It's Haying Time!

One of the appealing aromas around the farm (and there are plenty of unappealing!) is the smell of fresh-cut alfalfa.  Watching the hay fold under the discbine, coming out the back in a nice neat windrow is a blessing to behold as you begin to calculate just how far up the silo will be filled after completing this field.  After our cool wet spring, we knew that atleast we'd have a plentiful first crop to begin our haying season with.  Believe it or not, we are now coming up short on rainfall and could use a healthy dose of it.  We have one-half of a twelve acre hay field mowed down now, half for baling and half for chopping.  The silo is nearing the top, so we top it off with one or two loads a day until completely full, because each day it settles a door or two. 

The cows sure lick up this new cutting of hay!  After eating the hay from the haymow all winter and spring, having a new taste of fresh hay in their mouths is something that brings them in from pasture in a hurry.  They quickly step into their stalls and bury their noses in the sweet smelling alfalfa and forget all their worries of the day.  By having dry hay on their bellies before we give them haylage and grain, we create a cushion that rests on the bottom of their stomach that lets the "wet" feed filter through it as it slowly digests.  This system of having a filter allows the heavier and more dense feed to digest more slowly, releasing the nutrients into their system rather than "slugging" through heavy forage and grain right away.  This also allows the cow to chew her cud much longer, giving her system a more continuous flow of digestive compounds, thereby raising our butterfat and protein.

Happy, healthy cows is what we strive for.  We are constantly reading and watching for best practices that allow our girls to live long productive lives.  Just watching the last cow fade out of sight as she follows the herd over the hill to pasture each day is satisfying enough.  We know that they'll begin to meander back up to the barn when the afternoon sun begins to fade, waiting at the cowyard gate for us to open it up and let them come into the barn for evening milking, beginning the cycle once again.