Haymaking at Grandview

‘Haymaking at Grandview’ is an article written by Stan Kane, the first president of the Upper Clutha Historical Records Society (now known as the Upper Clutha History Society). It was written in 1984 and has undergone minor edits for accuracy.

My earliest memories of hay were a small area below the old dam which used to supply water for the water wheel (just above the present hay sheds). It was an area cleared of tall matagouri but still surrounded by some. Cut by the conventional mower pulled by two horses. After it dried a bit, it was raked into rows with the dump rake. One horse in the shafts, a seat for the operator, it gathered the hay till it was full then you pressed a trip lever with our foot. Patrols in the hub of the axles would lift the tines and so a row was started and you went back and forward making it all into rows. Then you would go along the rows till it gathered as much as possible and then trip again leaving it in heaps. It could then be made into ‘cocks’ using pitch forks and left to cure, then forked onto a dray and carted to a stack where it was forked off the dray and the stack built to a waterproof standard. Problems were the tines often broke crossing water races on rough ground. The wind would blow the hay around when drying in the rows and it was all hard work.

To pick up a forkful of hay, you had to organise an amount you could lift and be sure it was free to lift, not tangled under other hay that you couldn't lift. It had to be spread evenly round the dray was to get a good load on. Drays had a "frame" generally two sticks of 3 x 2 fitted out over the body right round. You built round the outside and then filled in the middle and when unloading you removed the middle first. To build a stack, you had to keep a good “heart” in it so as it always ran the water out. The centre of the stack had to be well trampled as the centre sank more than the outsides.

A problem was the hay forked off the dray on to one side of the stack, tended to consolidate that area more and the “stacker” had the responsibility of seeing the stack ended up evenly made with the inside always higher than the outside so that it ran the water out. Size of the stack depended on amount of hay to be stacked, generally 9 to 12 feet wide and 18 to 30 feet long. The sides would generally be straight up for 6 feet or so and then the top tapered in gradually. When finished, you put a wire along the top and 3 or 4 cross wire, all with weights on the ends, 4 feet above the ground so that as the stack sunk, the weights were still working. This was necessary to prevent the hay blowing away in strong winds. Winds were always the bug bear for handling hay by this method. You could not fork it against the wind easily.

The weights consisted of a varied assortment of articles, plough wheels were popular or any steel object you could get wire on to. In latter years concrete weights were made with a horse shoe sticking out or a rabbit trap. If a stack of this loose hay got wet, or took in water in some places, it caused a rotten patch all the way down in the stack. When feeding it out, this always made the forking more difficult and of course nothing would eat it. If the hay was stacked a bit green, it would “cement” in the stack and be very difficult to lift out even though stock usually ate it. The hay would be forked back on to the dray and taken to the stock with the horse in dray and as the old horse walked around, the paddock, you forked it out.

Over the years, I think haymaking has seen more changes than anything else in farming. Next the horse sweep was invented, where two horsespushed a set of wooden prongs in front of them and when they had gathered a load, the prongs were lifted up level and the horses took the load to the stack, and a ‘strong’ man forked it on to the stack. Much less affected by wind and saved an extra handling but it could only operate economically over a short distance. Then you could not fork it as high off the ground as off the dray.

Then came along a wonderful invention called the high elift stacker invented by International Harvester. You drove the whole sweep load on to a similar platform. The whole load was pulled up to a certain height by a horse pulling a wire rope through a series of pulleys and then tipped over on to the stack, and the stack builder spread it out. All that was needed was a child or a woman to lead the horse out to pull the load up. We bought our one second hand from McCarthys at Hawea Flat. The framework and prongs were made mainly of Canadian oregon timber, strong and light but rotted away left outside for years so very little is left to be seen as a museum piece, although the horse sweep is more or less in tact.

An interesting part of it is the pole straps which used to be fastened on to the bottom of the horse's collar so that they could pull the sweep back. For several years, old Tom McKay from Luggate in his seventies, used to drive the sweep for us with Gip and Baldy the horses. A problem was water races when the prongs would dig in and occasionally break one. Fraser Urquhart from Hawea caused a sensation when he fitted a sweep on to the front of an early tractor and by a series of pulleys and wire rope, lifted the sweep load up and tipped it direct on to the stack so that with the mobility of the tractor, it was faster and disposed of the lift stacker. Then with the invention of hydraulics on tractors, a buck-rake was invented with steel prongs to work off the three point linkage and then the ultimate was the push-off stacker. A sweep with steel prongs that could be lifted to any height in front of the tractor and a lever to operate a mechanism to push the load off.

