What Happens While You Wait?

Planting is done. What happens while you wait?

 Once planting is done, the first crop of grass is usually ready to be cut. One 'season' ends and another one rolls right in. There's a reason we call it Busy Season.

 It begins with mowing the grass. Just like you would mow your lawn, but bigger. Kyle would head out early in the morning to begin the days cutting. He'll mow for a few hours to get two, three, sometimes four fields knocked down depending on the thickness and how fast it will dry. Tyler would then go behind him and merge the many thin rows of grass into fewer, thicker ones. Usually two or three rows into one.

Once he has moved onto the next field, Ryan would come in with the tractor with a chopper hooked to it and a large dump wagon pulling behind that. The rig looked like a toy I had as a kid - you know, the Mother Duck and her ducklings all tied together?

 The chopper pulls in the rows and chops them up really fine and blows it into the big dump wagon. Once the wagon was full Kyle would come up beside the wagon with the dump truck and Ryan would dump the grass into the truck. Kyle would then drive the load to the farm and dump it onto the silo pad where Dad would be waiting with the bucket tractor to begin making a pile, packing it down by driving back and forth.

 On and on, back and forth until all the grass was picked up. At the end of the day, Kyle would get back in the tractor with the mower attached and mow for a couple more hours to get a jump start on the next day.

Today, we have since upgraded the three piece tractor, chopper, wagon rig with a big self propelled chopper that blows directly into the truck. Way more efficient.

What about the cows? If everyone was out in the field all day, who would tend the cows?

After morning milking, the cows get fed and the barns get cleaned out before anyone heads to the field.

 Mom and Grammie milked the afternoon shift when I was too young to work. We also had a few hired hands over the years that did the job as well. When I was old enough, I took the task over. Not my favorite job. I wanted to be in a tractor somewhere. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.  I worked where I was needed and that was the milking parlor.

Mom also worked where she was needed. Still running from field to field bringing tools, chains, water, lunch. If we weren't eating picnic style in the field , it was grab and go. Eat where you can, when you can.

If Mom wasn't running errands for everyone else, she was usually in a tractor on the feed pile next to Dad helping him pack the grass down which is one of, if not, the most important jobs on the farm. If the grass doesn't get packed in tight enough, it will spoil and will be no good to our cows.

This process would go on for 2 sometimes 3 weeks. Like everything else, it would depend on the weather and how many breakdowns we would end up having,

Breakdowns like:

The chopper chain breaking.

The chopper spout getting plugged.

The worn out tie rods on the dump wagon snapping on a tight turn.

The tire on the dump wagon falling off and rolling into the pond.

The truck overheating.

The chopper getting stuck because the operator went through a wet hole when he was too full...again.

The truck getting stuck because the load that was just dumped was too heavy.

I could keep going but, you get the point.

When the process was complete, we would cover the grass pile with a thick plastic and weigh it down with tires. A job that no one enjoys. It's a dirty job and its usually pretty warm when we do it.

We would usually do it at the end of the day after the work was done, or if it was really hot out, Dad would let us wait until morning when it was cooler. Unless it was going to rain. Then we would HAVE to cover it that night. Once the pile is covered, it 'cooks' until 2nd crop. At that point, it gets uncovered and the next layer gets put on over it. Sometimes we would make a separate pile depending on the size of the existing pile and how much grass we thought would be coming in for 2nd crop. The time span between 1st and 2nd crop is usually about a month. During the time in between, the fields get fertilized with manure to give them a boost for the next cutting. This time is also used to get projects done, because there is ALWAYS a project to get done and doing maintenance work on the equipment.  

When we were kids, Mom and Dad would sometimes set a day aside to take us on a day trip.

A number of Maine beaches, Fort Kent, and York's Wild Kingdom are a few of the places that I remember well. One of our favorite activity's we got to do as a family was go to Gifford's Ice Cream and go mini golfing . Dad and the boys would use the batting cages too.

Yes, farm kids get to have fun off the farm too!

That's what happens while we wait!