Getting Ready to Work at the Ute Farm

The balers are readyThe baler operators are almost ready! Robby and John pose for the camera, while Robby finishes his sandwich...
Benny and Jack make a necessary repair on the rake. And they're off!

Cutting the Hay

Rotary swathers cut the alfalfa and lay it down in tidy rows.

Take a look at the swather coming toward you...

Raking

After the swathers have cut the alfalfa, the rake operators combine two windrows into one. Benny is checking the rake to make sure it's in superb working order.

The Hesston 4790 baler hooked to the New Holland TJ245 tractor. Carter loves the Blue Tractors!The bale on the ground was just dropped off the shoot - notice the small cloud of dust hovering above it.

The alfalfa is packaged into a 3' by 4' bale that's about 8 feet long and has six strings of baler twine holding it together. The bales weigh between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds.

Stacking the Bales

To stack the bales in the stack-yard, this machine is used. It requires quite a bit of skill to operate it properly.

First, the Stinger picks up a bale...

Then, the bales are set up vertically in two steps...