Cutting Hay: Then and Now

The cutter head of a horse drawn mower used for cutting hay in the 30's through the early 50's here on the ranch.

When we first began ranching in the middle 70's, it took between 8 to 10 people to put up hay.  There was one person and piece of equipment for each job: cut, rake, and bale the hay.  There would also be a crew of people to gather and stack hay.  Neighboring ranchers would share the work load and expense by joining together.  Instead of each rancher owning all of the equipment, each rancher had a different piece of equipment.  The neighbors would then pool their equipment and man power to get the job done.  Fuel and grease was provided by the farmer on whose property the crew was working.  The stacking crew was also paid by the rancher whose hay was being stacked.  The rancher's wife was responsible for providing a fresh cooked lunch.  Lunch was the biggest meal of the day and eating local food wasn't a movement but a way of life.  As a young bride, new to ranching, I found out that the noon meal was taken seriously.  I was used to cooking for large groups so that was no problem.  The problem arose when decided what to serve for dessert.  My mother-in-law had always served pie at lunch.  However, my pies had always looked like I had been using them as a soccerball, I decided to make cake for dessert. When I proudly served it to the crew, instead of being greeted by smiles and pleased comments, I received puzzled looks all around the table.  It seems in this neighborhood pie was the proper dessert for the noon  and cake was for evening.  Lucky for me, cobblers were considered an acceptable substitute for pies. When the crew came to eat they never had to face cake at noon again.  Things have changed a lot since then.  I no longer am in the house cooking a meal for the crew.  Instead, because of the change in technology, I am out in the field cutting, raking, and baling along side my husband.  As technology has developed, ranches are able to put up more hay with less people.  In our case, it is only Jim and I that put up all the hay on two places.

The earliest way that people cut hay was with the use of a scythe.  According to some experts, the cutting part was from the jawbone of an animal.  Using a scythe was a time consuming process and to accomplish the cutting of an entire field took a lot of people. In some places people still use scythes to mow their hay fields and, of course, there are competitions. It is a great exercise.  Scythes come in weights and sizes personally fitted to the person using them.  If the correct technique is used, windrows are automatically formed. In the above video, a man demonstrates how to use a scythe to cut hay.  Evidently, Jim's granddad used one at one time.  We still have it and have used to use it for cutting in small spaces like walkways.  Then . . . we discovered the gas driven- three wheeled string mower.

 Cutting hay with a scythe.

In the early 1900's the best technology was the use of horses to pull equipment.  Jim's grandad went with the horse drawn mower which we still have.  It was one this piece of equipment, I believe, that changed how people wintered their livestock here in the high country.  Before, people were able to put away only enough hay to feed the family milk cow and a team of horses while the rest were herded down to places where they could graze all winter long.  With the big increase in the amount of hay they could put away for the winter, more people began keeping their cattle at home and feeding through the winter. Here, the use of the mechanical mower for tractors was used well into the late sixties.  You can still buy mowers for your tractors.  They are perfect for the small acreage.

Cutting hay with a horse drawn mower.

Currently, we have two different machines which are used to cut (mow) the hay.  It works well for us.  If we have a major breakdown with one piece of equipment, we can switch to the other.  Basically, though, they are used on different types of ground.  The first is the haybine.  This piece of equipment not only cuts the grass but conditions it as well. Conditioning decreases the amount of time that it takes the grass to cure (dry enough that it can put into bales without molding).  The reel of the haybine not only pulls the grass towards the cutting edges of the mower but breaks the stems with the tines.  Between the motion of the reel and the forward movement of the haybine, the grass is then pulled into the rollers which further crush some moisture from the the grass then out the back.  The opening at the back is adjustable which allows for laying the grass out flat or laying it out in windrows ready to baled.  Because our grass hay is so thick, we always have it layed out flat so it will dry faster. 

This is the haybine we use.  It is pulled behind the tractor.

The teeth are the cutting edges. The points between the help support the teeth.  The teeth are very sharp.  So sharp, that our son lost the top half of his thumb during the changing of the bar which holds the teeth. 

A closer look at the tines on the reel and the rollers which help condition the hay before it rolls out the back.

We use the haybine primarily on the dryland ground.  As stated before, we do live in the Rocky Mountains and it seems that rocks grown from the ground in dryland hay fields.  When the cutting edge of this haybine encounters the occasional rock, the damage is done only to one or two teeth which are easily and inexpensively changed out with a minimum of down time.

