BALING HAY-WHEN HOT WAS HOT!

       I grew up at a time when just about every farmer that I knew baled hay because most raised cattle and produced clover or alfalfa to feed their cattle during the winter months. Let me explain the best I can the baling procedure. 

      A farmer would cut the clover after it boomed with a cutting sickle pulled behind the tractor. Once the hay dried in a day or two, it was then raked up into rows (resembling long curls) to let the sun dry it. Then a "baler" was pulled behind a tractor along with a hay rack to hold these rectangular shaped bales produced by the baler that were held together with twine and then pushed back to the rack which also had men that stacked the bales. The bales were usually 40-70 pounds depending on how much moisture was left in them.

     When the hay rack was stacked high or full enough it was taken to the barn to be stored. Most barns like ours had a big door up high and in the front. The rack was pulled in front of the barn and from there huge forks were used to hold at least eight bales together and were lifted by another tractor and operator with ropes and pulleys. Once the hay reached the top, it then followed a metal track and once it reached a certain point in the barn or "hay mow" and the person inside who stacked the hay would yell out and the person outside would "trip" the forks with the pull of a rope and the hay would drop and be ready to stack.

       On this particular day I was the guy inside doing the stacking the hay. The entire process of the baling was quite an operation usually involving as many as six men. This was in the late 1950's, I was in my teens, a very hot day, hard work for 75 cents to one dollar an hour, and no air movement in that barn!

       At some point I  looked down at my arms and there was no sweat. One minute I was sweating like a pig? then the next minute I was dry and yet clammy. I knew I was in trouble and it was time to get out of there. The rest of the afternoon it was lemonade for this guy!

       Another thought on hay baling has to do with eating. I used to work for Art DeWitt a nearby neighbor and I remember the lunches his wife, Beverly would prepare. She would have fried chicken, mashed potatoes-gravy, vegetables, and topped off with pie. Later in the afternoon it would be time around 4PM for lemonade and a sandwich, and then supper later at home! PS I told Beverly that I thought, and still do, that she was one of the best cooks in 5 counties! No kidding!