Hay Baling Time In OK

[fossis]

Thanks for all the memories...I don't remember the days of the stacked hay in the fields, but I do recall a picture of my grandma standing beside a stack with my brother sitting on top...he looked to be about 2-3 yrs old at the time.

My days with the square bales...ugh! Fire ants were the problem, hauling and stacking was something else. Up till about 8 years ago we still had the square bales...I remember the job of lifting 18 bales to load on a trailer and haul out to the cows, I did this like every other day. Depending what type of hay it was...rye grass was light, bahia was sometimes, soybean was heavy. These days you cannot find the labor to help pick up and stack.

Round bales are easier, lasts longer plus you have to have the machinery to transport...I'm getting to be an expert at hauling in from the fields, sometimes I would be riding on the 2 back wheels.

When in Kansas last month, I was seeing miles & miles of round bales in the fields, we finally asked someone what was the "grass", we were told wheat...I never knew that it could be cut green and baled right away. Then also at the same area of Caldwell to South Haven at the overpass a trailer rig of hay stacked too high had hit the overpass and lost about 6 rolls.

Over the past 2 years we find it cheaper to buy then to raise it yourself and have to hire someone to cut & bale.

Nothing beats the smell of freshly mowed hay!!!

RR

The one time is all I saw my Grandpa do the stack on a pole, he didn't have a baler, & just did it the old way.
I didn't know about the baling 'green hay' either, & you're right about the 'smell of new mown hay', after hauling all day we would stop by a creek, pull out a bar of soap, & take a bath & swim in the moonlight, sure felt good.

Here's a pic of a gate made from the old 'sulky rake wheels'.

Fossis............

 

[RGINN]

Yeeeaaaahh buddy, Fossis. I chopped cotton, I worked down at the elevator durin wheat harvest, worked at the cotton gin, worked at the peanut plant durin peanut harvest, but never hauled hay. Not to mention it was a 105 when they did that, but them green bales also gave off heat in the barns. What'd y'all get a bale? (They paid the haulers by the bale. In cents. It wasn't an hourly type job, at least in Western Oklahoma.) I don't know, they probably got a computer that can haul hay now, but it was an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.

 

[fossis]

Yeeeaaaahh buddy, Fossis. I chopped cotton, I worked down at the elevator durin wheat harvest, worked at the cotton gin, worked at the peanut plant durin peanut harvest, but never hauled hay. Not to mention it was a 105 when they did that, but them green bales also gave off heat in the barns. What'd y'all get a bale? (They paid the haulers by the bale. In cents. It wasn't an hourly type job, at least in Western Oklahoma.) I don't know, they probably got a computer that can haul hay now, but it was an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.

I missed the 'chopping cotton' thank goodness, it had faded out when I was young, but you sure didn't miss much by not hauling hay, rough job, we got 3 cents a bale in the old days.

fossis...........

 

[RGINN]

I did not miss one thing haulin hay. They were payin 2 cents a bale then. You did miss a lot by not choppin cotton, because most of the fields were planted the same place Indians lived in the past, so you could find a lot of arrowheads sometimes out in the fields. I found my first arrowhead in a cottonpatch. Chop cotton, 75 cents an hour, pull bolls, 2 or 3 cents a pound, haul hay, 3 cents a bale, how many of these kids today do you think would do that?

 

[mamabear]

now days it's almost impossible to find square bales, which is all I use. we have only one horse & no place to put the big rounds or move them. ( I tried pushing one once what a laugh!) so when I see a farmer baling squares I jump out & ask to buy. 2 years a friend & I put up 200 bales. I was dead tired, & wondering if I'd ever be able to move again. not quite as easy as when I was a girl. squares went for $3.00 a piece last yr. the horse is an expensive lawn ornament!!

 

[fossis]

I did not miss one thing haulin hay. They were payin 2 cents a bale then. You did miss a lot by not choppin cotton, because most of the fields were planted the same place Indians lived in the past, so you could find a lot of arrowheads sometimes out in the fields. I found my first arrowhead in a cottonpatch. Chop cotton, 75 cents an hour, pull bolls, 2 or 3 cents a pound, haul hay, 3 cents a bale, how many of these kids today do you think would do that?

I have a large scraper found in the peanut fields of W. OK, found by an 'old timer', it curves to fit your hand just right.
I don't think you would find any kids to work unless they were real hungry.

Fossis............

 

[fossis]

now days it's almost impossible to find square bales, which is all I use. we have only one horse & no place to put the big rounds or move them. ( I tried pushing one once what a laugh!) so when I see a farmer baling squares I jump out & ask to buy. 2 years a friend & I put up 200 bales. I was dead tired, & wondering if I'd ever be able to move again. not quite as easy as when I was a girl. squares went for $3.00 a piece last yr. the horse is an expensive lawn ornament!!

They are getting harder to find, maybe they will see the need, & keep baling them.
These days, I can't even afford a dog.

Fossis.........