Our dryland hay is a mixture of grasses and alfalfa. And believe it or not, grass and alfalfa must ripen before being harvested. The timing is critical.  The alfalfa is in full bloom when it is ready to be cut but it must be cut before it gets so dry that the leaves begin to fall off.  Most people think of lavender blossoms on alfalfa  but we plant a mix of all colors. Because each type of alfalfa has different strengths, this ensures that we will have some crop no matter the conditions.  When I go out to cut the alfalfa the entire field is a riot of different colors and the sweet fragrance of alfalfa fills the air. This is what people think farming and ranching is like all the time.

The colors of our alfalfa ranges from almost black, rust, shades of purple, blue, pink, shades of yellow, and white.

My favorite is this bright egg yolk yellow.

The other machine we use to cut hay is the disc mower.  This is attached to the tractor and floats behind it.  There is nothing which rides on the ground. This is really helpful in cutting tall, thick grass.  When using the haybine in those conditions, the cut hay gets caught under the parts which glide across the ground and accumulate into large piles.  This results in not all hay curing at the same rate and when you go to bale it, you get green globs of hay which are just as green as when just cut and have enough moisture content to cause the entire bale to mold or even catch on fire.  (The drying process produces heat which can cause spontaneous combustion).  Occasionally you might hear about an entire haystack burning down because the hay wasn't dry enough to be baled.  In some instances, people have stored wet hay in hay sheds and barns and have lost not only the hay but the shed or barn as well.  With the disk mower, it is difficult to make mounds while with the haybine, it takes experience to not make mounds in thick hay. We use the disc mower on the irrigated land.  For some reason it seems that the rocks don't grow there as well..  It is expensive and time consuming to change the discs which have encountered rocks.

The cover prevents the cut grass from being being flung everywhere and protects everyone.

Under the cover of the disc mower.  

Next time:  raking and baling hay.

Finally!!!

The height of the grass doesn't determine the quality or the amount of hay.  The tops and stems do not provide food, it's in the leaves.  The real value of the hay is between the bottom and where you can begin to see through the grass.  The grass this year was very tall and thick.  This stand is dry land just outside the yard on a fence row.

As I may have mentioned before, it's all about the grass. Grass grows in some form in every type of climate, at every altitude, all around the world.  70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water.  Of the remaining 30% of the Earth's surface, only 40% of that is arable. Arable means capable of sustaining crops or pasture.  If my math is correct, that's 12% of the surface.  Of that 12%, only one third is good for raising crops while the other two thirds is good for pasture or grass.  Animals, like cattle, are able to double the amount of the Earth's surface on which we can raise food by eating the grass and transforming it into high quality protein.  In addition, these animals are able to consume  the parts of plants people don't eat like beet tops, soy vines,  the residue from breweries and biodiesel processing plants, to mention a few, and turn those into protein as well.  While some is composted, there is too much and for esthetic and health reasons would have to be disposed of in landfills or dried and burned.  It's much more environmentally friendly to have cattle eat it, turn it into protein for human consumption and other by products.  My neighbor who builds power and biodiesel plants for a living did point out to me that it wasn't by accident that many of the bio fuel plants were built next to large feedlots.

Preparing to Hay
Haying season actually began just a year ago.  After we had put up the equipment last fall, we spent time preparing some areas of the dry land hay ground for the coming year.  There is a reason that the area we live in is called the Rocky Mountains.  It seems that we are able to grow rocks.  Every other year we spend time picking up rocks. Even though we had cleared the area of rocks, they seem to grow back over the course of time.  The removal of rocks helps to prevent costly break downs in both money and time.

The designs on the baseball diamonds are made in the same way as the designs in our fields, by dragging. The design will be gone within a couple of weeks as the grass begins to grow.

In the spring when the snow goes from the fields, it is time to "drag" all the fields.  We use a harrow which looks live a very large net made of steel.  It has 4 inch spike like protrusions which go down into the sod. It is called dragging because we hook it up to the hitch on the tractor and drag it across all of the hay fields. This serves a number of purposes.  First, it smooths the ground.  Pocket gophers dig tunnels under the ground and this harrow knocks the tunnels down flat. Running equipment across smooth ground is good for the equipment and good for the back of the tractor operator.  If we're lucky, it discourages the gophers and encourages them to move to a different area.  The spikes put scratches through the sod helping to reduce compaction.  As time goes by, sod grows thick and doesn't allow water or air to get to the roots of the plants.  Putting scratches through the sod allows for water and air to reach the roots.  It also allows seeds to settle in these scratches and not be washed away by wind or heavy runoff so the seed can begin to grow when the conditions are right.  These are all the same reasons that the urban lawn owner  had plugs pulled from their yard in the fall.   An additional reason for dragging the meadow is to spread the manure all across the irrigated hay ground.  That is where we fed the cattle all winter and spreading it out not only makes sure that the manure fertilizes all parts of the meadow but also keeps the fresh manure from burning the grass.  Our fields respond being harrowed in the spring.  It seems to stimulate growth and the grass really begins to grow after being harrowed (dragged).  This is something we do every year, no matter how much fuel costs.  We cut back on other things but never on such an important part of the maintenance of our hay fields.

