More Hay Adventures

We are still experiencing hay issues, but at least today we are not feeding the labor intensive square bales.

Today we got a nice load of wrapped bales. Hopefully these will last at least 2 weeks.

They were unloaded way out in the field by a secondary road.

So a different method would be used to feed them to the herd.

Without the use of the tractor......

Step 1 --go to the barn and SHUT OFF the electric fence.

Did I mention that sometimes I forgets to do this ?

Step 2- drive out to the secondary road where the bales are. .

Step 3-- jump over the electric fence (this is where I always am zapped into remembering that I forgot to shut the fence off..)

Step 4--cut off white plastic wrap with sharp knife or box cutters.

By now the herd has walked up to the side road and is watching me prepare their breakfast.

 Step 5 - pull off the white plastic.

This roll of hay was DRY and smelled delicious.

Step 6-- cut off the green plastic netting that holds the entire bale together.

Step 7-  Roll the bale closer to the electric fence.

Step 8- drop the electric fence to the ground and proceed to roll the bale over the line and into the field and KEEP UNROLLING IT in a straight line.

As I unrolled the hay I glimpsed behind me to make sure the roll was leaving a nice carpet of hay for the herd to eat.

 I was slow rolling the hay over the crevices and small potholes in the field.

Good ole Red Sox Faith decided I was going TOO slow and decided to jump on the bale and show me how to unroll it......cow style:

She put her head to it and pushed, while her rear legs dug in and moved that roll about 5 miles per hour!

She took it down the field like a pro and unrolled it in a very unique "S" shape.

S for Simmental, S for AnguS!  Who says cows can't spell ??

 With Faith's help I was able to get the hay unrolled in half the time.   Good helper Cow!!

The herd really liked the way it was spread out over the entire field.

I did too.

Plenty of room for everyone to graze.

Gouda came over to see what I was doing.

She will be a year old next month.

All that was left for me to do was:

Step 9- pick up green netting and wrap it up tight.

Step 10- pick up the white plastic and wrap it carefully and tightly into a submarine shape to be recycled later.

Step 11 - jump over fence, get into truck and head back to the barn.

Step 12- Plug the electric fence back in.

Step 13 - put white plastic in the pile near the steps to be recycled and throw the green net wrap in the dumpster.

Step 14- go buy some more mineral salt blocks.

Its a sunny, cool day here.    

How has your day been  ?
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