Royal A. Purdy wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Vaughan Jones, F. W. Owen, and all; what do we, or does anyone on the
> Graze-L list, collectively know and / or remember about buck rakes,
> outdoor hay curing and storage, haystacks, hay trellis (Norwegian,
> Swedish)? Did commercial companies get into providing equipment for
> servicing this harvest technique? What where some of the more and less
> obvious considerations?
>
One of the first surface features that I noted upon flying into
Riga, Latvia in 1995, was the use of haycocks (?) in the fields.
Each had a movable frame which held the hay until dry; the hay
was then moved to another location. I would think that the
climate there favored such traditional methods. I assume other
countries in the area used the same or similar system, although I
did not travel throughout the region. I also saw more modern hay
making equipment in use.
There were a lot of small farms in Latvia, and they used the
older, traditional methods, including horses. There were many
instances where a cow was staked out to graze, and women would go
out to the cow and milk. There were also a few larger farms that
used larger tractors, combines, etc. Our host (Urban dweller)
toured us around the country, but we did not go onto any of the
farms, just observed them from the road.
It was interesting to see the mix of equipment, from wagons made
from what looked like converted military axels to large combines.
We came up behind a "Honey Wagon" (Name in English) - noting many
items with English names on them.
A little research in any of the countries in that area should
give you info on traditional hay making practices, since may are
still in use.
Leland Hubbell
