New Hay! Layed down and ready to bale...

From Jim:  Gotta get hay tommorow.  It'll be the last of last year's.  We went through 5500 bales.  There was none to spare and the back wall of the barn is showing pretty much side to side and top to bottom.  The new hay looks really good.  Our late winter rains and Lyle's extra shot of fertilizer worked wonders.  There's something comforting about the May cutting and baling of the next year's hay.  It's another of those cycles that fill in the patterns and routines at the sanctuary.  The back wall of the big hay barn will disappear for another year and by the time we see it again there will be all of the changes that are sure to come with the passing of the months.  We'll set aside the very best hay for the winter months.  Anything that's not just perfect will be used right away.  Some of the hay that was cut to make way for the swather will bale up a little loose and be fed during the next few weeks.  The harrow-bed will most likely be in the way when I pull in to get a load and squares of hay will be sitting here and there until the squeeze can put them to bed in the barn.  We use a square every 5 days.  That's 12 bales a day on average.  We'll hold back 4500 bales this year.  The herd is down some.  We have some critters in foster care at really great homes and a number of our very senior animals got their wings this Spring.  Their days of smelling the sweet aroma of new hay have come to an end.  But, the cutting and baling of new hay is about life and the joy of living.  It is another expression of the promise the sanctuary has made to the critters.  Not tomorrow, but the next load will be new hay.  It'll be hay that was headed up, loose and maybe a weed or two, but it'll be new hay...the start of another cycle. I like that!