![]() We work full eight-hour days–including weekends–and only take a break when it rains. It takes my household (two people) six weeks to bring in 6.4 tons from our five acres (sometimes with a little help from friends). So, if you multiply your animals’ requirements by the number of days that you might have to keep them enclosed, you’ll be able to estimate your total hay needs.ĭifferent types of land, of course, give different grass yields. Horses will require almost 44 pounds apiece, while sheep and goats can get by on 4 1/2 pounds of fodder daily. You can expect a cow to eat about 35 pounds of hay a day during cold weather. But if you hope to find poetry in the fields instead of back pain, you must collect the right tools, keep them in top condition, and use them correctly. Using a scythe can be terrible drudgery … or–with only a swish through perfumed grass to break the silence of an early, sunny morning–it can be one of the sweetest pleasures of farm life. In such a case, it could be worth your while to take up a scythe and learn one of man’s oldest agricultural arts: cutting hay by hand. Of course, it’s very possible that your homestead doesn’t spread over hundreds of acres either, and–even if your land is flat enough to accommodate a motorized mower and baler–you might not have sufficient grass to justify the purchase or rental of haying machines. ![]() In addition, the folks who live in this Alpine town are mostly small landholders who don’t require enormous quantities of feed for their livestock. For one thing, our meadows–on steep, terraced slopes–are accessible only by footpaths, so the use of machines is just about out of the question. There are two good reasons why this ancient skill has survived. ![]() In my village in the French Alps–as well as in many other parts of the world–hay is still harvested by hand.
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