Old-fashioned Haymaking, Part 3 - The FHC Show, ep 40
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- čas přidán 21. 09. 2023
- In this latest episode #40 of The Farm Hand's Companion Show, Pa Mac describes and demonstrates the general daily process for making hay by hand on the subsistence small farm or homestead. Along with the proper use and honing of the scythe for mowing hay, Pa Mac also shows how to use hay rakes to form windrows and hay piles or "cocks". Keep in mind that the daily steps for haymaking shown in this video represent a general routine for most southern areas in the United States and must be adapted for different weather conditions or the climates of different geographical regions.
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"Make hay while the sun shines." When animal and human lives depended on having hay to get through the winter, the whole family worked at it from sun up to sun down. A single rain could rot the hay. Getting the hay into well-built "stacks" gave it protection. In the distant past, few farms had barns. Laura Ingalls Wilder vividly describes the hay making process in the "Little House On The Prairie" book series. Her Pa said a man could work the whole day making hay just drinking eggnog; which was raw eggs mixed with cream. Every family farm had chickens and a cow.
I think I watched this 4 or more times in a row. PA Mac, I've seen every video on your channel, this is one of if not the best. Thank you for making these.
Thank you, Douglas
Gee Pa. Most CZcamsr homesteaders channels tell us how easy and effortless farm life is. LOL Thanks for the truth of it sll. I was raised on a small sustanance farm, and I know that it is ongoing toil. We never complained or thought of it as work. It was simply living. We were content, or perhaps just happy with life back then. Keep up the great videos and thank you once more.
The scent of fresh hay is some of the best of the world, slightly vinegary, I quite like it.
Oh hello! I like your video to compare, how you do it in North America, and how we do it in Middle Europe. The most different is scythe. We are used to use very light scythe, also known as Austria-style. You have very heavy one. Next, we don't mow clockwise, but ni rows. We start on left side of field and on top of hill if there is any. And go down in straight row. If there is team of workers, next worker starts next row and follows down the field. This system comes from cutting wheat. You make your material to rows, which other can pick up (wheat) or spred (hay) just by walking by. At the end of field, you can turn right or come back to start. It depends on local conditions. I would like to feel your heavy scythe. BtW, you cut this grass too late. much to late. Grass needs to be cut in flowering, before seeds come. Than has the most nutritions (and is heavier, so easily cut). Now, you have it almost dry standing. Take care, stay well. Looking forward to see next video.
Out of all of your very inspirational videos, this is (in this man's opinion) the very best of them all. I just finished scything up my very small areas of volunteer lespedeza (sometimes called 'the poor man's alfalfa) using a European scythe. Not a large area, and not enough time to dry it in the field this time of year, but I've gathered up four large bundles and hung them up in the barn to dry. The goats love this stuff and it will be a welcome treat in the wintertime. I've also found that the hay rake is not only great for gathering hay, but it puts to shame all of the hardware store plastic rakes for raking up leaves (which we've also gathered up as a form of tree hay and filled up eight feed store bags with Poplar and Walnut leaves.
Thanks Pa Mac for this great demonstration. Where I grew up when I was very young the local farmers didn't do windrows but haycocks (called "Heinzen" in the local dialect). Today this is a lost skill.
I got exhausted just watching that. I did some of that when I was a kid. I ain't a yungun anymore. Being old an crippled talked a lot out of you!
Letting your hay go to seed like that surely does help a pasture to reseed itself but it's unfortunate it takes away so much nutrition. But you mow the grass you got. It'll make a cow pie. Have you looked into hay racks for making small amounts of hay quickly? Supposed to get it up off the ground to dry quicker. They say it works well even in wetter cooler climates and they came up with it in the alps. Basically like a hay stack except it'll be hollow in the middle/underneath. That way you could cut it on nearly any day and rack it then put it in the barn as soon as its dry. Or cover with a tarp if it's going to be super rainy. It is supposed to be no tedding necessary. What you cut could have went straight on a rack im sure. If it was wetter less mature grass hay you might leave it to lay for a day before putting it on the rack. I'm thinking about trying it because it seems no matter what just as my hay gets good and cured it wants to rain 🤣. Just today me and my wife scrambled to rake up and stack a bunch id been cutting on for days because it started misting then raining. Some got damp but I'll spread it out in the morning.
I do the same when I mow my yard and I then use the grass in my coup in the nesting boxes. I use the old grass for bedding and then a couple times a year spread it in my garden. Thanks for sharing 🙏
Did a lot of farm work but was born after this chore was the only method. Good exercise but time consuming unless you have a big family of teen age boys to help out.
