Hay for Winter

We are stocked up with hay again, ready for winter feeding as necessary.  We acquired these 216 bales from a farm 30 minutes away, just east of Picayune a little bit.  The hay barn is completely full, with a spot left for the trailer.  Although when I backed the trailer in, I found that I couldn't unhitch the trailer because there was no room against the hay to fold out the hand crank that puts the support feet down.  After moving the two hay bales on the front left up to the third row in front, I was able to crank down the support feet of the trailer and unhook it from the truck.

These are some pictures of the hay fields and of us loading and transporting the hay.  I drove my truck and trailer.  Jeffrey drove his truck and the hay cutter let us use his trailer to help speed up the removal; 10 bales per load.  Jackie drove their truck around the hay fields when Jeffrey was using a tractor to load the hay.   As hurricane Isaias was moving up along the east coast there were several hot, dry highs in the mid country that were giving us a nice long dry weather window for making and moving hay.  So, over the long weekend of August 8 and 9, we made multiple trips.  We heard the news that Mary was in labor with Oliver on August 9, while we were loading and unloading hay.

After loading several bales, they need to be pushed forward, tightened together before the last bale is placed on the back of the trailer.  The last two are strapped in place.  Don't want to lose one along the side of the road.

 

Here, Jeffrey is unloading hay from the borrowed trailer.

Before putting the bales in the barn, we used a probe to test their moisture content.  Most bales were in the 15 to mid 20's percent moisture, which is good.  Any that were 30 or higher were set aside and put in last.  Most of these were in the 30's, only one read up around 50.  The concern is as the hay bales cure, if there is too much moisture, they heat up and can catch fire, if they get hot enough and are packed in too tight.  So, these are packed in double rows with about a 1 foot space between each row.  That way there is at least one open face to the air.  They are also up on pallets.  With this ventilation and the low moisture content the stack should be good.  The few questionable ones were put in front where I could keep an eye on them with a temperature probe for several days.