The weather here in Kentucky was perfect for haying over Labor Day weekend and until now. Farmers are happy to have the opportunity to get hay cut and baled in good shape without worrying about storm clouds gathering on the horizon. My husband has retired from farming and has leased the farm to a young farmer to pasture some cows and cut the hay for them. He cut and raked the hay this weekend. He’s like most farmers in this area and like my husband was too while he farming in that he has a full time job off the farm and farms on his off time. That can make cutting and getting the hay baled a little more chancy since the farmer needs the weather to cooperate with his schedule.
My dad and Darrell’s dad were full time farmers. Darrell’s dad milked cows. My dad concentrated on beef cattle and raised tobacco as a cash corp. Most every farmer in Kentucky depended on tobacco at that time to pay the farming bills with a little left over to feed the family. It helped that most farmer raised a lot of the food to feed those families with cows, pigs and chickens along with big gardens. I thought of how Labor Day weekend was rarely a holiday for me when I was growing up or even after I married while we were still farming. Labor Day weekend was a time for laboring in the field. Usually it was cutting tobacco time. With the kids out of school, you could hire help. In those days some high school boys were always ready to spend some time in the field to make some extra money.
The hay usually had to wait until after the tobacco crop was curing in the barn. But now that tobacco fields are rare around here, hay can take precedence. I thought of how haying has changed over the years. When I was very young, farmers were still stacking hay. Darrell can remember helping his father stack the hay. I remember seeing a haystack and then one night when one of the stacks on our farm caught fire. The hay can combust if it’s too green or damp in the middle of the stack or in bales stacked together in a barn loft too. That’s why good weather is so important to haying.
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Here’s a picture of a haystack I found online. I don’t remember poles in the stacks I saw, but that was a long time ago. I might have simply not noticed. Eventually my dad bought a hay baler and harvesting hay got easier, but it was still a hot job. I don’t have a picture of Dad and his baler, but this meme made me think of his New Holland baler 
except he never had it so that the bales kicked out onto the wagon. They hit the ground and then you had to pick up the bales by the strings and carry it to the wagon where someone, usually Dad, stacked it. Then at the barn, he would throw the bales up into the loft and then we girls would pull it back away from the loft window to make room for more. Then he stacked the hay in the loft to keep for winter. Hard work and hot work too.
Haying got even easier when round bales mostly replaced the square bales. Dad had quit farming before that advancement, but Darrell was happy to buy a round baler and make those big marshmallow shaped bales. Most farmers have those now but some still do the square bales that are needed for feeding horses and stabled animals. The round bales are just carried out to the field by a tractor and the cows go at it.
Farming is hard work but often a labor of love. Farmers persevere in the face of no rain, too much rain, windstorms, market volatility, machinery breakdowns, lack of willing work hands, sun and heat, cold and ice. And yet they keep hoping for good weather, bountiful crops and a profit. If you had food on your table today, then you can thank a farmer.
Have you ever worked in hay or lived on a farm?
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My parents didn’t farm but I had great grandparents and grandparents who did. Farmers all deserve our thanks for how hard they work every day to provide food for us all. I just saw on our county’s “Fire Wire” report on Facebook that there was a farming accident this morning. I don’t know the details other than they had to extract the person from something. I pray that they are okay. We had to help with feeding animals and garden work…husking corn on hot summer days wasn’t my favorite task…but the end result tasted pretty good, when I was growing up, but I am sure your job of helping with the hay took a lot longer and was much harder. Thanks for sharing stories and reminders of how much we owe to our farmers!
I have never lived on a farm but my Grandpa Dennie Sweet had a farm in Bethelridge, Kentucky. He was very successful and raised tobacco. My Mom said that his tobacco crop is what got them through the winter and also provided for extras such as Christmas gifts. I remember riding on the back of the wagon during tobacco harvesting time. He also had a big corn crib where he kept a big black snake to keep the mice out of the corn. I always tried to steer clear of that!
I have not worked hay or lived on a farm. But, I have lived near farms and have plenty of relatives with farms. When I was a young girl, my cousins tried to teach me about “barning tobacco”. I was in the way more than I helped. haha!
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I’ve never heard “barning tobacco.” Here in Kentucky we always said “housing tobacco.” But we did hang it in a barn built with rails to hold the sticks that had usually six stalks of tobacco speared onto them. I know tobacco has fallen out of favor these days and with good reason as smoking is a major health concern, but maybe I should do a post on how we used to raise and harvest tobacco back when every farmer had a patch of tobacco here in Kentucky. Might take more than one post. 🙂
I love reading about your farm experiences. I have not ever lived on a farm but do live in the country where there are small farms around me. And I also can drive a short distance to watch the Amish farmers at work.
