Haymaking heaven and pesky pests

I can hardly believe it; hay time has been and gone in a flash. We have been waiting for what seems like forever.

Delays

We should have been cutting the grass a month ago when it was just about the perfect height and growth. Not too tall but dense and green with lots of clover showing, but we just could not get three or four days of dry weather strung together. I religiously watched the weather forecast like a starving mouse watching a lump of cheese, but for weeks it went on, always the warning of showers for some part of the day or night. I watched our chosen hay fields grow and grow. Of course, the hot sun and the constant showers were perfect growing conditions. The grass got higher, and where it grew too well in parts, it flopped over and laid.

Patience

One or two neighbours got impatient and cut the fields with the inevitable results. One day lovely long rows of dry hay ready for baling that got a night’s heavy downpour resulting in a sodden mass of “nowt”. It all had to be spread again and then got rained for a second time in