A Thing of Beauty

 

 photos by Amy Kirk

 A lot of the pictures I take on our ranch are of our livestock, but this summer I’ve enjoyed seeing photo opportunities of our hay. As you can see we don’t have an abundance of these round bales sitting in our hayfield, but compared to last year hay crop these bales are a beautiful sight.

 

Several times over the summer I’ve talked to other ranch friends about how I can’t believe just seeing hay bales sitting in our hayfield has lifted the spirits of my husband and me. It’s relieved us of a huge worry. Due to the drought last year we didn’t have enough of a hay crop to bale. In the winter we fed our cows carryover hay and dodged having to spend a lot of money on hay.  This year, every time the rain wakes me up, I say a prayer of thanks. This summer’s moisture has been such a blessing and its amazing how its presence has boosted our moods.

Even though our round bale numbers aren’t the bumper crop figures we’ve had in some years past, there is a huge sense of relief that we will have put up some of our own hay to feed our cows with this winter. In fact, the past few weeks we’ve received enough rain that getting the rest of our hay put up has been delayed. We are likely still going to have to buy some hay, but at least it won’t be as much as we worried about having to buy when we were looking ahead to summer this past spring.

Every morning I see this view from our house and every morning I love seeing bales out there. I find the sunrise peeking over the ridge and onto these bales such a picturesque scene this year. I was finally motivated to take the time to photograph my morning view.

I think a lot of prayers have been answered this summer about rains and moisture. Seeing round bales in fields across theMidwestare a thing of beauty.