Making Winter Feed
Making Organic Hay & Baleage at Weatherbury Farm (while the sun shines)
At Weatherbury Farm, we spend many hours from May to August, making organic hay / baleage for our animals’ winter feed. This is no small task; in 2018 we made 600 large round bales of hay and baleage.
Hay is sundried grass and legumes. Making hay is a multi-day process as you can see in the photos below. Hay (like baleage) is harvested and stored to feed the cattle and sheep in the winter when grass is not growing. Typically it takes 3 to 4 sunny days to make dry hay.
When you think of baleage, think of sauerkraut. Baleage is fermented hay, baled in a round baler at a relatively high moisture content and then wrapped with plastic so that it can ferment. Baleage is higher in protein, lower in sugar and more digestible than hay, making it an important component of the cows’ and sheep’s diet. Forage is at its highest quality when it is cut. Baling high-moisture hay allows the Weatherbury Farmers to harvest hay in a two day period. Our first cutting of hay is done as baleage because there often seems to be only two days of dry weather in May and June.
Below you can see the steps in making hay and the equipment we use at Weatherbury Farm.
Hay in the Field Before Cutting
Our hay is a mixture of grass and clover. Farmer Nigel is standing in the hayfield before cutting. You can see how high and lush the hay is.
Step One: Cutting Hay
The first step in making hay is to cut it
Step Two: Tedding Hay
When making dry hay, the second step (done on the 2nd day) is to ted the hay. Tedding spreads the hay out so it dries better.
Step Three: Raking Hay
The 3rd step in making dry hay (2nd in making baleage) is to rake the hay into windrows.
Step Four: Baling Hay
Weatherbury Farm
Step Five: Gathering Baled Hay
Weatherbury Farm
Step Six: Wrapping Hay
Weatherbury Farm
Hay on a Winter’s Day
Close-up of hay to be fed in winter. Looks yummy!
Weatherbury‘s cows enjoying the fruits of the farmers’ labors
Weatherbury FarmVisitors to our website, weatherburyfarm.com, access information in different ways. Therefore, this page is available both as “making hay” in the about section and as “making winter feed” in “farming practices“(which is accessed from grass fed & finished beef and lamb section).