'Big Hay Stacks' on BBC Wild West - America's Great Frontier

Arrow in the Knee

Just seen it there now.

Big Hay Stacks that can last up to 5 years in Montana's cold Winters.

Without any cover.

Anybody else looking at it.

tanko

Saw that, some of the home-made machines for pushing the hay were mad looking yokes.

Arrow in the Knee

tanko wrote: »

Saw that, some of the home-made machines for pushing the hay were mad looking yokes.

It looked fairly labour intensive with the tractors or whatever machines they were using to collect the hay.

I found it a bit strange they just stacked the hay like that but they must not get alot of rain maybe just wind, snow and freezing weather.

Is it just me or is hay in America greener looking than in Ireland.
Whenever I see square hay bales on American shows they usually look greener than here.

Genghis Cant

I wonder how long a round bale would last?

Username John

Genghis Cant wrote: »

I wonder how long a round bale would last?

I remember being in France 20 years ago in the winter, and they were feeding round bales of hay that had been out...

The top few inches of the bales looked shook and wet and bits of green shoots coming up out of it. But after that the bale looked fine...

Hard to know what the cost of not wrapping vs the wastage of the top of the bale? But after going to the trouble of making hay in Ireland, you'd prefer to mind every bit of it. They might not be as precious, given their better weather in France...

Eamondomc

Username John wrote: »

I remember being in France 20 years ago in the winter, and they were feeding round bales of hay that had been out...

The top few inches of the bales looked shook and wet and bits of green shoots coming up out of it. But after that the bale looked fine...

Hard to know what the cost of not wrapping vs the wastage of the top of the bale? But after going to the trouble of making hay in Ireland, you'd prefer to mind every bit of it. They might not be as precious, given their better weather in France...

A good many would remember the ricks of hay here from their young days I d say.
My old fella, lrh, was a dab hand at building them and as a youngster in the early seventies I would hav drawn in the "cocks" of hay to him on a 35 and 5 pin lifter.
I ve seen unused ricks being left till the next year and despite the rain and weather here there would be virtually no waste. In the old days here this would have been common practice.

_Brian

I well remember ricks of hay here.
There is a well secured sheltered haggard behind the old house, sections of this were raised with stone maybe a foot to prevent water logging under the rick

Rick was maybe 14ft wide, 20ft long and 15/18ft high in the centre. They would be tatched out with rushes to weatherproof. Rushes would do a great job at protecting the hay under and providing stock was kept out there was very little waste.

I have a vague memory of a rick being saved over the early summer and then added to when the hay was saved the following season.

Sam Kade

Eamondomc wrote: »

A good many would remember the ricks of hay here from their young days I d say.
My old fella, lrh, was a dab hand at building them and as a youngster in the early seventies I would hav drawn in the "cocks" of hay to him on a 35 and 5 pin lifter.
I ve seen unused ricks being left till the next year and despite the rain and weather here there would be virtually no waste. In the old days here this would have been common practice.

+1
Nothing new, too many whippersnappers on here

Genghis Cant

_Brian wrote: »

I well remember ricks of hay here.
There is a well secured sheltered haggard behind the old house, sections of this were raised with stone maybe a foot to prevent water logging under the rick.

Same ourselves here. I remember it well. We used call them a Pike of hay instead of a rick.
You'd open a bench in the winter with a hay knife and work away till you met the ground. The remainder of the Pike could become unstable and I remember a length of telegraph pole would prop it up to keep it safe. You'd start on the top then again and work down to the ground.

_Brian

Genghis Cant wrote: »

Same ourselves here. I remember it well. We used call them a Pike of hay instead of a rick.
You'd open a bench in the winter with a hay knife and work away till you met the ground. The remainder of the Pike could become unstable and I remember a length of telegraph pole would prop it up to keep it safe. You'd start on the top then again and work down to the ground.

Yea, I remember a plank up against the side and another at 45degrees propping it up. Old hay knife is kicking about in a shed somewhere, or was.

The haggard was well planted about with whitethorn and ash to protect from the wind. Good stone walls to keep it stockproof.

