Hay Is for Horses

We finally had a break in the rain to put up our hay.  We have great neighbors and friends, the Grubbs. They cut our hay, and they roll the first cutting into round bales for their cattle.  Then, they square bale the second cutting for our horses.  It's a great arrangement, and it gives us a chance to visit while working.  Life lately has been so busy, that I don't even get to visit with my friends very often, so I take what I can get.  

Stephen is in the pictures above.  Stephen and his dad, Jack, cut the hay, let it dry out and then bale it.  Frances and I stack it on the trailer.  Well, Frances stacks it.  There is a particular way to do it, and she knows how to do it right!  I was getting the hang of it a few hours in.  I'll probably forget by next year.  lol

Jason, another neighbor, came out and helped as well.  Our barn is in the background.  

I love this view.  Shannon and I dream of building a house up here one day.  The red barn above is part of Frances and Stephen's farm.  Our farm used to belong to Stephen's family, and his dad lived in our house for some time in the 40's and 50's.  

Our barn was built by Stephen's grandfather, Jack's father, in 1949.  It's the reason we bought our house.  It's such a nice barn, and keeps all our chickens, horses and Gandolf dry and cool.  Our other neighbor, Brad, got this hay elevator for us to borrow.  It's certainly a community event, putting up hay.  That's one of the reasons we love living in Rural Retreat so much--the sense of community. 

We ended up getting 362 bales of hay this year off of 5 acres.  I guess the rain wasn't ALL bad.  We gave Frances and Stephen about 25 for their horses, too.  I love having the hay up in the hay loft.  

Greener Pastures

FINALLY! Our pastures have greened up enough for us to stop feeding hay! This year is so unlike lasts in that we stopped feeding hay in March last year. Here it is almost May, and we've just now stopped. Needless to say, it has really hit our summer hay reserves for Abby. We've been keeping her in during the day to prevent her black coat from getting sun bleached.

Speaking of Abby...I came home on Monday evening, went out to the barn to let her out. I opened the barn door, and it looked as though it had been tossed! I mean, Iney's purple winter blanket was crumpled in aisle, halters, lead ropes, grazing muzzles, buckets, brushes, and various other grooming supplies were EVERYWHERE! I looked down to Abby's stall, and it was standing wide open! She was innocently standing inside, like, "What??? What do you expect me to do when you leave me all day by myself???" I cleaned up the mess, checked her out, and let her out with the girls. She bucked, and farted and ran off to the top pasture where the primo grass is. I literally stood there scratching my head. There's no way she could have used her teeth to slide the bar, and we know horses don't have opposable thumbs...

Yep, I deducted I must not have latched the door to her stall. I'm just so thankful the hay was behind a gate, and the feed was locked up tight! Thank God for small miracles.

On a side note, I am 19 weeks pregnant today, and we find out the sex of the baby!!! Can't wait to share the news and the ultrasounds!