There’s a bumper crop this year. Unfortunately the weather has been very uncooperative.
Fresh Cut on the McDonald Bench
Putting up hay has changed a lot in my lifetime. I remember the sicle bar mowers, side delivery rakes, dump rakes, buck rakes and farmhands. We put the hay up loose, had a crew of 4 or 5 extra hired men, plus three or four of us McDonald kids doing the jobs none of the paid guys wanted to. The crews were mainly high school boys from Anaconda, they usually had to leave before we were finished, football practice, leaving the permanent hired man and the family to finish.
Have Things Changed in 60 years
Living the good life in retirement.
Crippled Cowgirl 
When I was in Kansas a couple or three years ago, I noticed fields with loose hay and wagons in Amish country. There probably still was that kind of hay harvesting in Iowa when I was growing up, although we had much more corn than hay, and traditional corn shocks were common. My mother grew up with a hay mow in her life, and her stories of playing there (against all rules) and finding kittens in the hay were wonderful.
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I love stories about the past, my 93 year old neighbor talks about the mow all the time. We didn’t have a barn with a mow. It burned down before my time, I missed out.
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My cousins used that sickle style cutter, a manual dump rake, and what we called a “stacker”..you’re right; those were the days…very efficient. Nice pics.
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Hey, and Hay! Love the pictures. We also had a bumper crop and uncooperative weather this year. The things we do for our cows! Hope all is well for you.
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