Getting More Hay During Winter

         Everything gets more complicated in the winter.  Here is an account of me getting hay in January of 1993.

    That Saturday, I needed to get some more hay for my goats, because I only had about a week’s worth left to feed them.  The temperature had moderated a bit, rising to -21°C (-6°F).  Hefting and hauling hay bales was always a pretty physical job, but having to do it in the winter made it worse, because of all of the additional chores that needed to be done first.

    I hadn’t driven the truck for several weeks, so I plugged in the truck’s block heater, hoping the engine would warm up and be more apt to start.  Because the truck had just been sitting outside for weeks, it was covered with snow.  About 10 inches of hardened snow had accumulated on top of the truck’s cab, its hood, and in its bed.  I shoveled it all off best I could, trying not to put any more scratches or dents on its already scar-covered body.

    Once the snow was off of the truck, I carried my snow shovel over to the area in front of the barn doors, clearing all of the snow away, so that once I got the hay, I would be able to drive to the barn to unload it.  Happily, when all those things were done and I was ready to get the hay, and when I turned the key in the ignition, my old GMC truck started.

    I had made arrangement to get the bales of hay just up the road at Zimmerman’s farm.  Their barn had been very moist inside because of the cows, and the moisture had condensed around the edges of the barn doors then iced up, so we had to spend some time breaking the ice loose, before we were able to get the barn doors open.  

    That done, I loaded 49 bales of hay making a high stack on the back of my pickup, tied it down, then carefully drove it back home to my barn.  Unloading the bales from the truck was a time consuming job.  I loosened the ropes securing the bales, then climbed up onto the roof of the pickup’s cab, and started throwing the hay bales bales down to the ground.

    Once a pile bales had piled up down in the snow, I climbed down from the cab roof and began carrying those bales into the barn and stacked them. Then once again, climbed back onto the top of the cab, and continued that process of throwing the bales down, then hefting them to the barn, many times until I had finally gotten all of the heavy bales stacked in the barn.

    It was a lot of work on a cold day, and I was exhausted, but I was also satisfied to have finally secured enough hay to get the goats through the rest of the winter.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca