If you remember last week, we mentioned that we had hay equipment to unload off the trailer and get it ready to start haying for the first time this week. We got the equipment off. The cutter was in decent shape and we did manage to get a couple passes in the meadow before the first piece showed its age. The pitman arm cracked after hitting a dirt mound (an old ant hill). After we made a replacement out of hand railing from Home Depot, we tried again. We found yet another problem. The mechanic of the farm didn't reassemble it correctly. Once we figured out the problem, we tried again. And we had success! The cutting teeth are in desperate need of replacement, but they got us through this cutting season and we'll replace them before next year.
With the field cut, it was on to raking the grass into rows for the baler to pick up. We replaced a lot of the fingers / tines that rake the grass. That tuned into a lot of time just making sure they wouldn't hit. The arms are work and need to be rebuilt (another thing for the Winter this year). We made a pass feeling great and then it all went bad. We were already down one arm of six, and another came apart. It nearly killed us. Ok, not so much death, but really it was scary to see it fling at speed. We got it back to the garage and cut it off and went back to raking at a very low speed.
The big question, and where we leave you this week, is how much hay will we get from all this work and agony? Tune in next week to find out!
We are a small off-grid homestead in south central Oregon living the best sustainable life as possible. We raise goats, rabbits, and heritage birds. Follow along as we divulge our secrets to surviving off-grid on solar power and growing our own food.
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