More progress and a baler was invented and the square bales came into being about three feet long and 15 inches square. The first one we had we got second hand from Stuart Faulks at Mt Barker through Nancy Harris MASSEY agent although it was a Booth & MacDonald machine. We plonked it in the middle of the 10 acre paddock and brought the hay to it with the horse sweep. Forked the hay into it which the plunger pushed into the bale chamber and when you thought you had enough, you plonked in a wooden block which divided it into bales. Another man sat beside the bale chamber and tied each bale by hand with two wires. The wire were bought in bundles ready cut with a lop on one end. It was black wire about lacing wire thickness. Then the bales had to be hawked up and stacked in a heap and then of course, no protection of the weather. The machine kept continually breaking down and when the agent sent me the account, he congratulated me on buying it so cheap. I said I would be delighted if he could get rid of it for me and fortunately he did. I never regretted passing on that experience. When you fed the hay out, you had the problem of disposing of the wires. They were like rabbits, popped up all over the farm for years to come.

Improvements in design to the hay rake came along, Booth MacDonald invented the side-rake driven off the wheel. Three rows of prongs on revolving ends worked the hay sideways until it was left in an even continuous row. Originally it was designed to put two 4'6" horse-mower swaths into one. It had a slight disadvantage off knocking the leaf off drying lucerne hay.

Not long after this invention came the Bamford finger wheel rake. This was a series of 6 or 7 discs with fingers all around, then which revolved from the pressure of the tines on the ground. As they were floating, each disc followed the contour of the land and hay was gently moved to the side depending on the speed it is drawn. The angle could be varied to suit the swath as required. This rake has remained one of the most popular till present day.

The advent of the tractor into farming in early 1940's saw haymaking gradually mechanised. As always, there was heart-burning decisions to make. The horse mower was very easy to hop off and clear blocks in the knife etc. Cut a nice square corner and so on and so on. However, the power driven mower gradually superseded. The first ones had 6 ft cutter bar as against 4ft 6". Being power driven knife, it didn't seem to block as easily and although more of a hassle to stop the tractor and disengage to dismount and clear a block, it was worth it.

The first mowers you had to remove the whole draw-bar frame and then mount the mower directly to the axle of the tractor and you had to lift the cutter bar with a hand lever, a strong man job. We found a 7 ft bar more economical to cut lucerne as it was easy to cut but in tough cutting grass, the 6 ft bar was better.

Gradually tractors were improved. The 3-point linkage was invented. This meant the mower was much easier to put on and off and most of all that it could be lifted with the hydraulics system. Then came along the live-power take-off drive system. A great invention where you depressed clutch halfway and tractor stopped moving but the power drive kept the mower working. To stop the power drive, you depressed the clutch the full distance. Thus many clogs could be cleared by stopping tractor, keeping power drive going and raising and lowering the cutter bar on the hydraulics. A vast improvement on the horse mower which depended on the turning wheels to drive the blade and a strong arm to raise the cutter bar.

Then came the ultimate invention, for the time being at any rate. The self-propelled windrower, again invented first by International Harvestor Co. A IOR cut or 12 ft cut with its own motor to propel it, it could really cover the ground where 5 acres could be cut with the horses, 30 acres could be cut with the windrower. It was called a windrower because the cut material was not left the full width but elevated across from each end by short canvas revolving to a gap in the centre, bearing all the material in a narrow row thus eliminating side-raking.

Shortly after the crusher was invented which put the row through rollers and crushed the stems to facilitate the time it took to dry and made a "softer" hay. The planetary drive invention on the International was an unusual invention. By a system of drums and bands and variable pulleys and V belts, you steered it with two levers. Pull one to go left and one to go right, and both hard back to reverse. By varying the size of the pulleys, the speed could be altered as you went. This drive enabled you to cut a nice square corner and had no steering wheel or gear drives. You could go straight into a paddock and the hay was cut in front of you and there was no off-set wheels running over the uncut material. However, this machine proved costly in upkeep and soon the New Holand Haybine became more popular. It was virtually reverting to the power mower system 7 ft or 9 ft cut with wide roller crushers that threw it into a neat row behind. It's amazing how the fingers and blades stand up to stony ground without damage compared to the old horse-mower. Other mowers have been invented to which are on the principle of the small garden rotary mowers. We had one, an Ivory, used mainly for topping long grass. Three separate rotary blades making a 7 ft cut. Other types have several discs close to the ground with two pivoted cutting blades so that if they strike a stone, they can spring back.

