Making Hay the Amish Way in Bird in Hand, PA
Aug 8, 2017 17:19:47 #
We stopped along the highway tuning through Bird in Hand so the my wife should do a little (understatement) shopping and I notice across the highway a farmer was deeply engrossed in haying. Diving 4 large mules he was pulling a John Deere 459 round hay baler down the lines of hay that had been raked into rows. I was surprised to hear a motor running and realized that although the locomotion was animal ( the mules) the method of baling was mechanized. Had not seen that before, expected everything would be done by hand, but then I had not been in the area for several years. He was moving along at a real good clip and pumping out bales , by the time my wife returned he had just about cleaned up the field. I had a great time watching and taking photos and I hope youl enjoy them
Making Hay the Amish Way
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A round bale, 4ft wide, 5ft high
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Time to head back the other way
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Popping out another one
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Aug 8, 2017 17:21:15 #
Aug 8, 2017 17:22:24 #
Aug 8, 2017 18:31:53 #
Nice series - I see they are keeping up with technology - The 459 Silage Special Round Baler produces bales 4-ft wide and up to 5-ft tall with a maximum wet weight of 1750 lb - It would be interesting to see how they move them...
Aug 8, 2017 18:48:47 #
strobe
Loc: Central Iowa
I've seen Amish using the small square balers before, with a motor on a cart like this pictures, but not a big round baler. It's going to take some doing to move those bales.
Aug 8, 2017 20:44:39 #
Now that's a real 'hybrid' system. Nice shots. Very interesting.
I remember saving hay by horse power on my uncle's farm in the West of Ireland back in the 60's. There was a hay turner with rotating wheels with spring tines. We turned the hay until it was good and dry. Then we adjusted the angle of the wheels to rake the hay into rows like in your pictures. There were no balers in those days. The hay was stacked up into eight foot high beehive piles called 'cocks' and left to sit in the field for a couple of weeks to get really dry. There was a real art to making a 'cock'. The hay was stacked in layers that were pitched to shed the water to the outside and was then raked down to feather the outside. The cocks were tied down with ropes made from twisted hay to keep the hay from blowing away in the wind.
I still remember the sweet smell of new hay. Making hay eventually gave way to silage, which is basically compressed fresh grass preserved in its own juices. I still remember the smell of silage as well - it stunk to high heaven!!!
Thanks for the pics.
I remember saving hay by horse power on my uncle's farm in the West of Ireland back in the 60's. There was a hay turner with rotating wheels with spring tines. We turned the hay until it was good and dry. Then we adjusted the angle of the wheels to rake the hay into rows like in your pictures. There were no balers in those days. The hay was stacked up into eight foot high beehive piles called 'cocks' and left to sit in the field for a couple of weeks to get really dry. There was a real art to making a 'cock'. The hay was stacked in layers that were pitched to shed the water to the outside and was then raked down to feather the outside. The cocks were tied down with ropes made from twisted hay to keep the hay from blowing away in the wind.
I still remember the sweet smell of new hay. Making hay eventually gave way to silage, which is basically compressed fresh grass preserved in its own juices. I still remember the smell of silage as well - it stunk to high heaven!!!
Thanks for the pics.
Aug 8, 2017 22:26:25 #
Very interesting series! Not what I would have expected but well done.
Aug 9, 2017 06:46:03 #
Aug 9, 2017 06:54:35 #
Aug 9, 2017 07:53:21 #
Good series! It's interesting how the Amish get around the restrictions against "modern" things - around here they have a small shed next to the road to house their telephone and we once visited a family that kept their motor-driven grain grinder in the barn.
Aug 9, 2017 08:02:58 #
Aug 9, 2017 08:21:01 #
marsdad wrote:
We stopped along the highway tuning through Bird i... (show quote)
Very nice photography, marsdad.
Aug 9, 2017 09:18:57 #
StevenG
Loc: Long Island, NY
marsdad wrote:
We stopped along the highway tuning through Bird i... (show quote)
Really nice series. I like the first best. I lived in Lancaster for a while, way back, but never saw that particular technique.
Steve
Aug 9, 2017 10:13:40 #
Aug 9, 2017 10:21:41 #
You will find in Lancaster county that a lot of Amish have a phone in a field somewhere. It will look like an outhouse. It's supposed to be for business only??? They also use diesel motors to drive air compressors to provide power to their power tools such as a table saw. Trust me when I tell you that the saw runs a lot faster than the manufacturer intended.
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