Saturday 28 June 2008

Farming - a glamorous profession

33 acres of grass off the farm are now tucked under plastic, a couple of miles away, pickling in their own juices to make lush silage for next winter to feed hungry cows.
If you ever wondered what happened to the car tyres that aren't turned into chi-chi playthings, the answer is that farms everywhere can never have enough of them to hold down the enormous sheets of plastic that keep the air out of the silage clamp.
I wear gloves to load the telehandler grab with the tyres (you can see a load at the far left of the picture), eyes out for rats curled among the sun warmed rubber. Last year I found toads, but no joy today. I do get nicely splashed with the ancient rain water and mud that slops inside the tyres; a free face pack.
Week after next, if the weather does as it's told, there will be much ado about haymaking.

8 comments:

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Never knew that about car tyres!

Anonymous said...

Yes, I always wondered what all those piles of tyres on farms were for . . . never thought to ask, of course.

PS Hope your elderflower champagne is doing better than mine.

KAZ said...

I'm wondering if you get to order all those big chaps about.

Lindsay said...

Muddy water in old car tyres smells disgusting - poor you!

garfer said...

I don't fancy hay making, but I wouldn't mind the lashings of cider that go with the task.

Actually, farming's all high tech these days so cider drinking and straw chewing is probably banned by EU Directive.

menopausaloldbag (MOB) said...

You give a great insight into farming. I'm regularly educated when I pop by - keep up the good work!

Whispering Walls said...

Make hay while the sun shines

Mopsa said...

Welshcakes - and now you do!

60-16 - it isn't foaming as much as it should :(

Kaz - nope - they've all done it a million times before. But a lot of ribbing goes on.

Lindsay - yup!

Garfer - if you want hi tech look at my recent post on robotics!

MOB - happy to be of service...

WW - we're trying!