I often wondered what those old rusty farm contraptions were sitting in the far corners of hay fields. Obviously they had something to do with hay. Well, duh! They looked sorta like a horse-drawn hay baler, but not quite. I even asked a farmer or two what they were, and they, scratching their head, didn’t know for sure either.

Well, now I know. I was invited by Jane Nelson and Jon Stukerjurgen, of rural St. Paul, Iowa to witness hay being made the old fashioned way, with horses. I jumped at the chance.

I took Ginnie with me. When we arrived, a hay rack full of loose hay was being pulled by two horses. Attached to the rear of the hay rack was that contraption that I didn’t know what it was. It’s called a loose hay loader. It rakes up hay from the wind row and shuttles the hay over the back end of the hay rack, where a man, Jon Stukerjurgen’s nephew, spread the hay around with a pitch fork. Hot work. It was to hit 91 degrees that day, the wind was ferocious, and an ugly storm was brewing in the west. But they hurried. Make hay while the sun shines.

When loaded, the hay rack was pulled by the horses, Red and Sugar, to the barn. Jon told me that he had also raked the hay, and mowed it with a three-horse hitch. Sugar is a third generation, part Morgan, that he has owned. Sugar is very gentle. Red has a mind of her own.

At the barn there was trouble. The horses were unhitched and attached to the rope that would pull the hay forks full of loose hay, up into the barn on a trolley, where it would be dumped in the barn. Jon said it took three “bites” to empty the wagon. But up in the barn, the hay forks did not want to “trip” and release the hay. One of the nephews (there were three nephews helping out and learning the old farm way) had to climb up a ladder with WD40 and fix the trolley and forks so that they would “trip.” There was a lot of cussing. I held my breath and kept my phone handy in case I needed to dial 911.

But the nephews got’er done, by golly. The hay was dropped in the barn where it will be hand fed to livestock and the horses this winter. So the horses, reminiscent of the old-time, self-sufficient farm, partook in preparing their winter feed. What goes around comes around. Neat.

Ginnie, her allergies bothering her, and being a city girl, was appalled by a pile of horse manure (“Money,” I told her.). Holding her nose and rubbing her eyes, she headed for the air-conditioned comfort of the car. A group of home-school children arrived to see the farm animals and learn about making hay with horses. On the farm there are goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, kittens and ducks, in addition to the horses. What a learning experience for the kids. And adults.

As for myself, I baled a lot of hay when I was growing up, but never with horses. One time, when the farmer didn’t have an elevator, forks were used to trolley the bales into the barn. But the load was pulled up with a Ford tractor, not horses. In the barn, we had to make sure we were NOT under the load of bales when they were “tripped.” Yikes!

Jon told me that he also has a horse-powered buzz saw for cutting fire wood. Their behemoth farm house is heated with wood. Of coarse.

————

Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526 or email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com. Curt is available for public speaking.