30 July 2017

The Silage Day Dog Relay

If there's a day that is at all dry, you can be sure Dad is out cutting some grass. Depending on how long the dry spell is set to last, this grass can become silage or haylage. On this day it was silage, and since it was a field at home, I was able to have all the dogs help me, rather than just one or two.


It may sound silly but I sometimes forget just how tall trees can be, and then I see them in comparison to a tractor...



As Dad drove around and around the field with his baler, I used the other tractor to collect the bales together.


Teddy was my first helper.


I gave him the first shift because it was the morning, and therefore the day was not yet at its hottest so Teddy wouldn't suffer with that thick, black coat of his.


We put the bales into rows.



After lunch it was Jess's turn. She is the only dog who is afraid of the banging noise the lifter makes when I'm tipping bales, so she can't help with that. She helped me to continue gathering bales into rows, and her short coat meant that she was reasonably comfortable in the warm tractor cab.


The baling finished and the bales in as neat a row as I could manage, Jess did some posing.


Dad fetched the wrapping tractor and set to work.




My helper for the final task of tipping the bales was Pip. Her coat is longer than Jess's and shorter than Teddy's, so this afternoon heat wasn't too much for her. As an added bonus, for the tipping I have the back window open which lets even more cool air in.


I try to accommodate all of my canine helpers and keep them happy and comfortable. If the weather is unbearably hot they don't come along at all.


I have the back window open for tipping bales for two reasons: one, I need to see where I'm going and that window gets very dusty, and two, there is a string I have to reach back to and pull once I've got the bale into position.



And once again I try to be neat!


A job well done leads to a happy farmer and happy dogs!

2 comments:

  1. The row of trees looks like a fantastic windbreak. My German Shepherd Dog, Santo, would be pea green if he saw what a great life your dogs lead. A couch potato mom is not much fun in his eyes.

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  2. You have a dog for every tractor :-D.

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