Lamb

Lamb

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Putting Up Hay


Hello dear friends, I am taking a few moments to share some quick photos with you.  We have been struggling with drought conditions in our part of Ontario and it has been very difficult for farmers with crops in the ground.  On our farm it means that our pastures are in poor condition and that when we should normally be able to take a second cut of hay we havent yet managed to pull in the first cut. For farms with livestock the quantity and quality of hay is critical as it is the main food source for our animals over the winter.  This year we are fortunate to have access to some hay fields on neighbouring properties and over the next week or so we will be cutting and baling those fields to use for our sheep.



It would seem that no farm task can be completed without Horatio's involvement.  Once our hay wagons arrived he took the opportunity to climb to the top to investigate.  There are no doubt crickets, mice and voles hiding in some of these bales.


 Holly cant take a chance that someone wants to steal our hay wagons!  She is on guard.


We store the hay in our old bank barn.  I love the way the sunlight streams through the boards onto the hay.



The barn is starting to fill up!  So far we have only done square bales, this week some of the hay will be baled into big round bales.  The squares are easier for me to handle and are easier to use in the feeders in the barn and generally have less waste.  The large round bales are more convenient and a much faster way to feed the sheep if we want to use the tractor-we can place a large round bale outside and let the sheep pick their way through it.  On our farm we like to use a combination of both. 

Wishing everyone in Ontario a safe long weekend!  We will be enjoying another vacation week here at the farm and will share updates on some of our other projects later!

~Thank you for visiting~

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