We are quite excited on 'baling day' here at the farm. It is probably the favorite part of the whole hay operation. It's the day when all of the previous work of prepping, mowing, tedding, and raking comes to fruition with hopes of a high yield of hay bales.

Teamwork is essential to this final process. Whether one is hauling hay racks or picking up bales/bundles or baling up the hay, it is an all-for-one and one-for-all endeavor. Sometimes it is like a fine, choreographed dance as the various farm implements move about the field.

Once the hay is raked up into a windrow (hay that is piled up into a row)

and the windrow moisture is at our preferred standard -- under 15% moisture, we set out with two inline small square balers.

The balers will drive over the windrows pick up the loose hay and drop completed bales out of the rear of the baler.

Each baler is equipped with a moisture meter so that the hay is monitored for the amount of moisture in each bale. If moisture readings consistently stay above 15%, we will stop baling and re-assess the situation; either wait an hour or so, hoping the moisture will dry out and try again, or stop production for the day, depending on weather and field conditions.

Typically, when moisture levels in hay are 18% or above, the likelihood of mold growing in the hay also increases. By sticking to our 15% rule, we have had very good results with the quality of the hay we produce.

Once the hay is made into small squares, the Bale Baron comes behind and picks up the individual bales and forms the bales into 21-bale bundles.

The bundles are then picked up in the field with a tractor using grapple hooks and loaded onto hay racks to be hauled back to the farm.

The hay bundles travel very well and make for easy loading and unloading. As a matter of fact, one bundle can easily fit in the bed of most pickup trucks and our customers love this convenience!

Let's Bale Hay!

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