"Haying" without equipment?

[adegiulio]

My goats tend to eat on the pasture as a last resort. Everyday, I let them out of the pasture to eat the brush around my 14 acre yard. They eat their fill, then return to the barn all puffed out like ticks to chew and rest. As a result, I mow the pasture when some of the less desirable stuff gets too high. However, the pasture has some great stuff in it that are worth saving and feeding them.

So, my question is, does anyone mow their pasture, let it dry, then collect it for feeding later? I have a big material collector that I normally tow behind the mower to add greens to my compost pile, so collecting the dried cuttings wouldn't be any effort at all.

Any thoughts?

 

[dianneS]

I would love some info on that process too. I don't do it myself but I would like to. I hope someone jumps in and give us some advice!

 

[freemotion]

I got a scythe from www.scythesupply.com, custom-sized to me and with a very sharp Austrian blade. I've made hay and stored it...not enough for winter, but enough to keep my hay bill down and keep the field mown.

I got the scythe when I priced having someone mow my little 2 acre pasture for me, full of trees and odd angles to the fence. The scythe was paid for before a mower could be unloaded from a truck. We just could not justify buying a mower for a twice a year mowing.

I mow a section at a time, maybe spending an hour. It took me a week to do the entire field the first time. I turn the hay once with a rack, then when dry rake it into rows and onto a tarp for dragging to the barn. Made some lovely, weedy goat hay!

ETA: Mowing with a scythe is best done with dew on the grass, which was fine with me, in the cool of the early morning.

 

[jodief100]

Free- I am very interested in how you do this. I have a mover and bush hog. Can I bush hog the field, then rake by hand? Or will the bush hog break it down too small? Do you just lay the hay on the tarp and let it sit out like that or do you stack, bale it or what? We can't justify the cost of a baler and would love to hear some other options?

 

[freemotion]

A brush hog or any mower other than one purposed for cutting hay won't work. Hence the scythe. I actually enjoy using it....very meditative and peaceful, and gets me intimately in touch with what is in my pasture. Just gotta make sure everyone is OUT of the pasture when I mow, even those pesky hens. When I mow, I often do it before even milking, so I can get out there early while the dew is on the grass (easier cutting with the scythe) and the hens are still locked up.

There are scything videos on youtube, and the Scythe Supply Co website has lots of useful info.

I just determine what area I'll be cutting that day, and cut in rows, using the sharpening stone at the end of each row when I hit the shade. I let it sit where it falls. I let it dry for 2-3 days (check that forecast!) and then rake it into windrows with a large leaf rake, then into piles, then onto the tarp where I pack it down with my body weight to fit more. I gather up the corners (baling twine is handy, yet again!) and drag it to the barn. I have a tarp on pallets and pile it on, tamping it down well with each addition. So it is piled like in an old-fashioned hay mow.

I looked up instructions on building a rick for an outside hay stack, but increased my herd a bit and I don't have enough hay now to bother.

The first year I did this I did not need purchased hay until almost the end of December. It was very good hay, lots of young goldenrod in it.

I did this by myself and I'm a scrawny middle-aged woman, so if you have help, you could get a lot done. It does take more storage space than compact bales do, but it is........FREE!!!!

 

[freemotion]

Oh, and as a massage therapist and instructor, I see a lot of repetitive motion injuries and weekend warrior injuries. After much research, I felt it was very important to get a custom snath (handle) and a very good blade so that injury was kept to a minimum. This is a tool that, if cared for, should outlast me. It is not the awkward scythe of my father's day, when Sears sold cheap ones and every farm had several. Now you see them hanging on the sides of buildings as antique decorations, and that is where they belong. Spend the money on a good one. The money saved by not having injuries will pay for it. The savings in hay will pay for it the first time you use it, too.

 

[adegiulio]

Free, I looked at a few videos of scything. While it does look very satisfying, something tells me that I don't need another 150 dollar tool that I'll use once and then get tired with..

 

[freemotion]

Actually I spent more like $250 for the sharpening tools, book, cover, rake, etc! But I love doing this kind of thing. It definitely is not for everyone. You'd never catch me in a gym, for example. Never. You'll find me scything, stacking wood, moving compost, digging sod for a new garden by hand, etc.

Keeps me fit!

 

[Ms. Research]

Actually I spent more like $250 for the sharpening tools, book, cover, rake, etc! But I love doing this kind of thing. It definitely is not for everyone. You'd never catch me in a gym, for example. Never. You'll find me scything, stacking wood, moving compost, digging sod for a new garden by hand, etc.

Keeps me fit!

My kind of thinking!

I might have just a little ground, with dreams of something bigger, but it's not just physical rewards that you get by "working your land", In a gym, you might be "working your body" but that's about it.

Just my opinion.