23rd July Haymaking at Rockfield

make hay while the sun shines... a roll in the hay... looking for a needle in a haystack...hay fever

So many references to this ancient practice are rife in the English language. It remains a vital part of agricultural life, supplying livestock with nutrition during the winter months - and yet, so limited by the weather that it can be a tricky job to manage.

Haymaking has been done for 6,000 years and timing is critical, taking roughly 5 days from cutting to baling. The trick is to ensure that the grass is dried completely in this time – hence the adage “Make hay while the sun shines”. The grass should be turned over to release the moisture to ensure the best hay and in modern times hay bobs have been used for this purpose. One can well imagine what a project doing hay was on the days of the scythe, hand cutting and hand turning would have been an extremely intensive process!

Nowadays, machinery makes the job of making hay far easier – but there’s still no substitute for the natural process of drying in the sun. A process that apparently was better back in the days of the wild flower meadows. Agricultural research suggests that flower meadows with a variety of flora and grass dries down to make on average 40% more dry forage than just grass – Something lost in today’s landscape with a more limited variety of grassland and sedge.

Most cutting is done in June, although this year it’s been late and the ubiquitous hay wagons now on the roads are a result of farmers making the most of the recent dry spell following the wettest June on record. Sometimes, the cutting takes places during the main pollen season, hence the term “Hay Fever”, although most cutting is done towards the end of the summer season when the weather is guaranteed to remain dry for those precious  5 – 7 days.

Some friends of mine, based in Rockfield, on the outskirts of Monmouth invited me – with camera- to shoot them while this years’ crop was cut and baled. Naturally I jumped at the chance and enjoyed witnessing this ancient practice – with its modern twist… and even got to drive a tractor myself for the first time!!

You may wonder why I wore wellies in the dry conditions, but believe me nothing cuts like cut grass, so the wellingtons gave excellent protection against the dried blades! For all the machinery, it’s still backbreaking work humping those bales of hay. Your typical bale will weigh around 20kilos – and as you’ll see from the images, need to be lifted onto a moving target sometimes a good 6 feet overhead.

I’m not entirely sure whether being on the back of the trailer is the easier job, either! Having had a brief stint on the back of the trailer I can only explain the process of receiving the bales as moving, 3D, Tetris; it requires agility, method, brute strength and a sense of humour!!

Small wonder the fellas took Stella breaks!!! I can’t fathom out where the term “a roll in the hay” came from; after working those fields all day I can’t imagine anyone having the energy!!