Life takes us many places on our journey and mine has recently brought me out to Hay Country! So, you can come along with me as we head north and visit a few farms!
High Quality Hay
What brings us from the comfy confines of our small "city" out into the countryside? Well, high quality hay of course. Why? Because one of our @town-crier Marketing clients is New Eden Hay which sells hay from the region into many South and Eastern States. Apparently, the nutrients of our soil and weather patterns in our area are very conducive to good digestable nutrition in hay and is preferred by horse owners. Who knew?
Like real farmers, we were up before the dawn and driving through peaceful country roads. Mist still on the fields and a colourful sky promising a nice mild autrumn day.
By the time we arrived at our first hay barn, the sun was indeed up and shining nicely through the boards & beams. You can see the seasons harvest with plenty of first and second cut hay stacked in bundles of small squares.
The farmers and their loading equipment are neat to see as they deftly grab the bundles and navigate so quickly through the barn. This particular barn is owned and operated by a nice mennonite family and I really enjoy the restrictions they impose on electronic conveniences. A throw back to the way it was done right.
The loader drives right onto the truck trailer and presses the bundle so that they are tightly packed.
If you are following our beer-making journey, you might recognize the owner of New Eden Hay as brewmaster! He has had farming in his family for generations and individually inspects each load for quality and imperfections. No mildew on the bopttoms of these stacks and they are good to go south across the border to large farms and feed stores.
This was the second stop on our tour through hay country. Another well-built barn with a good growing season's harvest and a different type of loader. This family is mennonite as well and I am told one sign is the lack of a windshield in any motorized vehicle.
This one also has that neat frame loaded with little grabbers that secure the bundle for loading.
The dog lovers might enjoy this little farm hand. I find farm dogs interesting as they either keep to themselves, or are very interested in back scratches seeing as they are primarily workers and don't get too much attention.
Second trailer loaded to the doors and ready to head south.
Back to the first barn for another half load.
Then, on to our fourth stop at a different farm. You can see the cabo of this modern tractor has its glass as this is not a mennonite farmer but a retired police officer. He is happy with the warm, dry October as he is able to make a third cut harvest to sell when years past saw the growing season already over.
This is the type of advertising we are pivoting to as the expanded customer list we have helped them generate means they have to find more hay from more farmers to keep up with demand. A problem we don't mind helping them solve.
I was simply along for the ride to shoot some pictures and drone video of the loading and shipping process. Though I did none of the hard work aside from cutting some of the bailer twine in certain loads, it was a long day. It stayed mild and enjoyable with the sunset showing that same orange glow at the horizon as the sun dissappeared.
Thank you for joining me for an adventure in Hay Country!
