Gordon St.Hilaire Family Farm Fall Duties

Gordon St.Hilaire and his family are moving into the fall duties at the farm. One of the first things to look at would be the fencing that surrounds our pasture. Typically this is maintained 3-4 times per year unless the beef feel like eating something on the other side of the fence. The statement ‘grass is greener on the other side’ actually rings true in this example. We have also started to transition into the feeding of hay as cooler temperatures have begun to slow grass production in our pastures. I’m including a photo of our beef enjoying a nice autumn afternoon snack.

We will keep you updated on other fall duties as they unfold.

New Holland #56 Hay Rake at Gordon St.Hilaire's Family Farm

Gordon St.Hilaire and his family farm continue to take viewers through the process of producing hay for our farm. We shared our Tedding machine last week and would like to share the next machine in the process which is our New Holland #56 rake. This machine puts the dried hay back into windrows to be baled. Our rake is a rolabar rake which means that it has only one reel. It is ground driven and uses many teeth that rotate on the reel to reassemble the hay into windrows to be baled by one of our two balers. This machine is easy to operate and requires minimal maintenance. This is another vital machine we use on our farm to produce top quality feed for our cattle.

Hay Tedder

Gordon St.Hilaire and his family farm shared the first machine we use in our hay production last which was our 479 New Holland. The next machine in our hay process is the hay Tedder. This machine was bought new and works great! The Tedder has two rotating spools that are PTO driven from the tractor to scatter the new mowed hay. This evenly distributes the hay to allow the sun and wind to begin the drying process. This machine requires very little maintenance. The things that are checked before use are tire pressure, grease fittings, and adjustment of the height of the Tedder itself. It is a great machine and does a great job in our hay production.

Gordon St.Hilaire's Family Farm Hay Production

Gordon St.Hilaire and his family farm wanted to share a recap post on our hay production series. We usually begin our hay process in early June and wrap up sometime in August/September. Obviously, the weather has a significant impact on this process. The hay is mowed, tedded, raked, and then baled. Previous videos on YouTube have discussed individual machinery and tractors that we use on the farm. Typically, we like to have 3 consecutive days of drying time before the hay is brought into our barn. This was a fun series of videos to record and our hope is that our followers have a better understanding of how our hay is produced. Our White Face Herefords certainly have no complaints! Please check out our videos on our YouTube channel if you haven’t done so already. Enjoy your day!

Gordon St. Hilaire Teacher & Organic Farmer

Search This Blog