We had a few short ropes maybe 3ft long with loops on each end. These were dedicated to carrying "bundles" of hay from the rick to stock in various sheds.

blue5000

The winters were drier and colder when we were kids, frost inside the window panes and all that.....

Genghis Cant

_Brian wrote: »

We had a few short ropes maybe 3ft long with loops on each end. These were dedicated to carrying "bundles" of hay from the rick to stock in various sheds.

I never came across that. That was a job for the 2 grain fork. Or hay fork as it is correctly called :-)
Not to be mixed up with grapes or sprongs or the like :-)

_Brian

We made our last rick of hay in 1979 I was 7. After that we moved to squares and had a hayshed leantoo's and slatted shed.

Eamondomc

Genghis Cant wrote: »

Same ourselves here. I remember it well. We used call them a Pike of hay instead of a rick.
You'd open a bench in the winter with a hay knife and work away till you met the ground. The remainder of the Pike could become unstable and I remember a length of telegraph pole would prop it up to keep it safe. You'd start on the top then again and work down to the ground.

Yes, I remember pikes, we made them too. Ricks were rectangular and pikes were round in our gaff anyway.

orm0nd

Eamondomc wrote: »

Yes, I remember pikes, we made them too. Ricks were rectangular and pikes were round in our gaff anyway.

pole sunk into the ground and the cock (pike) of hay built all around it,

in the winter the sheep used to self feed with very little waste , if well made the hay would just be at feeding height

Bass Reeves

Eamondomc wrote: »

A good many would remember the ricks of hay here from their young days I d say.
My old fella, lrh, was a dab hand at building them and as a youngster in the early seventies I would hav drawn in the "cocks" of hay to him on a 35 and 5 pin lifter.
I ve seen unused ricks being left till the next year and despite the rain and weather here there would be virtually no waste. In the old days here this would have been common practice.

Jayus yee had it handy. I remember sliding them in along the ground with the horse. You had the collar on the horse and a strap over his back about 6'' wide with two rings sewen into it about a foot down either side. You had a length of thick rope with eyes on it. From the S hooks on the collar you threaded the rope through the O-ring and tucked it around the edge at the base of the cock of hay ( it was a good idea to have a little hay around it if the rope was narrow). You then slid the cock of hay from the field to the yard.

Myself and the younger brother often did it together while the ould lad and older brother was at work. We would have 6-8 cocks in the yard for them in the evening. What was supposed to happen was that one led the horse and the other was supposed to watch in case the rope started to come under the cock of hay and it might flip it back on its side. We got to be a dab hand at it so one led the horse and the other sat on top of the cock of hay for a spin. However we got bolder and one of us used to lie belly down on top of the cock of hay while the other lad trotted the horse as fast as he could into the yard to see if he could dislodge his passenger without losing the cock of hay.

Now and again there would be a disaster and if you were sliding down and caught the hay it would pull the top off the cock as you invariable caught the half bag covering the cock or the rope came under the cock as whoever was trotting the horse went too fast. We ended up with sore holes a few time and it was not from falling off the cock of hay.:D

_Brian

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Jayus yee had it handy. I remember sliding them in along the ground with the horse. You had the collar on the horse and a strap over his back about 6'' wide with two rings sewen into it about a foot down either side. You had a length of thick rope with eyes on it. From the S hooks on the collar you threaded the rope through the O-ring and tucked it around the edge at the base of the cock of hay ( it was a good idea to have a little hay around it if the rope was narrow). You then slid the cock of hay from the field to the yard.

Myself and the younger brother often did it together while the ould lad and older brother was at work. We would have 6-8 cocks in the yard for them in the evening. What was supposed to happen was that one led the horse and the other was supposed to watch in case the rope started to come under the cock of hay and it might flip it back on its side. We got to be a dab hand at it so one led the horse and the other sat on top of the cock of hay for a spin. However we got bolder and one of us used to lie belly down on top of the cock of hay while the other lad trotted the horse as fast as he could into the yard to see if he could dislodge his passenger without losing the cock of hay.

