We were not supposed to receive any rain until - today. I checked with the weather meteorologists on every local network station we have here in the Knoxville area. They were all in agreement. They were adamant.
Everybody around here - all the farmers - anyone with a few acres to grow hay for a couple of livestock - just - everybody - has been sweating bullets. We haven’t been able to get pockets of time long enough for being able to cut hay - safely enough to keep it from rotting.
Rain - thunderstorms - all the precipitation has been a negative issue around here when it comes to timing.
Of course - the positive - especially when it comes to hay - is the fact that we had all that rain last year. It was amazing to see the difference that made in the health and texture of our hay field this year. I could see all the legumes and other grasses growing in the mounds like nobody’s business - and unlike last year. And this happened in a field that wasn’t fertilized.
Encouragement from all the weather reports brought Terry to the house on Monday - after working his other full-time job. Finally - all signs showed cutting the hay would make it just in time - just under the wire. After cutting - he’d be back on Wednesday to get it all baled before the rain was to arrive - on Thursday.
Terry didn’t make it to the house on Thursday to bale all that hay. He never had a chance in Hell. While he was at work - at his other full-time job - buckets and buckets of cats ’n dogs ‘n fat babies began dumping on us before 12noon - and stayed throughout the best part of the day.
At this moment - I’m not sure what we’ll find out today.
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2 comments:
Oh, no! We've had so much rain here in Washington State - even in Eastern WA, which is usually dry - that no one has made their first cutting yet. We're supposed to have sun for a solid week starting Saturday, so perhaps the fields will be hayed. I've heard most farmers are considering the first cutting a loss for this year.
I know what you are going through...we need to get ours cut in the next week or two, but at the rate it's going we won't be able to since it tries to rain most every day....or every other day.
Good luck with yours!
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