Day two and women power gets the job done.
Mister and I had a change of pace from afternoon boat rides at the lake to helping haul hay.
When the bales need to go where the tractor can’t maneuver you literally roll them into place and tip them over by hand.
Here in central Alberta, hay is scarce right now due to bad growing and baling conditions. With many farmers thinking they may not get a second cut, we travelled farther then usual for the daughters winter stock for her horse.
The first of the two day haul was a bit of a episode because of rain issues, a blown hydraulic hose on the tractor, and things just not going to plan. A crew of Mister, The Daughter and myself regrouped and finally waited for reinforcements to arrive (The Daughters Husband, the Daughter-In-Law, and the newest grandson who I’ll refer to as “Little One”.) Forty-five minutes later the job was completed.
Little One had a great time. Grandpa took him for his first quad rides, Auntie took him to park the lawn mower, he sat in a saddle, visited with their dog and cat, and got a swing in a bucket. His smiles and giggles lightened the moods of everyone, especially the three original crew members.
Because of being another work day, it was Mister, The Daughter and myself who hit the road early the next day to get the second and last load.
Once we were back, The Daughter-In-Law and Little One came over again to lend a hand. Things went smoothly with Mister on the tractor bringing bales up from the trailer. The girls rolled them through the barn to the hay shelter. From there we all pushed and pulled them into place and then stood them on end. My main job was taking pictures and watching Little One. It’s great to be grandma. The chore was done in record time.
Maybe it was because of Little One’s good job supervising from his Jolly Jumper.
kathy knull 
It’s been a while Kathy but good to see you back and with your lovely grandson!
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Yes, it was a longer break than I expected. Thanks.
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Little ones can always cheer you!
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Most definitely.
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I want to see how those huge round bales already created. I’ve seen them in plenty of fields we’ve passed, but never the actual cutting and rolling. Maybe some day. I can’t believe two women rolled it and then tipped it. Seems dangerous.
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The baling of them is interesting. The machine goes along a swath scooping it and continuously feeding it in, rolling and rolling until it gets a certain size. Then the machine wraps it with twine, the back flips up and the bale falls out onto the field.
They roll easy on flat ground but can get tricky and dangerous if there’s a slop. Thats when we use a tractor or the ATV to help.
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Thanks for the explanation. Now I at least have an idea of how it works.
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I have not so fond memories of soy bean harvest when the augur malfunctioned and we had to hand shovel soy beans into a storage silo… Walking on soybeans is like walking on ball bearings!
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That doesn’t sound fun, I’m sorry to hear your memories aren’t fond ones.
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Those are big bales of hay!
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I always feel the same way, because I mostly see them out in fields. It’s been years since Mister and his dad farmed and grew hay, so now on hauling day when I stand beside them I think, yikes. 🙂 These ones are roughly 950lbs. Yet, in the industry they are considered small and we have trouble finding this size. Most are 1100-1200lbs. which is bigger than our tractor, manpower or hay shelter can handle.
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Wow! Just wow! When I was a kid, hay was in a rectangle bale that could be thrown with a pitchfork. I’ve probably dated myself! 🙂
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The daughter does still use the smaller square ones too, she kind of gets what’s available. This year with the storage, the round are what she found. No judging age here 😊
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