When hay wagons, loaded with rich, green bales start rolling past at a brisk speed and with regularity, you know that harvesting work on the farms has reached a fever pitch.
That's pretty much what I saw during a drive around the Selle Valley last night.
I also observed some meticulously coordinated, keenly teamwork in one field on the Culver Farm off Hickey Road.
What I witnessed could serve as a textbook example of how farm families work together and get stuff done.
Actually, in a lifetime, I don't think I've ever seen such efficiency with machinery and human effort as what I saw on that farm last night.
Too bad the scene wasn't caught on video and posted to YouTube because it was truly remarkable.
Just after a pickup and trailer, loaded with hay, had left the place, the hay field show began.
Mom and her sidekick operated the baler.
Two kids drove the 4-wheeler, jumping out every so often with pitchforks to move any stray hay.
Dad followed behind with the bale loader.
All shared big smiles as they passed by where I stood with my jaw dropping while clicking pictures.
Those kids are learning and practicing lifelong skills, and it was obvious to me while watching last night's scene, they have already developed a genuine work ethic.
Harvesting hay has changed dramatically since the old days when all those bales were hoisted into trucks or on trailers by human power.
Sometimes someone drove the truck or tractor; sometimes not.
The rig would be put in low gear and occasionally a hay hand would reach to the steering wheel to direct it the next series of bales.
I think the modern method, though too exorbitant for most small farmers, provides a vast improvement from the old days AND a whole lot less wear and tear on field workers.
The air-conditioned cabs on those tractors ain't bad either AND we, as kids, would have raced out the door to for a chance to drive a 4-wheeler around the field.
Anyway, haying in our rural area is going full throttle this week because there's always the potential that the enemy (rain) could dampen and prolong efforts at any time.
Haying, in my mind, has always been a pretty sight in those farm fields, though, these days, I prefer to spectate rather than participate---'cept for writing the check, of course.
With luck, that will come soon, and, over here at the Lovestead, will come an attempt to coordinate the efforts of the mechanized segment with the humanized aspect.
If all goes well, the animals which eventually graze the hay fields will have a winter supply of good stuff for grazing in their stalls.
Happy Wednesday.
Good luck to all farmers during these crucial days of harvesting those fields.
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