Still waiting for that second window...

That first haying window in early June has also been the only one.   Some of the hay we cut got rained on a bit.   I think we'll feed it to own animals this winter, because anything we cut now will have less nutritional value.  I tried some of it on the sheep and they gave it a thumbs up.   Sheep are pretty discriminating about hay.  I now have more confidence in it.

We know one buyer who may still want some late-cut hay, and we still plan to cut more.

My husband bush hogged the remaining buckwheat, which is a green manure, in the garden beds this afternoon, then took the cultivator around and turned the beds under.  We'll turn them under once more this evening, and if things look ok, plant winter rye.   It is supposed to rain off and on the next few days, so that should give the rye a good start.  Ordinarily we'd wait a couple of days and let the green stuff break down a bit before planting, but with all the rain in the forecast, we're afraid we'll just grow weeds and undue the good work of the buckwheat, which smothered a lot of the weeds for us.

Open weather window - hay

Wow, we finally got our few days clear weather to hay, but it wasn't until the first week of July.  We've been ready to go since May.  Folks down on the Maine coast got going in May, and Kennebec County hayed in June.  We're in Penobscot County, and have been waiting to go.

This was only our second year haying using our own equipment, and we learned a lot.  Next year we'll know more.   There are so many more variables than appear on the surface.  I cut 2 days and then got rained on.  IOnly twenty percent chance of rain had sounded so good, after no break in the weather during May and June.   The hay I cut just before the rain looked pretty good, so we'll feed it here, if we run out of the later cut hay.   When things finally cleared, we raked and baled one load faster than we've ever done it - gorgeous drying weather - sunny, breezy, and low humidity.   Then, I thought some of the hay was too green, and was scared to keep it in the sheep barn, so we dragged it all outside.  Still not sure if we did the right thing or not.  Oh well.  In between we got in some hay that looks pretty good, if maybe on the dry side. 

Later edit:  Put a "free hay pile" list on Craig's List, and someone took the "too green" hay to feed some local beef, so it didn't go to waste.

I found a dead cat in the field.  I don't think haying machinery killed it - looked mostly eaten, with a head and attached entrails, and two paws left.   Maybe  it was a fox, or fisher, or coyote.  That was sad.   The cat probably belonged to a neighbor.  I walked over and told him, and he said "I try not to get too attached to the cats."  Barn cats have to be able to go outside to do their job, and it is a dangerous world.    I baled a snake, which was the end of the snake.   We managed to avoid the bobolink nest in the front field, which felt good.  Left plenty of room around it too.