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Welcome to the Rough String, and thanks for stoppin' by!! Grab a hot cup of coffee and sit a spell!
10/22/18 You will see a name change on the blog. Lots of things have changed in my life in the past few years, and I feel compelled to share my story.

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Friday, August 7, 2009

Hay is Baled~~But the Rains Arrived Too Soon


So after the wind storm, Hay Man Rudy and his wife Marsha came on Wednesday morning. Rudy raked everything back up and Marsha ran the big baler. Then Rudy ran the small baler until he had about 200 bales...4 ton for us and 5 ton for customers.








They finished up about noon...there wasn't a lot of moisture but we didn't dare stop because NOAA forecasted 60% chance of rain for the afternoon. Rudy brought over his semi truck for us to use. Then he had to go to town to get a flat tire fixed on his small bale wagon (stacker).

He asked who was going to stack the big bales in two's...I told him My Man would do that when he got home from work. Rudy asked if I could...of course I could if I knew how to run the backhoe (My Man just hadn't gotten around to showing me)...so Rudy gave me a crash course, and I was stacking bales in 5 minutes...piece of cake! All the big bales were stacked in about 2 1/2 hours...just as the rain started in :(

Yesterday we had only a couple of sprinkles...but NOAA predicted 80% heavy rain that evening...and dang if they weren't right...again! Everything was just about dried out enough to stack and the rain started again. So, needless to say, the bales are waiting patiently in the field.




I kept busy with cleaning up the yard from the wind storm,
mowed the lawn, and picked up pine round ends at the
almost finished arena.



But today I went to Bob's for a cutting lesson on Colt. It had rained all night and Colt rolled of course and looked like a mud ball. It rained the whole hour it took to get to Bob's and for another 45 minutes while we warmed up our horses. Then it finally slacked off enough to head to the outside round pen for some cattle work. We had a good practice.

Bob and I had a long conversation about how breed pedigree really is important for performance horses. He paid me a high compliment on Colt. He said that he'd much rather have a barn full of Colt's than some of the brainless colt's he's gotten in over the years. We agreed that Colt's not the most athletic, but he has brains and looks with a good amount of ability which makes him highly saleable, especially after I get him dragging calves to the fire for branding.



On my drive home, it started raining again and it saddened me to see all of the hay laying in the fields...

This field was half baled and half still on the ground.







Everywhere I looked...tractors and balers...waiting in the rain.







This pivot on the left is probably 140 acres...all on the ground.






So, I count our blessings that our hay is in the bale.
Waiting patiently for us...

The bright side is that the fields are getting watered...gotta be positive!!! But, I think I'll stay in the house this afternoon to clean the mud and cow muck off my saddle...timing is everything...just in time for Sunday's cow horse show!


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12 comments:

  1. Western Oregon has been lucky so far without a lot of rain but we buy our alfalfa from Eastern; so it impacts us also when it gets damaged by rain at the wrong time. We could use a little rain on our hills as this is the season we start being concerned about forest fires.

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  2. I swear "hay grower" has got to be right near the top of most stressful jobs. To be at the mercy of Ma Nature...yikes. I couldn't do it. At least you got yours baled and you can add "backhoe operator" to your resumé.

    Good luck on Sunday!

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  3. who can believe..... rain.... our neighborhood had a huge community yard sale today and tomorrow and it was raining this am and most of last night. Only in the high desert can it go from 100 degrees to rain in 2 days.... tonite is calling for 40 deg.

    Good your hay is in the bale and witiing..... there is 2nd cutting grass down here too... so sad.

    Tonite we are going to the Crook Co Fair.... wearing hats and coats LOL.... gonna see our friends Countrified.

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  4. Well . . . Here in Kansas on Thursday, we had 77 degrees and on Friday we had 98 degrees. I have no fruit on my trees due to the ice storm in early April and I have only picked 10 red tomatoes so far. Crazy weather!

    Glad your hay is baled and waiting. Haying is a stressful time but cool that you've learned how to stack em!

    Always enjoy your posts!

    Blessings~
    P.

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  6. Rain~Yes...a lot of our hay goes your way...we try to keep the cost down. Just 2 days ago we were a hot 95 degrees and we hit 50 today...by next Tuesday it's supposed to be 90 again!! We've got fire closures in effect here too. I'm surprised with all of the lightening storms we haven't had any fires.

    7msn~It's a lil' stressful...just need to make all those payments!! Well, I can at least run the front end on the backhoe ;~)

    Cowgirl Rae~Oh...I wish I was going with you to the fair...and I love Crook County!!! Coats or not...love a good country band! Have a great time!

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  7. I hope the rain doesnt make prices go up! : ) I have been paying 10.50 bale for grass with a little alfalfa in it.
    Hey I dont know if you follow Les Vogts blog, They just did a post on a reiner he is getting ready for a futurity, with audio comments, thought you might want to see.
    http://lesvogt.wordpress.com/
    There is his blog, its great until at the end where he trips on his reins after getting off of the horse LOL

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  8. I wish we could get some rain around here, the way it's looking we might not get a 3rd cutting! We have had hay shortages in the last couple years and we all thought this was going to be a good year for hay. But the weather never cooperates!!

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  9. At least yours is in the bale. Same thing happened here and some came up in great shape but some........is still out there getting black. Sounds like Colts really getting good!

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  10. Wish you were there.... the fair was a blast... Although chilly, I was glad for my coat.

    Countrified put on a great show..... we danced, the dance floor was filled with kids dancing, some great swing couples were there...... A cowboy busted anothers head after the rodeo for flirting with his girl, the cops all rolled in..... Ahhhhh! a great fair.


    Today dawned clear and cold.... summer is back.
    Maybe next year.

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  11. You can always rely on the weather to be unreliable! Glad to hear you got all your hay baled in time.

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  12. Way to cowgirl up and get on the backhoe! Please don't put Colt and saleable in the same sentence! At least not for a while, don't want you gettin' your heart broke again just yet! Just curious, talking about pedigrees, what is Colt's?
    And give us the lowdown on the cow horse sale when you get back!

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