Hay Time - Like a Britains Farm Toy Fest

A bad time for hay fever sufferers; a good time for fans of farm machinery!

From cutting the grass, to raking it, baling it, collecting it, wrapping and stacking it there's a specific machine for every job.


I was particularly impressed by the machine that collected the round bales from the field, a trailer based machine that uses arms to pick up each bale, eight bales in total.


Altogether 6.2 acres of grass was due to be cut in our Front and Chapel fields, where the cut would be left to drop its seeds for 48 hours, helping to begin the cycle of growth again. But that's not the complete picture.

An area of approximately one to one and a half acres was not cut as the land is uneven or has a high proportion of weeds, especially thistles, that livestock won't eat. And although the crop produced 28 round bales, were all of the grass available it's fair to assume another six or seven bales could have been produced. Another trailer load in fact.


Over the medium term we'll make a point to remove every stone, fill every hole and rut and reduce the quantity of pernicious weeds. We have another 15 acres to cut later this month, after July 10th.

That specific date is agreed nationally for all farms participating in the Natural England Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme and allows for any remaining wild bird chicks to fledge.

Birds spotted here include species on the RSPBs red and amber lists including the Lapwing, Curlew and a variety of song birds in decline elsewhere. Following the cut we'll also wait for 48 hours to let the seeds drop off to continue the development of the pasture. A recent BBC report highlighted a wide concern that many traditional hay meadows have been lost, along with the butterflies, bumblebees and other insects that thrive there and the birds that feed on them.


According to the BBC 'Scientists estimate that over the last century more than 98% [of hay meadows] have gone from the UK'. That's a daft situation when the positive benefits for livestock and the environment are concerned so, we won't blanket spray, we'll spot spray any weeds and the cutting date will always take wildlife into consideration. Patience is a virtue after all...


BBC video link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10449224