After seeing the overtime on my check last week the boss worked out a deal were I am now working seven hours Monday to Friday and then the ten hours on Saturday. At least I managed to gain three extra hours to get stuff done around here instead of the six 10 hour days. Hopefully this won't last much longer but the "injured" co-worker is milking it for all he can right now.
Anyway I apologize for not stopping by your blogs and commenting or updating and replying here like I should but getting the first cutting of hay in takes top priority right now because as with most things there are always little problems when the equipment has sat unused for months.
I raked the cut stuff into windrows this afternoon. Yesterday afternoon it was still a bit too green but by this afternoon it was probably a bit over dried. Oh well gotta do what ya gotta do. Yesterday I went and brush hogged the horse pasture again to keep the weeds and the damned Buttercup infestation down. It's coming along slowly.
Not a bad looking hay crop though. The mower knocked down a lot of the stuff rather than cutting it though which sucks. Mostly Johnson Grass and Fescue but still a fair amount of Alfalfa and Clover left in there too along with the broad leaf weeds the sheep love so much. Seems the weedier the hay the happier they are.
You can kinda see why I had so much trouble cutting it properly in spots because the wind really twisted the stuff around and it was not falling over the sickle bar properly but twisting up and getting wrapped around it. Not much you can do about it except buy a more expensive mower or suffer through and unwrap the stuff from the mower every 20 yards or so.
After putting the rake away and bringing the baler up to work on I had a full compliment of Avian and Feline supervisors hanging around watching me clean the knotters and such. The above cat is named Braveheart and he was from an abandoned litter we had here three or four years ago. We found him a home but the people brought him back because he was too wild so he is just a barn cat now. He usually is only seen during the evening when it's communal feeding time along with the one below.
This is Professor Snape. Unlike Braveheart, Snape is not neutered because frankly with all the strays we get I can't afford to get em all neutered anymore. I just make sure the females are spayed now. Snape is pretty new to the whole barn cat community having showed up this Winter but he often goes out looking for love and only comes back when it's time for easy living bachelorhood once again. Really friendly little guy though.
The four or five Red Sexlink hens were right under foot the whole time. These hens are just drawn to any human activity for some reason. My guess is they are just institutionalized from being kept in the poultry barn all those years and associate humans with food. I am always afraid I am going to drop something on one or run over one or something like that. Whenever I am out doing something that doesn't involve moving equipment it doesn't take them long to show up though.
Just about as the sun was going down I had another interested party show up and began trying to move around me using the newly created windrows as cover so I wouldn't see him. Trouble is he was also looking for love and calling out so he kept giving his location away.
Can you see him hiding in the grass stubble? Here's a hint his black and white head doesn't blend very well but it's pretty small.
Finally he popped up on top of a windrow and called out looking for his hens that were somewhere down in the horse pasture in one of the brush piles I leave for them. I assume I scattered the little covey while raking. Lately I been trying to take really good care of my last remaining Bobwhites. I love sitting out of the evening and listening to the males challenge each other. I been trying to minimize the damage I do to them and leave them areas where I won't mow over the nests. It seems to be working although they have moved further down into the fields than they used to be normally.
So tomorrow is baler time once again. I sure hope the old baler works properly because to be honest I still really couldn't tell you if I have it all set properly. Last year I put a little over 400 bales through it so I am hoping everything is still operating the same. I guess we will see tomorrow evening.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!!
