Having a Family Hay Day

We haven’t put up enough square bales to make an impressive trailer load in a long time, so my husband wanted pictures this time. The barn was originally built to house hay stacks but this photo seemed appropriate.

For the past couple of weeks we’ve been busy putting up hay. We baled a lot more square bales than we usually do and it adds to the grunt work the family has to do. Like a typical rancher, my husband knows an opportunity when he sees one and took advantage of his own family. When his brother, wife, and two daughters came up for a week-long visit, he planned to get a little work out of everybody.

I hope you’ll be kind when critiquing the hay-stacking on the trailer—it was done by our son, one of his buddies, our daughter, and myself while my husband was busy baling rounds north of Pringle. The kids and I loaded these 280 bales onto our 30’ trailer by our house.

I’m well aware that the hay stacking job doesn’t meet neat-and-tidy specifications. My husband has already pointed it out. Nobody wants to stack for that reason. If you saw the different size bales our ancient Massey Ferguson wire baler makes you might be able to sympathize with me. I know tight stacking is important but no matter how hard I try, my stacking is not nearly as tight and straight.  

Once our guests got here they got a day of rest before we worked them. The guys tied down the load good and we hauled it up to our big barn north of Pringle.

Where the barn is located north of Pringle is where the Kirk family homesteaded in 1887. Because of the tight jackknife turn my husband had to make to get into the barn, he started from the highway backing the trailer up to the barn.

 

It was a snug fit getting it backed into the barn especially on the south side of the barn.

This was the bale packing crew.

Our son did the stacking and the moms and dads were the unloading-off-the-trailer-crew.

 

With the extra help, we had everything unloaded and stacked in the barn in less than an hour. It was essential that the hay got unloaded because my husband needed the trailer and pickup that night for his class reunion’s float in the Gold Discovery Days parade in Custer.

Most of the Custer High School reunions take place during the annual Gold Discovery Days. We work hard but we gotta have a little fun now and then too.