We had a Hay Day!

Lynn's daughter, Janelle, has a pony (Star), who like most horses loves hay. (I learned that she is officially a pony, because she is only 13 1/2 hands, and to be a horse they must be at least 14 1/2 hands). At any rate, it was time to store up some hay in the barn to keep the pony happy and well-fed.

While we were waiting for the hay truck to arrive, Janelle introduced Star to the two boys we had hired to help us, Jacob and Peter. I think they even fed her some carrots.

I couldn't believe the big load of hay that arrived; I don't know what I was expecting, but Lynn siad they ordered 150 bales.

With the help of the elevator, the process began. The man we bought the hay from, Dale, had brought to guys with him to help as well. So Dale and one of the guys stayed below and loaded bales onto the elevator.

I think Lynn said the bales weighed about 50 pounds each. They pretty much hefted them up with out any trouble.

My pictures up in the hayloft didn't turn out real well--most of them were blurry. Also the sun was coming in the window, which caused some glare. These were the guys helping Lynn in the Loft, from left to right, one of the guys that came with Dale, Jacob and Peter.

This is Lynn in the background, stacking the bales as the guys got them off the elevator. As I said, not the best picture, but you can see the bales of hay--they were about 3/4 done at this point.

Dale was very interested in taking a tour of the barn; it is only about 7 years old, and the Amish helped build it. Then of course, Dale also had to meet Star. He also has horses, and they were showing him Star's front hooves that they've been nursing back to health for several months. (They had abscesses because of Cushing's disease, and the bone structure of the one hoof is somewhat deformed because of it.) But she's a loveable pony, and they've come a long way in getting her hooves healed.

Fortunately, I didn't have to lift any bales--we had lots of good help for that. My job was strictly as photographer, and now recorder. However, it was very interesting to watch this process, and Star will definitely not run out of hay for a long time!