Vintage Farming: From Spring manure to Summer Hay
Jonathan Smyth's latest Times Past column follows a summer/saving the hay theme...
Life on the farm keeps you in tune with the seasons. In the Spring, cattle are untethered from the winter shed and released outdoor. When I was young, I watched the cows with fascination as they jumped and buck-leapt around the field. It was an expression of freedom and pure joy for those animals.
Soon, the farmers’ attention turned to the outhouses. A build-up of straw and dung could reach a couple of feet in height. All you need do is put your shoulder to the pitchfork and clear it. As children, I remember having the bright idea to pour a bottle of cologne around the old byre to numb the smell. The stench of the combine fragrances would make a horse puke.
Till the mid-20th century, dung was piled in a large heap in the yard, and quite often it was not too far from the front door of the dwelling house. The farmer, if he were married, no doubt was urged by his wife to get it moved. Several hours of work would clear the heap. The garden and the potato crop needed manure too. The dung cart was pulled by the well-worked horse to the land and emptied in piles. Then it was spread evenly by pitchfork.
Often a good neighbour arrived in the yard to lend a helping hand. Each hour, another cartload would be filled. This was demanding work, and you took as long as you needed. In a few weeks, the earth absorbed the manure and induced a fresh green growth to sprout. The top-dressing helped to produce a nutritious crop of hay, vital for the animals in the months ahead. In the past, much of the cold season’s fodder was dried grass. The Kemps company produced a horse-pulled dung spreader in the 19th century. The so-called ‘New Idea spreader’ was something similar too, and advertisements boasted of how it ‘pulverizes’ and ‘spreads a load’ in three minutes.
In the 20th century, tractor operated dung spreaders, filled by pitchfork, and then later, the use of a tractor and loader made clearing the heap quicker. Popular tractor-drawn spreaders included Massey Ferguson, the Bergmann M50 and John Deere.
First hay
Farmers set couple of meadows aside in early Spring, and let the grass grow until mid to late summer until it was nice and long. In the 17th and 18th centuries before mechanisation, they cut hay by hand. Machinery introduced during the industrial revolution improved agricultural efficiency. Most farmers once cut grass with a scythe which can be good exercise but a tedious enough job. By 1790 machinery like horse pulled wooden rakes made life a little easier.
The McCormick Reaper and mower developed in 1830 by Cyrus McCormick was primarily used for corn cutting; but it could mow grass too. By 1868, McCormicks became the largest agricultural manufacturer in Chicago, and they focussed on a variety of horse-drawn implements including specially designed hay cutting equipment. We should not forget that the horse was a much-valued animal before tractors were invented.
In Ireland companies like Pierce of Wexford began making mowing machines that were suitable for pulling by one, or two horses. According to a vintage documentary I recently sat through, said the country had thousands of such machines by the 1900s. In the 1920s, for those who could afford it, there were horse drawn mowers like the mass produced Deering International from Canada.
In the 1930s, and depending on the weather forecast, farmers usually cut the meadow around July. The Anglo-Celt was the go to source of local weather information that was unless you owned a radio. People realised hay was less nutritious if left too long to grow and it became practice to try and save it by mid-June. Varieties like Timothy Grass or Sheep’s Fescue were popular grasses and produced an abundant cut.
On smaller farms, a team of workmen armed with hayforks shook out the grass with hay forks to help it dry. If someone were slacking, they might be warned they’d ‘get a jag of the fork’. The dried hay was gathered into cocks and a weaved grass rope was employed to secure them. Haycocks were winched onto a cart and taken to the haggard. This work was tough and as someone once said, a summer stacking hay toughened many a boy and made him into a man.
By the 1950s tractors and their hay ‘tedders’ were used to dry out the freshly cut matter. The tedder’s moving prongs aerated the grass before baling. Balers like the Massey Harris 1, New Holland S77, IH McCormick 45, Oliver 50, New Idea T-6, Case 140, and Massey Ferguson 3 did the work in the 1950s.
About two years ago, the farm next door to us made hay using an old square baler. It was pleasant to watch the baling, and it transported me back to the 1970s. At that time, haymaking happened on the family farm, and I remember the twin bladed McCormick mower with the rubber matting. I also recall the hay ‘tedder’ with its forked prongs, which my father sold when silage became the animals’ main source of fodder.
My mother packed a lidded wicker basket with flasks of tea and ham sandwiches. Then brought them to the field where our father and John Smith were working. John was gentleman who helped with the silage too. The sweet smell of the precious hayfield filled our nostrils. There was sense of wonder about the whole operation. Natures processes fascinated us.
When a trailer load of bales came into view on the brow of the hill, we marvelled at the neighbour who sat so high. We wondered how he avoided the overhead wires. We imagined farmers making hay when the sun shone. Time itself felt unhurried. As the day crept to a close, country people chatted over the localities events, and all seemed well in the world.
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