Now and again there would be a disaster and if you were sliding down and caught the hay it would pull the top off the cock as you invariable caught the half bag covering the cock or the rope came under the cock as whoever was trotting the horse went too fast. We ended up with sore holes a few time and it was not from falling off the cock of hay.:D

I wondered was that what my dad used to call a hay slipe/slype..

So I did a google image search for "hay slype"

My advice is don't EVER EVER google that :eek:

When it got no results it suggested "gay skype"

That 2 seconds of images before I clambered to shut it down is going to take alot of alcohol to numb

J.O. Farmer

_Brian wrote: »

I wondered was that what my dad used to call a hay slipe/slype..

So I did a google image search for "hay slype"

My advice is don't EVER EVER google that :eek:

When it got no results it suggested "gay skype"

That 2 seconds of images before I clambered to shut it down is going to take alot of alcohol to numb

Thanks for the laugh. It was a good one. I hope you weren't googling it at work.

Eamondomc

_Brian wrote: »

I wondered was that what my dad used to call a hay slipe/slype..

So I did a google image search for "hay slype"

My advice is don't EVER EVER google that :eek:

When it got no results it suggested "gay skype"

That 2 seconds of images before I clambered to shut it down is going to take alot of alcohol to numb

Here you go Brian, couldn't have you getting in trouble with the Mrs or all hot and bothered with that again!
http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/slipe_n1_v1

Eamondomc

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Jayus yee had it handy. I remember sliding them in along the ground with the horse. You had the collar on the horse and a strap over his back about 6'' wide with two rings sewen into it about a foot down either side. You had a length of thick rope with eyes on it. From the S hooks on the collar you threaded the rope through the O-ring and tucked it around the edge at the base of the cock of hay ( it was a good idea to have a little hay around it if the rope was narrow). You then slid the cock of hay from the field to the yard.

Myself and the younger brother often did it together while the ould lad and older brother was at work. We would have 6-8 cocks in the yard for them in the evening. What was supposed to happen was that one led the horse and the other was supposed to watch in case the rope started to come under the cock of hay and it might flip it back on its side. We got to be a dab hand at it so one led the horse and the other sat on top of the cock of hay for a spin. However we got bolder and one of us used to lie belly down on top of the cock of hay while the other lad trotted the horse as fast as he could into the yard to see if he could dislodge his passenger without losing the cock of hay.

Now and again there would be a disaster and if you were sliding down and caught the hay it would pull the top off the cock as you invariable caught the half bag covering the cock or the rope came under the cock as whoever was trotting the horse went too fast. We ended up with sore holes a few time and it was not from falling off the cock of hay.:D

Sore holes and cocks, I don't think its that kinda thread!

tomwaterford

We've old photos at home of reeks being made...2-3 of them in the pic in various stages of completion....box's of bottles of business and all in the pic

pedigree 6

tomwaterford wrote: »

We've old photos at home of reeks being made...2-3 of them in the pic in various stages of completion....box's of bottles of business and all in the pic

Not really hay ricks. But I've an uncle who has a picture of a working threshing set and all the neighbours helping back in the fifties and he doesn't waste an opportunity to show off this photo. :pac::D
I still don't think he'd go back to those days though.

Eamondomc

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Not really hay ricks. But I've an uncle who has a picture of a working threshing set and all the neighbours helping back in the fifties and he doesn't waste an opportunity to show off this photo. :pac::D
I still don't think he'd go back to those days though.

I remember the thresher at our house working, that was in the late sixties, I was about 5 or 6.
Jimmy Long was our local thresher, I remember him and his major tractor well, his grandsons are big agricultural contractors now.

pedigree 6

Eamondomc wrote: »

Sore holes and cocks, I don't think its that kinda thread!

There was a travelling man who used to let horses off the road into people's fields to fill their bellies.

Anyway he was in the mart one day and he was talking to a farmer and his wife.

The farmer says to him "Well are your horses eating any cocks of hay on some poor farmer today?"

The travelling man looks at the farmer's wife who is eight months pregnant and says "No. But I see your wife is after eating her share of the cock."

My father told me that.
It's one of the best one's I ever heard.:pac: