I remember making hay on the hottest and most humid days of the summer, back when we were farming with beef cattle that needed hay to get through the winter months. It was a tough job, out there in the heat, with the sun roasting you even more. But there was always something very satisfying in cutting, raking, baling and getting those hay bales stored in the barn for the winter to come.

We join Patty Rheault and her family while they were making hay this past week. For those of you that haven’t farmed, hay making isn’t just a one day job, so you have to make sure you have a good crew helping to get the job done each day. As the saying goes, you have to “make hay while the sun shines”. On this day, the Rheault family was baling the smaller “square” bales, which are a little more labor intensive than the big round bales, since each bale has to be handled separately. But check out the smiles on the crew in the last photo, it’s hard work, but it’s also fun to come together like this to get a job done. What a great work ethic this family is teaching the youngsters that are there helping, too.

In our video today, you’ll see the hay baling and stacking on the trailer, right off the baler method, rather than dropping them on the field and picking them up afterwards as in Patty’s photos above. Both methods work just as well as the other and get the hay supply put up for the winter.

Making hay? Oh, what the heck, why not.

The only thing I have ever done with hay is go
on hay rides in the fall. That was always fun
and I always loved the smell of the hay. But I
bet it's a lot of hard work. Farmers
definitely work very hard. Thanks so much to
them.

I must have a hay bale fetish. For some unknown reason I am drawn to any field of bales (photographically that is). If you bale it, he will come.

I have published more than one field of bales here before but here's one you haven't seen I took in early October of 2018 after a light snow, somewhere just south of Bruce Crossing.

Mary Drew at Pasty Central (Mdrew):
"… On this day, the Rheault family was baling the smaller 'square' bales, which are a little more labor intensive than the big round bales, since each bale has to be handled separately."

Well, I suppose it's true that the smaller 'square'¹ or more precisely 'rectangular cuboid'¹) bales are more labor intensive, but their advantage is that they can be handled by one person, compared to those huge 'round' (cylindrical) bales that must be moved about with a specialized attachment on a tractor.

I've spent plenty of hours slinging those 'square' bales, stacking 'em on a haywagon, hoisting 'em up into the hayloft, and later tossing then down and breaking 'em up to feed the cowsies. They're quite manageable.

In earlier years, I spent many hours slinging loose hay up on the hay wagon with a pitchfork, and stumbling around atop a teetering stack of loose hay distributing it all on the wagon.

I can't begin to imagine how those monster 'round' bales are managed. What do they do, leave 'em out in the weather to rot all winter, perhaps covered with a tarp? Surely they can't be stored in a hayloft? How are they disassembled to feed the cowsies? They seem seriously impractical to me, particularly in the snow country of da UP!

Hay, hay, hay!

Bob & I are still baling hay at ages 63. Fell in
love with the farm chore at a very young age.
Another valuable life sharing event I grew up with
my dad.

FRNash, dad did big bales for his cattle. They can
be stored in or outside of a barn. More popular
today the big bales are not wrapped with twine but
with a fabric or netting to hole them together and
for weather protection if left outside. I moved a
lot of those big bales weighing anywhere from
1800lbs to 2400lbs myself when dad was still alive

Janie T. (Bobbysgirl):

"FRNash, dad did big bales for his cattle. They can
be stored in or outside of a barn. More popular
today the big bales are not wrapped with twine but
with a fabric or netting to hole [sic] them together and
for weather protection if left outside. I moved a
lot of those big bales weighing anywhere from
1800lbs to 2400lbs myself when dad was still alive"

Well you sure didn't move any of those ≈ 1 ton bales by hand, but only with some large equipment.

Given the size and weight of those big bales, if stored inside a barn(?) they're gonna need a large ground level storage building, rather than an upper level "hayloft", no? Nearly as large (sq. ft.) or larger than the dairy/cattle barn itself, and either very close by, or attached thereto. Perhaps a building large enough to store some large farm equipment: baler, combine, etc. Leaving 'em outside? in da UP, with 2 to 3 feet of snow on the ground? I just can't imagine that scenario!

I wonder how many of those 'round' bales would be needed to carry a 30-40 head of cattle through a UP winter? Hmmm …

But given your experience, Janie T., maybe I should do some more research — on that, and how they're 'disassembled' to feed the cowsies. Time to fire up a subscription to (click →) Hoard's Dairyman and their archives for starts?

The wrapping made to bale the large bales is
made purposely to be able to keep them outside.
Barns that are used for storing here in Iowa
are usually long rectangular 3 sided sheds.
Each large bale is equivalent to 25 regular
small bales. As far as cattle, horses, or
whatever is being fed big bales taking the
wrapping cover off or if there is no wrapping
but rolled with baling twine, livestock start
eating usually the center is the first place
where they start eating, big bales are
usually fed with a bale ring so that the bales
are not wasted. Yes dad had big bale stabbers
mounted either on the front or the rear of his
tractors. I liked the front mounted, you could
raise the bales higher for clearence.