The Last of the Hay ...

... was made into Baleage.  With the weather forecast predicting a fine week to come the Boss cut the last paddock of hay, but by evening the forecast was quite different!!  So we decided we'd get a contractor in to make it into baleage, that way we'd get all of it (galeforce wind predicted just before the rain), and it will hopefully be good quality.  We've had mixed results with baleage here, the first paddock we made many years ago was far too wet and nothing would eat it.  The next time we did it, we were beating the predicted rain, and it was not too bad, although a little on the dry side to be wrapped - so we'll see this time, as should be about right, and the baler was a little more upmarket than ours, and each bale is individually wrapped.  We have tube wrapped previously - think one long sausage of wrapped bales.



Quite a machine.  The hay is picked up at the front, chopped slightly so it compresses well in the bale, rolled into the bale and the netting (we use string) placed around it, then the bale is rolled through to the back of the machine and wrapped with plastic, while the next bale is being made.




The bale then rolls out the back ....




... and ends up looking like this

Piece of cake for me, I only went to the paddock to take the photos, and as the wrapped bales can't be lifted with our forks the Boss carted the whole paddock by himself with special forks that attached to the back of our tractor.  So WHHHOOOO HHOOOO that is the end of the hay making for 2012 - it has been quite a mission.  The predicted winds didn't arrive, but we only had one fine day, so think that the hay wouldn't have been dry enough to bale safely.  And since then it has rained, rained and rained.  And now officially Autumn and we've only had about 3 hot days of Summer!