Haying
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If a farm is to keep animals in the barn over the winter then it needs hay. Most farms grow their own hay; some farms have to buy hay. Fortunately, High Meadows Farm had an adequate hay field that would provide enough hay for the cows, sheep, and goats through the winter. Once a year (sometimes twice) the hayfield would be cut, the cut hay threshed and dried (weather permitting), the hay baled, and then brought for storage in the upper hay loft of the barn.
Cutting the Hay of the Lower Pasture
Bailing the hay of the Upper Pasture
Once hay was baled it was loaded onto the old pickup truck and taken
to the barn to be stored in the hay loft. The gathering of the hay bales
became a yearly family event caled "Family Hay Day".
The old farm pickup truck had a custom-made wooden bed ideal for
stacking the rectangular hay bales. The pickup would drive through the
upper and lower hay fields with family members walking behind it tossing
the bales onto the truck. Then the truck would make its way to the barn
where the bales would be placed on a hay escalator and stacked in the
hay loft on the second level of the barn. Hay Day was always fun for the
younger girls who rode in the pickup truck cab taking in the scene.
Eventually the farm discontinued the raising of animals and the need
for the haying went away. However the fields needed to be kept
clear so neighbors would cut the fields and use the hay for their
farm animals.
The hay bales produced by the High Meadows Farm baler were
rectangular shapes. The more modern haying equipment of
neighboring farmers produced the large round rolled hay bales.
This is a picture of the upper hay field in 2004.