Herbie raked the hay, and the rake stopped working ! Couldn't figure out why, so brought it up to the shed. Used the reciprocating saw to cut off the 3 bolts holding the gearbox together as they were rusted tight, and discovered they worked perfectly. I went and bought some gear lube and he filled it up before refastening the top with 3 new bolts. Now what ? Some hay wound around the far side, maybe too thick and jamming it ? Nope. Then he discovered the 2nd last metal strip of the rake had broken its bottom bolt and had twisted around stopping the rake from turning. After all that and losing a whole day, it was working.
Thursday he raked and then switched the baler out for the rake, and did the first lap of baling. I took over and baled the rest of the field. I texted Michelle, our Thursday herdshare owner, that we'd like it if her husband, Tony, could help with the baling, as they've told me that they'd love to help. They arrived just as I finished baling, and Herbie had the 2nd load on the trailer, and they brought Tonys' son, Mark, a strong young man 😀. Offloaded that trailer and went to pick up the last load. Mark was running around, bring the bales closer together, while Herbie, Michelle and Tony loaded and I drove. Was rather difficult keeping tabs on 4 people in the field with a partially blocked review mirror and the sun shining in my face, but I didn't hurt anyone and many hands make light work. Offloaded the last lot into the shed, and then covered the hay hill outside with 2 tarps and one greenhouse plastic sheet. Gave them a 1/2 gallon jar of fresh apple juice.
It did rain last night, and I went and pulled the tarps straight that had partially blown off. Looks as if I can cut the 1st 4th cutting from the 2nd half of the field on Sunday. It's expected to rain today and tomorrow, and then at least 5 days of sunshine.
Herbie and Bill are currently outside, picking apples from the tops of the trees. Herbie asked Bill to bring his loader tractor over for this, and now that the hay is in, they're picking more apples.
Finished my swirl blueberry yoghurt this morning. First time in a long while that the chickens didn't get any. But that was also thanks to Susan wanting to take some when they left. I think this was one of the best yoghurts I've made. Will start another batch with today's milk.
Haven't milked Dolly for the past few days, just Daisy May. Dolly still bellows and wants to come eat grain but Doofus is drinking virtually all her production, and the rule is, no milk, no grain.
Also haven't cooked for a while. Lost a bit of weight, always a good thing, right ? Now to get some housework and weekly shopping done as on Sunday I'm going to start bringing the hay I bought from Adam in Charlotte, home.