Friday 27 August 2010

Plan ahead!



I love the expression. I once saw a cartoon in 'Punch' magazine (so you know it wasn't yesterday!) where a sign-writer was painting 'PLAN AHEAD' on a sign only to find he had run out of space before he had put the 'D' on!

If there is one thing farmers have to do it is always to plan ahead and already the farmer is thinking of Winter, making hay, making silage, cleaning and preparing the buildings for cattle and - this morning - getting in straw. Straw now comes in what they call 'big bales' (unless the farmer does it himself using his baler, in which case they are smart little liftable bales).

At seven of the clock this morning the transporter lorry arrived with a huge load of big bales. The farmer and his neighbour, Alan, began to unload it with tractor and bob-cat, only to find that three or four of the big bales had no string round them. So the yard and the drive were littered with heaps of unbaled straw. Luckily it is a fairly calm day, so it was not blowing everywhere.

Now the farmer has his baler in the yard and is sweeping the straw into heaps and baling it up himself - hence the photographs. By tea time it will all be under cover and stacked - the cats will love it as it gets them nearer to the swallows' nests (but not near enough, luckily). And - come November - the cattle will have lovely clean, sweet-smelling straw to nestle in when they come in off the fields.

Tomorrow is Wensleydale Show day - just at the top of our lane, so within walking distance. We shall be going and I shall be taking photographs for the blog. Domestic fowl are being shown there for the first time, so hopefully we should have some magnificent cockerel photographs!

17 comments:

Heather said...

What a waste of precious time (and energy) having to sweep up and rebale all that straw. Looking forward to the Show and lovely cockerel pictures.

angryparsnip said...

I love your Blog !

cheers, parsnip

Unknown said...

How fortunate to have some help from modern machinery at least?! Hope you have a great day tomorrow.

Heather said...

Thankyou for visiting my blog Pat. No, I haven't bought anything from Robyn but believe that the use of a credit or debit card makes overseas transactions easy though I cannot speak from experience. If you send me your email address I will gladly give you a blow by blow account of how I made my papers and the products I used.

Elizabeth said...

Are you thinking of entering your new hens?
Farming is wonderful but looks a little tiring
but it's Friday afternoon and I'm feeling lazy.
Enjoy the show and snap lots of pics.

jeanette from everton terrace said...

I am a big plan ahead person - sometimes drives my family nuts. Perhaps I should live on a farm, just enjoy the planning part though, not the work exactly. Have fun at the show!

Caroline Gill said...

Enjoy the show ...

I can almost smell the hay!

Titus said...

Sorry for the spillage, but look! Real bales...

Totalfeckineejit said...

Enjoy the show, Weaver.Report back won't you?

Bovey Belle said...

Snap. The farmer next door had his big bale straw delivered yesterday. In fact, one lorryload was parked right across our gateway, so we had to leave the car over the lane and climb over/through the trailer front to get home! All the straw for Welsh farmers has to be brought in from England of course.

Enjoy the show.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thank you for the comments. Show morning has dawned sunny with a light breeze and we are shortly going to be on our way. Photographs later hopefully.

MorningAJ said...

Enjoy the show. I've not been to a proper country show in years. I miss it.

Dave King said...

Love the story of the Punch cartoon.

Joyti said...

I really like the two photographs. I have no experience with baling hay (I dont even think I've seen baled hay)...but to have to rebale must not be very much fun.

Elisabeth said...

Plan ahead Weaver, like a squirrel collects nuts, like a bear hibernates, prepare for what's to come.

mrsnesbitt said...

Oh I do hope the weather was ok! We headed out to Whitby and got soaked! Will have to come to the show next year. Are there any other shows on the horizon? Let us know - we could pop over!

Fragrant Liar said...

Oh, can't wait to see the cockerels. The rooster is my family crest from waaaaaaay back.

I like to plan ahead, but frequently it's so much more fun to "shoot from the hip." I suppose if I was a farmer, that would be a way to self sabotage, huh?