The contractor does four or five farms close at hand and just moves all the machinery from one to the other.
We used to cut the grass ourselves until our mower was broken down more than it was running.
On ringing the contractor to see if he could help out, he sent in a tractor with a mower on the front and another on the back.
This machine made our nine foot cut mower look like a lawn mower in comparison, taking twice the width in one pass and making a far better job – our mower was demoted to cutting thistles and docks.
They cut just short of 100 acres a day and left it for the sun to dry the sap out of it.
The following day the big rake came first to row three of these rows into one, the grass on the underside then has a little bit of time to dry before being picked up with a self-propelled forager (this chops the grass into 5cm-7cm lengths, adds some additive to help with fermentation).
The forager blows the grass into the trailers that hold about 10 tons of grass which are pulled alongside the forager by another tractor.
Once the trailer is full, the grass is transported back to the farmyard (while another trailer is being filled).
Depending on how far away from field and farm determines how many trailers need to be used to keep the forager going non-stop.
The grass when arriving at the farm is then emptied into a special pit where another tractor with wide wheels is used to lift the grass from where the trailer tipped it out and spreads it evenly over the floor.
The forager broke down at about 4pm and needed a new part.
Luckily, the contractor has two and the other had just finished next door and came straight down to help out, so there was no loss of time.
Our forager was fixed again and up and running, a minor electrical fault.
The lads heard rain showers were on their way so they carried on with two foragers on a longer lead to home.
The guy spreading the grass on the pit, trying to cope with twice as much grass was really pulling his hair out.
The lads leading the grass in were coming in faster and faster now just to make sure their colleague was still ok.
One trailer was waiting to tip as soon as the other one got out of the way.
By 10.30pm, all the grass in trailers were parked up all round the farmyard and the grass was jammed up in the pit.
The buck rake man called a halt and said we'll finish off in the morning.
One hour in daylight got all the grass placed on the top and rolled down to try and eliminate as much air as possible, the grass being a good 10/12ft high.
The crops of grass have been very good this year.
The sheets are then pulled over to stop the grass going off and weighed down with as many old tyres as we can possibly put on top with everyone touching the next.
This then eliminates as much air as possible for fermentation to take place.
We have had a good few cows calve just recently even though out at grass they still like to calve late at night or very early in the morning.
If I know one is getting close to calving, I'll go and check on her at about midnight or 1am just to make sure all is well.
On two or three of these occasions armed with my torch, walking across the fields to find a calving cow, there in the torch beam was Mr Fox coming towards the farm.
After a good dazzling he hightails it off, typical when you haven't got the gun.
Then one evening late on armed with torch and gun there she was between the hen houses – the dazzling before must have made her slower to react to the light.
Too late, I was relieved, I thought it would be a vixen feeding her cubs and the hens and eggs were easy pickings to feed her brood, but no she was a barren female with no cubs.
This was all just for devilment maybe frustration, maybe the old dog fox had been teaching her the art and come unstuck one night.
If his breeding tackle was the last thing in sight before disappearing through the fence.
That's maybe what copped it, we'll just have to wait and see if he's still around or not.