An unbroken long dry spell had all the local farmers out tending their fields.
We still didn't have the necessary equipment, the mower we bought earlier in the year turned out to be a dud, bearings were gone and not worth the trouble mending. Lesson 1, just because something is expensive doesn't mean the seller isn't ripping you off.
Ebay provided one solution, a Landmec roto 165 drum mower with a broken locking arm.
This time the buyers turned out to be genuine (even ran it for us before loading) and when we got it home, I welded up a support bracket to fix the locking arm.
Happy to say it worked a treat.
Next we had to find a conventional, (small square) baler. Outbid on a couple on Ebay, we noticed the local agricultural auctioneers had a machinery sale on.
We fell upon an old (late 60's) New Holland Super Hayliner 268. Looked to be in good condition, well greased and oiled. We decided to bid up to £350. We got it for £350. Then a small shock to find VAT was to be added which hadn't been mentioned prior to auction, then transport costs to the land made this a little more expensive than we reckoned on but if it all worked then it would be worth it.
In the meantime, our neighbour was arranging to get his fields limed and as we had talked about it, offered to include ours and we pay the extra.
He was also ploughing a field next to ours, so we asked if he would plough a couple of acres for us, which he kindly did , some harrowing and reseeding with a long term ley followed by a light rolling.
Within days a large tractor and a lorry full of lime turned up and very soon our fields, well everything really, was covered in a light white coating. We calculated we had a little over 6 acres of grass to treat and so asked for 12 tonnes to bring the ph up to neutral. This will encourage better grass which we're hoping will out compete the rush.
After mowing, we needed to turn the grass to dry it evenly, we don't have a tedder or haybob and so we raked 4 acres by hand in two days into windrows. this allows the breeze to dry the grass without leaving too much in contact with the damp ground. It should be spread out in the day and raked up for the night but we simply couldn't manage that.
Consequently we were worried that some of the hay would be too green and some too dry but we took a risk and baled it anyway. This is all a big learning curve for us and we're rapidly gaining experience.
Enlisting the help of our good neighbour Owen, who had operated such a baler years ago, we started off with teething problems but once working, the baler hardly missed a beat. Okay, there were more than a few 'banana' shaped bales, we can live with that.
To top it off, a response to the advert I put up in the village Post Office, meant we sold 100 bales, recouping almost half what we spent on the equipment. We still have 50 bales left which we've stacked up on pallets and put a tarp over, not ideal and we really do need a barn, however we're not sure whether to ask for one whilst our planning application is still bobbing about in bureaucratic limbo.
