Hay Season

Years ago we occasionally helped friends bale hay for sale and for their own animals. Those warm and scratchy memories no longer describe modern hay season. Where once the old 8N tractor and sickle bar laid the grasses down, today a Japanese tractor and French rotary hay mower cuts and conditions the hay about three times as quickly as that old 8N.
The first photo shows the ready hay being gathered into rows for the baler, which in memory simply dropped the bales onto the meadow for manual loading into hay carts.
Today's baler also tows the hay cart, which receives bales thrown into it by the baler. No more blistered hands and sunburned necks and backs. No more excuses to treasure those few beers at the end of a long, dusty day of loading bales into hay carts. Progress is real.