My third (and last for this year) cutting of hay is baled and in the barn…
I cut on Monday (17th), raked on Saturday (22nd), and on a whim, walked out to check the windrows Monday (24th) when I got home from work – it had been cool, but with a 15-20mph wind blowing all day; the hay felt crispy all the way through, so I lubed up the baler and started baling around 5:00pm.
I kept checking the hay as the sun went down, and things continued to stay dry and crispy (almost no dew settling), so I kept at it and finished drop-baling around 9:00pm. First time I’ve ever been able to bale at night.
The boys are both working now, so their availability to help is thin (one reason I drop-baled, the other is that I still have my second cut on the racks!).
As I was picking up bales with the truck last night, a couple stopped by and asked if I wanted to sell any of the hay—he does a good bit of hay himself, and didn’t have enough to fill his own customer’s orders. So it looks like he’s going to buy both my second cut as well as most of this third cut (we only needed another 100 or so to cover our animal needs for the winter).
Finally, here’s a photo of all the equipment I’m using. The Hesston really makes the cutting a snap, and the 8N gets lighter duty these days with the rake and moving racks around. The AC 190 runs the baler great, and I can operate a bit faster with it, too.