The next preparation for haying which happens in the spring is the spraying program. Before you can spray weeds, the sprayer must be checked for any leaks. Then the sprayer needs to be calibrated.  The pattern of each nozzle must be checked and the output of each nozzle is checked.  Then, the output of sprayer is determined for the speed that the tractor travels.  This lets us know the rate of application so we can use the chemicals correctly.  If you use too much, depending on the chemical, you not only waste money but more importantly may do long term damage to the area.  Following the application guidelines is extremely important.  Our sprayer is pulled by one of the tractors and holds only 250 gallons.  Anything larger would be more likely to roll on the steep hill sides where we must go.  Not only are the weeds sprayed in the dry land hay fields but also in the pasture.

In our state, there are certain weeds that land owners are required to control.  There is also a list of weeds which landowners must control put out by the county.  We have always waged a war on weeds with a spray plan for both spring and fall since we took over the ranch in 1975.  Jim's father engaged in a stringent weed spray plan before him.

Weeds are, by definition,  plants which grow where they are not wanted.  A tomato plant in the middle of a lawn could be considered a weed.  Weeds can come from a variety of places and must be taken care of before they squeeze out the native species of plants. Sometimes weeds come as seeds within hay bales which come from outside the area.  Most of the ranchers we know are very cautious where they buy their hay from.  Another way weeds enter places is by starting out as decorative plants which then find the area too well,  I understand the kudzu in Florida actually began as a plant sold by nurseries as ground cover.  Toad flax which looks like snapdragons is such a weed found here in our county. Sometimes the seeds are carried into the area in the coat of animals.  White top was brought into our county in the coats of sheep and we've been fighting it ever since.  Each plant produces thousands of seeds which look like powder.  These seeds can lay dormant for up to 30 years waiting for the right conditions. 

Toadflax is a weed which is on Colorado's list of noxious weeds.  It looks like an ornamental which has escaped from someone's garden.

Whitetop is thought to have been brought into the region in the fleece of sheep. It's seeds can lie dormant for a long time until the time is right for them to grow.

At the same time, the irrigation systems must be set up.  This year was an easy one for irrigating.  We had enough rain that the only system we used was flood irrigation.  This system is actually engineered.  It has to be well thought out and since this type of system depends on gravity the degree of fall of each ditch.   This is where water is brought to the field from the river through a big ditch.  Our ditch was built in the 1890's. From the main ditch, the water flows out at three different places into medium ditches.  These are called laterals.  Smaller ditches stretch out across the meadow from the laterals.  All along the ditches are places where a network of really small ditches spread out and  carry the water to all parts of the field.  The ditches are set up in such a way that it's easy to dam the ditch to force water out across different parts of the meadow.  It takes about 2 weeks for the meadow to dry enough to begin to cut the hay off.


 We didn't have to use the side roll where a big pipe runs across the field.  There are places where a hose  connects the big pipe carrying water to another pipe which has spray heads which cover a 30 foot wide swath all across the field when water flows into the system with force.  We also didn't use the water reel where a spray head is attached to a 5 foot reel which roles up the hose at a specific speed.  The water guns sat silent all summer also.  The water guns are the same kind of sprinklers that most parks use.  The biggest difference is that ours is about 5 feet tall rather than 3 to 4 inches.  Maybe we'll need them next year.  It was certainly a wet season and irrigation wasn't needed.  

How can you tell that hay season is done here at the Stanko Ranch?  The hay is all stacked.

Stacking the last of the round bales.  They are just the size we like for our equipment, almost 800 pounds each.

The small bales are for our son's horses, our horses, and filling the feed bunks when we wean calves. 

This small stack is what is left over.


This year we ended up with the 180 ton to feed our cattle over the winter plus an additional 105 ton.



