Traditional Hay Making

nowadays hey would be saved and lit May or early June in the 1930s however it would not have been cut until early or mid July it was discovered that as grass ages it becomes less nutritious hay is produced by cutting down in a meadow of grass turning it over a couple of times during a five-day period taking it into the barn and leaving it there to be fed to the animals over the winter that was the simple basic principle of hay making that was seldom as easier process as that weather forecasting in the 1930s was not very accurate some would say that little has changed in the forecasting front in the past seventy years so at haymaking tame there was a lot of studying the moon the sky at night and various other sayings which were supposed to foretell what the weather was going to be rain on cut grass washes out the nutrients as does too much Sun over working with machinery was also not recommended if he wanted good hay so when the weather looked settled the mooing of the hay would begin with one thing down and then the process of being saved paprika is just starting the second sward of a heavier crop this grass is dumped on sticks in the cupping bar of the mowing machine something has to give and that is the metal shaft of the mooing machine there will be no more mooing today breaking a metal shaft like this shows the power that these two horses have ordering and receiving a new part for a machine back in the 30s could have taken a very long time so brueggen parts were often repaired rather than replaced some craftspeople such as the village blacksmith were essential to the farmers not only for shoeing the horses but also for repairing broken farm implements the following afternoon Patrick was back in business the shaft of his mowing machine repaired and working as good as new this more is a Deering International made in Canada in the early nineteen these Irish foundries like Pierce of Wexford were by this time turning out hundreds of mores of different sizes which could be pulled by one horse or two by 1900 it is believed that there were more than 20,000 mowing machines in Ireland healed is another major breakthrough this machine with the addition of another seat and a few minor adjustments would again be needed in a few weeks time for cutting the corn a successful Reaper had been developed by a Scotsman in 1828 but the side mounted model like the one we see here was invented by the American Cyrus Hall McCormick from the Rockbridge County Virginia in 1831 McCormick did well with his Reaper for he was a multi-millionaire of an he died in 1884 at the age of 75 years at very busy times of the year and especially at haymaking it was common for the neighbors to help a farmer often formed a partnership with his neighbors exchanging labor on a day to day basis as well as horses and machinery families that were down on their luck elderly sick or with very young children were often helped at busy times of the farming year the local priest or minister was always sure of plenty of assistance when his hay needed to be saved it was not uncommon to see four or five people working in a meadow although as many as a dozen may be necessary if the crop was heavy or the weather bad in many kisses woman were expected to work in the meadow at haymaking and indeed if men were scarce could also have been expected to work the horses the hay pate was a good effective way to turn and shake the hay this practice would have to be repeated many times if the weather was wet it was said that hay could survive up to it days of constant rim but if the weather did not improve after that time the hay would most likely be lost or at speeding value so badly affected that it would only be suitable for bedding however nowadays a sale each making is almost weather proof less and less hay is being made the progress made in farming during the 20th century was already well underway in the 1930s for a lull nearly all of the work was still being done by horses many ingenious inventions were coming onto the market which made the farmers less dependent on manpower this one horse hey Turner again manufactured in Wexford could if the weather was famed save the hay without any hay pegs being used the spikes of the Turner would have lifted up any dumped grass and turned it over to be saved by the Sun there were various types of hay Turner's and kickers around at that time some pulled by one horse and sunbae to whichever way they were operated in the meadow these machines all had one thing in common they were slowly but surely doing away with the need for large-scale manpower on the farm between 1900 and 1930 the number of farm laborers on the land had halved and by the 1960s that number had halved again today farming is mostly a one-man operation any farmer with a machine like this one would have been very popular with his neighbors the horse-drawn hayrick had teeth which could be raised or lured using a lever in front of the driver's seat when the makings of a pig have been brought together the men are said about their tusks as they have done many times before it has no four days since the hay was cut four days of good dry weather and sunshine the men are building a hay peak which in spite of her in could be left in the field for a number of weeks and due course these hay Peaks will be removed to the stack and used to build them to one large stack he had to be completely dry before the large hey peak was built for if there was too much moisture in it that was likely to rot overheat and then very extreme kisses go on fire Patrick and his son Michael are making a grass root this would be used to tie down the stack a grass rope made from hay was quite strong and the nearly tames would have been used as harness for horses and donkeys a week later Patrick and Michael have started drawing the hate Peaks from the meadow to the yard where they will be mid into a larger stock and steward over the winter for many centuries the hay was simply forked from the hay peaks and built onto a hay cart hey carts varied from one part of the country to another some had to be loose lone if they were working hay ground first invented at the start of the 19th century this hay cart was a two-man operated pulley was capable of taking the entire pick onto the hay cart under louis low enough operation this method was used in farms until the advent of the buck rake during the 1950's the father-and-son team will clear this field of picks and before nightfall it was always a relief to see the hasteth lien as the quality of the hay determined the health and value of the farmers livestock and ultimately how much income the sale would bring in [Music]

Channel: Videos of Irish Farming Life

Views: 56,942

Keywords: Traditional Hay Making, Traditional, Hay, Making, Haymaking, Ireland, Irish, Irish Haymaking, Irish History, Hay Cart, Cart, Haybob, Horse, Farming, Vinatge, Vintage Farming, Irish Farming, Old FArming, Old haymaking, John Thompson Videos, Videos of Irish Farming Life, Buckrack, Hayrack, rack, hay stack, bob, Muckross, Farm, Muckross Farm, killarney, Kerry, Hay mking, Hymaking

Id: QklSj60zYok

Length: 8min 51sec (531 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 10 2020