Making Hay in the Four Days That Sun Shone!

2007 was a disastrous year for many hay makers. It rained with such perseverance that there was never a block of dry days that lasted long enough to cut and dry the crops. The unnamed field had finally become ours on 30th July, 2007. Fortunately, in the turn out, it had been grazed in the early spring by the previous owners horses, making the crop of hay late, Even so, it was just beginning to turn brown and become wind flattened. We waited and watched as the hay crop on other peoples land was lost or cut for silage, but that late start gave us the time we needed. It was mid August - two months later that that hay would normally have been cut. Four dry, sunny days were forecast, and with that "now or never" feeling, we called on a neighbour to cut; and as he cut, Simon began to turn and lift the thick crop with his own smaller tractor, an ancient grey Ferguson TE20.






In an all-out effort to get the hay dry before the threatened rain came, the little grey Fergie worked from the time the dew was dry in the morning, until it began to fall again at night... A very brave effort, considering that it had stood idle for many years before Simon bought it and got it running again.



That hay barely stopped turning... and the wind was just enough to ensure that it was crisp and bone dry in time to bale it on day four.



757 bales of beautiful, sweet hay! All that remained was to pick them all up and get them under cover. Sadly, the Fergie demanded a rest at this point. Enough was enough, it seemed. A flash of light and cloud of smoke from the dashboard told us that she'd done enough work for the week! So it fell upon my old Passat Estate to pull a trailer round the field and collect it, 8 bales at a reluctant time!