The equipment has been readied for winter.  We use our equipment for a long time.  Because we live in such a harsh climate, our equipment requires special care.  First, each piece of equipment is cleaned thoroughly using an air compressor and paint brushes to remove all grass seed and residue.  That is followed by every inch being powerwashed and set out to dry.  After it has dried, each grease zirk is filled with grease and every chain is oiled.  Finally, each piece is put under shelter in the various sheds to be protected from the heavy snow and extreme temperatures.  This maintenance  program has  paid off.  The side delivery rake has served us since 1975, the stacker wagon since 1979, the small baler since 1985, and we expect the new 2-year-old round baler will be with us for a long time.

The final sign that hay season is over is that we receive visitors to our ranch to learn about how we manage our grass.  I guess since the family has been sustainably  ranching here on the same land for over a century and have been awarded the Leopold Conservation Award for Colorado in 2010, we have earned a certain amount of credibility with our management practices.  We always point out the we are the norm, not the exception in caring for our land.

The first group of visitors were for the Land Stewardship Class.  They were made up of real estate agents and a group of landowners who have never ranched before yet want to learn.   Some had small 35 to 40 acre properties while one of them had just purchased a ranch larger than ours. 

Land Stewardship Classes

The second group of visitors were from Afghanistan.  We know one was from their version of the Department of Agriculture and not sure who the other two were.  They were two men and a woman.  They were interested in our conservation and range management practices and to learn how we had managed with just two people to do the work that it used to take 10 to 15 people to accomplish and other technology.  It always amazes us when people bring different delegations here to visit.  In the past we have hosted a delegation from Uganda and a film crew from Moscow.

It was a cold rainy day when the delegation from Afghanistan visited.  It was interesting to find out that they were so delighted to be invited into the house to see how we lived.  While they had visited feedlots, other ranches, veterinarians; we were the first to invite them into our home and serve them cookies and tea.

There is so much more to tell about haying, so on Wednesday, I'll blog about determining when hay is ready to cut and how  was cut in the past and how we cut it here on our ranch.

Steamboat Stock Dog Challenge; an End of Era

If you've been wondering where I've been, I've been going around and back and forth on a tractor since the 5th of July, cutting, raking and baling hay.  When we have finally finished, I'll tell you all about it but right now I want to tell you about what happened here on the ranch on Labor Day Weekend for the past eight years, the Steamboat Stock Dog Challenge.

This is last year's poster.

For nine years, Marianne Sasak, our neighbor has organized the Steamboat Stock Dog Challenge, and for the last eight years, we have hosted those trials here on our ranch.  This year was the last year for the challenge.  Marianne has worked long and hard to carry this event off but now she wishes to spend more time competing than organizing.  This is good for Marianne because she and her dog, Dot,  made the finals at last winter's National Western Stockshow.  This is sad for Steamboat, the dog trials community, and I certainly will miss looking out the window in the mornings or evenings during Labor Day Weekend and watching the dogs play and race across the meadow and visiting with people from around the world, across the nation and state or just locals from town as they either participate or view the event.

To see and hear Marianne talk about the dog trials watch this video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcxnsepF-dQ
To see and hear a video made by a dog handler watch this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU8_4iwAu5M

Our part in the whole thing is to get the hay from the meadow, make sure there is water available for the sheep and dogs, make sure the corrals are ready to hold the sheep, provide panels and water tanks, and mingle with the crowds.   Our kids,Pat and Jan along with the grandchildren always come up for the weekend and enjoy it a lot. 

Our Border Collie
The only one who don't enjoy the weekend are our dog who is also a Border Collie.  Every year he gets to spend the weekend in our company, on the porch, or on the chain because they have a tendency to visit all the visitors or want to help the competing dogs. Border Collies need to be kept physically and mentally busy.  If this doesn't happen, they will invent their own activities which often means trouble.  Each dog has it's own personality and it's own preferences on what it like to do.  Our current dog, Fritz, doesn't get to work livestock every day; but if we don't give him enough to do, he will go out with the horses, herd the tractor, or do his self appointed job of keeping all of the barn cats in a shed.  There is a track around the shed where he spends time circling it to make sure the cats aren't escaping from the other sides.  While our old dog, Ben, loved to fetch the ball: Fritz will bring it back only once.  I guess he figures if we keep throwing it away we must not really want it and he takes it away.  Ben would never have considered coming into the living room while Fritz will not only sneak in but, if Jim is asleep,  try to sneak up into his lap.  As if Jim wouldn't notice a 50 pound dog on his lap.

Fritz thinks Jim won't notice that he slipped onto his lap.  First he places his head on Jim's lap, then one front foot, the other front foot, a hind leg, and finally the last leg.

What is a dog trial?
 A dog trial is a competition where the handler and dog work as a team to go out, bring a number of sheep, through a series of obstacles, pen the sheep. The handler must stay at a pole using only whistles and voice to direct the dog until the dog brings the sheep either to a designated circle where they are allowed to help the dog shed off a given number of sheep and  to open the pen by a rope and help get the sheep into that pen and close the gate.  The team is given a certain amount of time to complete the given tasks.  If they take longer than that amount of time, they are disqualified.  In addition, each team begins with the same number of points and the judge subtracts points for miscues and mistakes.  The final score includes both time and the points awarded by the judge.

Two riders, with their dog, brought out the sheep and hold them in place until the competing dog came between 1/8 to 1/4 mile to get control of the sheep.  (This is called setting the sheep. )

Setting the Sheep

The dog would then bring the sheep back to the handler who was waiting at the pole and take the sheep in a circle around the handler . . . in the correct direction.

Moving the sheep around the pole and handler.

The handler remained at the pole but directed the dog to take the sheep back down the field through a gate making sure they circled in the correct direction, back up the field to the pens.  The handler then left the pole to open the gate, was allowed to help the dog get the sheep into the pen, and close the gate.

Penning the sheep.

 

 

 

The judges stand, a new truck provided by the local car dealer.

Upon the judges signal (a beep of the horn from the judges vehicle), the handler and dog moved the sheep from the pen and into a circle marked in the field, separated the given number of sheep from the group, and the dog had to control the separated sheep until the judge indicated that the time was up.  ( This is called shedding.)

The dogs are athletes who are as intent as any human athlete.  They travel five or six times further than the sheep to keep them in control and expend a lot of energy.

The previous dog and handler move the sheep across the bridge to the holding pens.

After each run, the dog which had just completed the competition went to the water tank or the ditch to cool off and drink.  These dogs worked hard and at top speed so they needed to cool down.  The previous competitors which had cooled down were then responsible for taking the sheep to the holding pen where the sheep had food and water. They were released to graze the field after the competition.  At night the sheep were kept in the corral across the road.  The first year, they were kept in a field behind the corral with sheep fence.  However, they were able to escape and were caught the next morning just before they escaped into the brush and timber a mile from the ranch.  The second reason is because the coyotes have gotten very bold around here and the sheep were protected from the coyotes. 

Meanwhile, spectators came to view the trials from the hill. Many brought blankets, chairs, umbrellas and picnics.

A speaker system was used for the entire duration of the trials to explain what was happening, scoring, and what the judge was looking for.

Handlers and their dogs circulated and visited with the viewers.

There were many educational opportunities for viewers including different kinds of live sheep on display, a sheep wagon, and this shearing demonstration.

Western style food was available, either with barbeque from a smoker and one year everything was prepared by dutch oven at a traditional chuckwagon.

One of the sponsors, provided bags of treats to be handed out to the views and handlers alike.  Boy scouts circulated through the crowd to hand out the bags of treats.   People were encouraged to bring their dogs as long as they were on a leash and were well behaved.

 

 

Border Collies, Are they to dog for you?
 
 Many times people come to an event like this or see a movie and decided that the featured breed of animal is just what they need.  After the movie 101 Dalmatians, there was big rise in the demand for dalmatians which resulted in a big increase in dalmatians release to rescues and local animal shelters when people realized that the dog didn't fit their family, circumstances, expectations.  Just because Border Collies are smart, it doesn't mean they're for everyone. If you're interested in Border Collies check out this brief video from Animal Planet.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pORF_PVW8Q  and/or this website about the breed, http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/bordercollie.htm .   If you're still considering a Border Collie, I encourage you to check out this website from a Border Collie Rescue.  http://www.bcrescue.org/bcwarning.html 




Children's Books about Border Collies

  A Puppy for Annie by Kim Lewis. The story of Annie and her new Border Collie puppy. Kim Lewis lives in rural Northumberland, England with her family and dogs. Beautifully illustrated.

Tam: A Border Collie by Sharon Northrup. Follow working border collie Tam from his birth in rural Scotland through the challenges he faces with different owners. First volume in the TAM series.



Tam's Pub by Sharon Northruup
Angus and Sadie by Cynthia Voight and Tom Leigh.  Angus and Sadie’s life on a farm in Maine. Grades 4-6

If you would like to visit a dog trial you might go to Carbondale, Colorado this coming weekend for the National Finals or you might wish to visit the National Western Stockshow this January in Denver.  They hold dog trails for working both cattle and sheep.