Blueberry Hill Farm

It's always a real good feeling to have the year's supply of hay stocked into every available knook and cranny and this year is no different.  I usually get my high quality orchard grass hay from Horace  in Lancaster, SC.  For the past two years I filled my trailer and truck with freshly baled hay, going right behind the baler, fresh out of the field.  As idyllic as that picture may sound, to load hay, freshly baled, out in the field is a KILLER!! 

First off, first-cut hay is cut and baled in May, when there are lots of seed heads full of grass pollen.  For those of us who are highly allergic to grass pollen, May is probably the worst month of the year to have anything to do with hay, or any other member of the grass family.  Have you noticed that all throughout the month of May EVERYONE is mowing grass and cutting hay?  The air is visibly yellow with pollen.  By about the middle of May my eyes are swollen shut and I can hardly breathe.  I finally have to bite the bullet and start eating Benedryl which usually lands me in bed for about three days.  So, to load freshly cut and baled hay from the field in May is NOT a pleasant experience.

Much more pleasant is to get second cut hay, which is usually cut and baled during September or early October.  There are no seed heads full of pollen in second cut hay and the hay is leafy and soft.  However, it is VERY hard to load the hay from the field as the hay is still moist, not being fully cured, and the bales are quite heavy.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to get a second cutting of hay.  Since the "rain spigot" shut off in the Piedmont of NC and Upstate of SC in June, there was not enough moisture in the ground to produce a second cutting of hay.  It was early last week that Horace informed me of that fact.  I had not been able to get any first cut hay because we had a "situation" under our hay stack.  Several of my "will-not-get-with-the-program" hens had taken to laying under the hay, which was stacked on top of pallets stacked on top of concrete blocks up off the floor.  I was pretty sure those eggs had to be gotten out from under the hay before the heat of summer set in.  In order to do that, the entire hay stack had to be moved.

As I was getting pretty short of hay, I had to find another source of good orchard grass hay post haste.  I found some above Asheville and it was, indeed, some beautiful hay.  Leafy, soft and sweet smelling.  Some of the prettiest I've seen.  Great quality hay!  AND it was already three weeks cured and stacked in a large container.  My friend, Randy, had gone with me, so loading the hay into trailer and truck was a PIECE OF CAKE, especially since Eddie, from whom I got the hay, stacked.  I was, primarily, the supervisor!  The "brains" of the operation.  (At least Randy and Eddie humored me by acting like I was!)

Back at the farm, the unloading into the barns was, by far, the hardest work of the day.  Randy wondered aloud if the alpacas would like the hay.  The girls began greedily munching it while we were unloading, answering loudly and clearly that they, indeed, LOVED it.

Once unloaded, it was a mighty good feeling to have the hay rooms filled to capacity. Beautiful weather; a new acquaintance and farm contact made; lovely trip up the mountain and back down; fun fellowship with a friend; a major need met  -  another good day on the farm!