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Watching those Amish farmers gives you a more historic view of farming, Birdie, before machines took over much of the planting and harvesting. When you see a hayfield with all those bales of hay spread out on them you simply know that a farmer somewhere is feeling a sense of accomplishment. Sort of like, back before dryers and when most people hung their wash out on a line, sheets and towels blowing in the wind gave that same kind of satisfying work well done feeling. I’m sure you see that in the Amish area too.
I live on a farm right now! My mom and dad moved here as renters when they were first married (32 years ago) and for a little while the farm was a side job for Dad. In 1998 he started farming full-time and the operation has grown since them.
I have helped unload more wagons of hay and straw than I can count. Stacked wagons are much harder to unload than un-stacked wagons. We used to do mostly all square bales, but in recent years the market and demand for round bales has increased. So, Dad has been making more round bales than previously. We do keep a certain amount of hay back for our cows, but we typically sell a lot of hay during the winter (and actually year-round). Farming is a tough, hot job, but it’s a rewarding one too.
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Good to hear from a still active farmer, Elizabeth. Sounds as if you are a great help to your dad in the hay field. As you say, that’s a tough, hot job but you are your own boss and you get to have your feet on the ground with the sky overhead. That’s a good thing right there – being in tune with nature and the Lord.
My grandparents had a full working farm and most of my childhood memories revolve around farm life. Then I married a farmer and raised my kids on a farm. We had beef cattle, hay, tobacco and a big garden. I never had to do too much hay work because I had lots of brothers and raised 3 boys. They got the outside jobs and I had garden and kitchen duty. But I did on occasion drive the tractor when we were rushing to get it in the barn before the rain. There’s nothing like farm life to instill good work ethics in kids. Few kids today understand the true meaning of labor.
Have a great upcoming weekend Ann. I hope this perfect weather lasts a bit longer. 😊
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Well, the rain has come tonight, Lavon, but we did have a beautiful week and supposed to have more nice weather on the way. I was just telling my oldest son the other day that whether he thought it at the time or not it was a blessing for him to grow up on the farm and having to help in the work. I think more kids would benefit from the experience. But everybody can’t live on a farm. But all kids can learn to be helpful in their homes and yards and neighborhoods.
I remember my grandpa cutting hay with the team of mules pulling the old cutter and then raking it the same way after it was dry…he was a full time farmer in KY . Tobacco was a big crop back in those days, large garden , chickens, Brown Swiss milk cows , hogs , cutting wood to keep the stove going in the kitchen ….washing clothes in the large black kettle over the fire behind the house ; grandma would cut lye soap for the task and a punching stick would be used as an agitator ! Grandpa had 3 haystacks in the early days , later the hay was pitched onto the big farm truck and then the barn loft. My sister and I helped with the the farm chores as we spent our summers down on the farm …such wonderful memories of many years ago.
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What a treat for you and your sister, Nancy, to have those summers on the farm. I sometimes think all kids would be better off if they had a chance to experience some farm life and work. Thanks for sharing your memories of your grandpa cutting and raking and then stacking hay. The first rake I remember my dad using was a horse drawn one that he pulled with a tractor, but someone, usually Mom, had to ride on the rake to make it work right. Mom also started out washing in that black kettle over a fire in the yard, but electricity came to our house when I was a baby, so I don’t remember that. Mom had a wringer washer when I remember. She did make lye soap now and again.
I have not, but all my cousins on my Dad’s side of the family did. We were on the receiving end of the enjoyment when we visited once a year and got to experience the fun part like riding on the tractor or in the wagon or watch the myriad of cows being herded in at milking time; and the fresh bounty on the table at mealtime. As children of an Army officer we thought farm living was fun!!! 😊 However, my husband was raised on a farm in South Georgia where corn and tobacco were their cash crops. He has many a tale of the hard work that was involved.
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Farm life is fun, especially if you’re only visiting to get the taste of country life, Karen. But your husband is right. Farm work can be very hard and it’s not for everybody. But those who do farm and continue to farm even in the face of shrinking markets and paychecks, have a connection to the ground. I know I feel that here on our farm.
I have a lot of pictures of the grandkids in the back of our old pick-up truck watching their pa feed the cows some grain.
My grandfather owned a farm, and his son worked the farm until his son took over. My sisters and I grew up in the city, but we loved visiting the farm in the summer and seeing the milking of the cows, the work in the fields, and the huge garden. We helped here and there, but we mostly played and ate the delicious food generated by the farm.
My husband and I buy produce weekly from a nearby farm and love the fresh veggies and fruit.
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Sounds as if you had the best of the farm life, Suzanne. The grandkids enjoy visiting our farm too. Well a couple of the girls have decided they are too citified to enjoy the fields now that they are older. One set of grandkids have grandparents with farms on both sides of the family and they have had the opportunity of doing some farm work and also enjoying the fun on camping and fishing on the farms. Homegrown veggies and fruits are the best, for sure.