.

We started by mowing all the stubble. This was my “office” view for the day.

The next we raked it. The goal of raking is to windrow the hay or straw so that the baler can pick it up. This is looking back at the rake.

Getting started with small square bales. Scott was waiting for the first few bales to come out so he could check to make sure everything was set properly.

We put up small square bales and large round bales. Both will be very handy to have on hand. The small square bales work great when bedding down one or two huts, while the big bales work well when bedding down a large group of hogs.

Not only is stacking straw work, it can also be fun. Rebekah saw I was about to take a picture and had to strike a pose. 

These three found a good spot to rest between loads, while more straw/hay was being baled.

Brock was putting the straw up on the trailer this load while Scott stacked. I had my turn driving.

We enjoy getting the opportunity to work as a family. Lots of good memories are made even while we are getting sweaty and tired. It is especially good to have the straw that we will need for the upcoming year.

Blessings,

Jennifer