Ridge Runner Chronicles: Puttin’ Up The Hay and Being Glad It Is Over
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By Bill Hoagland
Most city folks have no idea how satisfying it is to be finished putting up hay and having a sufficient supply for winter. But those of us who rely on a supply of hay to feed critters over the winter know how nerve-racking this can be—especially this year when it seemed to rain every day from June until early August. You need three dry days in a row to get the job done with tall bluestem and we had serious doubts that was going to happen this year. In fact, on one of the days that we did square bales, it rained hard just two miles from our hay field. (Rain on a field of cut hay could ruin it; it causes mold that could make the horses sick or it could ultimately cause a spontaneous combustion in that barn full of hay—another of many risks to worry about.) So we are thankful for breaks in the weather.
We are also thankful for the help we got getting that nasty job done. Our thanks go to Mike Wendle, and his dad, Mike Sr., who cut, raked and baled both the squares and the round bales at Annie’s barn despite temperatures pushing 100 degrees. And the baling equipment worked without breaking down, something that usually is a recurring pucker factor. I also want to mention those teen agers and young adults who toughed it out, who did not disappear on us after promising to be there and who moved the bales from the fields to the barn. Let’s face it; kids playing high school football get their names on the sports page but kids doing hay are never given the recognition they deserve. It requires as much athleticism as football—tossing those 70 pound wire-tied bales of hay in the heat until the job is done—but the names of these “athletes” never appear in the sports page so why not give them some deserved recognition too? So here goes:
From Calhoun County, we had Blake Nolte, Jacob Snyders, Gage Keil, Pat Friedel and Cooper Klocke. From Jersey and Madison Counties, we had Eric Abbott, Patrick Bargill, Tim Bargill, Dylan Adams, JD Crafton, Wyatt Hall and two young ladies, Amelia Pattan and Sophie Rose. The adults driving trucks included Mike Tickner, Brian Abbott and my son, Tom Hoagland. Finally, in Calhoun County, doing round bales was Travis Hagen, Luke Brannan and my son, Joe Hoagland. Great job, everyone.
So where do I fit in this well-organized outfit? I thought I was the “Assistant Crew Chief” but the “Senior Crew Chief” advised she did not want the “Assistant Crew Chief” picking up hay bales because I would complain about my back for the rest of the week. Me? Complain? Nor did she want me pulling a hay wagon with “Rust Bucket”, my 21 year old pick-up truck, because it might set the hay field on fire. So Rust Bucket and I were relegated to the bull pen but the bull pen phone never rang. It is just as well, and all more the reason to appreciate what other folks did to help out. (And if you too had farm help in this record breaking heat, maybe a little appreciation to your workers, be they family or friends, wouldn’t be a bad idea either.)
Note: My faith in young folks putting down the electronics and doing some real work has been restored.
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ν Bill Hoagland has practiced law in Alton for more than 50 years, but he has spent more than 70 years hunting, fishing and generally being in the great outdoors. His wife, Annie, shares his love of the outdoor life. Much of their spare time is spent on their farm in Calhoun County. Bill can be reached at [email protected].
