Haymaking

The hay has been cut, laid on the ground to dry and has now been raked into nice heaps before someone is fetching to put in a barn for later use as food for whatever animal needing it when they are indoors during the cold season.

This is part of a meadow-project around here. The meadows are being kept in an old fashion way, following an annual cycle like so: In April/May twigs wood and leaves are raked away from the meadow to let air and light get to the roots of the grass. In July, when the seeds are ripe the grass is chopped off using scythes, left to dry, put in heaps and then into the barn. Two weeks after the harvest, cattle ar let into the meadow to graze. In August, thin branches with leaves are taken down, put in bunches and stored as extra feed for the animals, particularly important if the hay-harvest was poor. From October to April the meadow is kept clean from young trees, wild grown branches and other things keeping the light out. Then everything starts all over again.

The extra shows one of the wells on "Alvaret", where the cattle is grazing. As you can see there is not a right lot of water left. We (the cows) need a lot more rain to fill up the water supplies.