Another great video thank you.
I have raked hay with those heavy wooden rakes. My Dad cut the hay with a scythe.
Thank you Pa for sharing this video with us, I will be sending it on to a family that's interested in how things were done in times past. Stay safe and keep up the great work, videos and fun you have around there. Fred.
Thank you, Fred
Now I know why draft horses where so important to pull implements.
really curious to the storage
Very good , demonstration and explanation. Tools from my youth and older , used to fix the rakes and forks out of the hedge , the scythes used to go to a gentleman in the village who had the touch . Great memories of a learning curve . 👍🇬🇧
Love your content!
Part 2??? How do you store hay? Do you store it loose, in bales, or in a "hay mow"?? My Grandna's barn had both a loft and a small mow. The mow was a just a room tucked in the corner if the barn. A ladder to the loft went up a wall beside a square window to the mow. The cows and horses ignored hay in the mow and filed obediently into straight stalks to get corn. I never saw people feed animals out if the mow. There wasnt room for all of the animals to eat out of it. They might have used it to store corn shucks or bean stalks or straw bedding? They threw square bales down into this room from the loft, I think. I helped use a pulley to pull 30 lb. bales up there. The mow was mainly in disuse.
Great video! I love working in the meadows. I’ve done the same thing with my brush hog and a special rake I use on my little 2501 kubota because I’m far too old and brachial plexopothy in my right arm. I do ok with it and I manage to put up quite a bit to get the sheep through before I have to dig into my square bales for the winter. That’s a lot of work Paw. Good you can still do that;-).
I’ll never complain about mowing with my 6 foot bush hog again lol
Loved this video!!! PaMac, how many cows, steers, cattle do you raise per year? How much hay would be needed for one animal per year? Like how many acres of hand mowing?
Hey Elizabeth, with my 3 cows and a bull I end up with 3 calves each year. As for your other questions (really good ones), I think I'll answer those on an upcoming Q & A show. Thanks so much!
This is fascinating to me. On the farm I grew up on we used machines to do the hay. I’ve only seen what you were doing in paintings until today. Thank you ❤️🤗🐝
You're welcome, Deborah
@@farmhandscompanion 🤗
Could you do a video on storing hay outside?
Great tutorial with solid time tested practices. If it should rain while the hay is drying in the field,is it ruined or can it be be salvaged by spreading it back out to dry the next day? We get random pop up showers pretty often and have limited space to grow hay..
It can be salvaged, providing it hasn’t begun to mold. Once mold sets in, it’s no good.
Also, when the hay gets rain “washed” it doe lose some of it’s nutritional value.
*I’m not an expert but have made quite a bit of hay (using modern equipment)
As Matt and Steve said, yes, it can be salvaged, providin' you get more dry weather soon. And yes, the nutritional value will suffer depending on how soon it does or doesn't dry out, but as I've heard the old timers say, it's still better than feedin' snowballs.
Even if it gets a little yucky, it's still fine for a cow, but you can salvage it most of the time. It'll need to be spread back out. Easier to do with mechanized tools that do a better job tedding. One thing you can do before a rain is raking into big windrows if you're on a tractor to protect it and then spread it back out with a tedder. If doing it by hand you can rake it up and stack it right in the field. If you stack it tight it should not get super wet but I like to put a tarp over top of it even if it does not cover the whole stack it helps. Then when the rain passes and the ground begins to dry you can uncover and spread it back out. You can also look into hay racks. It is something they did in the Alps so you know it works. I've never tried yet but I plan to maybe next year because I am getting sick of pop up showers wetting my hay right when it is about to be perfect
J'adore ça ! Je viens de retrouver une ancienne faux dans la grange, après une petite restauration elle a fait le job pour une coupe de foin pour le petit lapin de ma fille. Cela me demande encore de perfectionner le geste mais c'est "reposant" malgré l'effort.
De plus, j'aimerais bien connaître la source de votre choix musical, trop cool!
Cheers from France.
Thank you, Jean Marc! Musical choice found here: farmhandscompanion.com/the-fhc-show/music-of-farm-hands-companion/
Super merci beaucoup 👨🌾
I love old fashioned methods. Any idea why they're called wind rows?
Not any intelligent ideas. Thank you for watchin', Rachel
I’d love to try this but when I see that high grass, my brain says chigger bites are coming next. Then I jump on the tractor
Paint a smidgin' of coal oil on your pants cuffs or boots, then you can get off the tractor. Thanks for watchin', serenityplantation!
That looks like too much work! I'm here to sell you some tractor equipment! lol
I hear rattlesnakes.