To go back to baling hay, there was great excitement and expectations when the automatic twine tying baler reached the country. Ray Gillespie, a contractor at the Luggate bridge, had the first in the area, the first year they were imported to the country. He had his machine ready for work and we had the first hay cut and he asked if he could bale it for us, so as to try out his marvellous machine. It could have been the first hay in New Zealand baled with the automatic baler. Pulled with the tractor, it went round and round the paddock spilling out bales neatly tied. 50t International model had its own motor but walking around the paddock gathering up the bales, one here, one there, throwing them on to a trailer was rather tedious work, so when it came to Ray baling a paddock for us, I asked him if we could tie a sledge on behind. This proved a great advancement where a man stood on the sledge with a roller on the back edge and then made a neat heap of eight bales and pushed them off all in a line. You could drive along the line and throw on the bales and stack your truck or trailer with comparative ease, what was more, you could drive on the side to suit the wind and all the dust did not blow back on your face.

Then came the push-off stacker or front end loader which picked up the whole heap and pushed it off neatly onto the truck or carried it to a stack being built in a paddock. I think haymaking must have seen more ideas or inventions than any other farm business. A sledge type was invented that just dragged the bales along and the operator on the tractor pulled a cord to leave them in rows. This did away with a man doing a dirty job and left the owner freer to bale when Hay was ready on his own.

Another idea which we did not get around to using was a sledge which left about 6 or 8 bales all nearly placed together and the stacking tractor had a front end loader with claw type grabbing fingers which picked them all up on the flat and placed them neatly on a truck or stack with very little man handling. For many years we used an elevator attached to the side of the truck and the bales were not sledged. You drove the truck around the paddock and the elevator picked them up and left them at a convenient height for men to stack on the truck. Usually two men stacking the truck and one driving. All man-handling work on and off but our first hayshed 18ft high, had a bank on one side 6 ft high which saved a lot of lifting and worked very well when you brought the truck in on the high side or low side to suit.

In later years, the first truck was turned into a 22 ft deck trailer and towed with the tractor. The heaps of bales were stacked as is by the front end loader or stacker type which squeezed the heaps with a prong on either side which meant the heaps of 13 bales or so, were not disturbed and lifted off the trailer on to the stack as is before being disturbed. By using the big trailer drawn with the tractor, a truck with a light trailer behind, a lot could be done with a minimum of manual work.

To go back to the balers, it was soon found that to make good hay and retain the lucerne leaf, it had to be done exactly when hay was ready. Usually 2 or 3 hours in the morning with a light dew so it soon became apparent that we needed our own machine. Our first 50T International we bought half share with neighbour Bill Atkins. As technology improved, the 50T bale became obsolete and power take-off models the 'in' thing. Also improvements to knotter design. first one was always making 'loose' bales and inevitably someone had to sit on it in the dust and tie the odd loose ones. So Model 46 International came along and then Model 47. It was also found by baling in the cool of the night, better hay was made without the harsh sun and wind on it. But always the weather dictated when hay was ready to bale.

With the small square bales of hay, it soon became apparent if they were stacked outside a lot of wastage occurred in spite of all ideas and efforts to avoid it. On Grandview it seemed ideally suited to haysheds near the home machinery sheds. There was miles of main road and good access roads and it proved much better in the long room to cart it all home and stock in the sheds. It was much more convenient in the winter to load the truck with as many bales as needed and drive to the paddock in the comfort of a cab. If hay had been stacked in the middle of the paddock it was made from, you invariably had to fence it off from the sheep and then when getting in and out to it in the winter, the paddock got cut up or you had to use a tractor as the truck would get stuck. Feeding out of course, was easier if some one drove the truck or tractor while the other put the hay off.

Then came the big round bale invention. It was weather proof and all done by machinery. More machinery to be matched by more machinery. The baler, were experience and still used string, though no knotters. They put approx 20 square bales into one round so you could not man handle if you wanted to. So front-end loaders with prongs to suit were necessary and to clear the paddock stacked on truck and trailer in the same way as heaps of square bales. To stack in the shed, they are much more difficult and you can only utilise about 2/3 to % of the shed. If stacked outside singly, they turn most of the rain but draw moisture from the ground. If stacked in a heap outside, they can rot even worse than square bales.

Every year sees more bright ideas for machinery to feed them out. The first simple idea was a prong in each end of the bale and roll it along hopefully to unroll as it was made. Now power-driven chains give a more positive method. It is essential to use a tractor (not too small) and very desirable to have a cab on the tractor to travel around on the winter mornings. It can all be fed out with one man making the tractor do all the work.

To go back to haysheds, it soon became inevitable to keep the square bales, they needed to be stacked in a shed. Our first one was built by Bernie & Clive Umbers from Wanaka. Being shortly after the war, building materials such as corrugated iron were hard to get and of course "treated" timber had not been invented then. We chose tram rail for uprights as Dunedin trams were being done away with in favour of trolley buses. There is no doubt about their strength and lasting quality but, oh, they were difficult to work with. Cut to right length and blow holes for bolts to attach the roofing to them etc. Our shed was 18ft sides and 21 ft along centre ridge. For centre uprights, we cut thin pine trees 21ft long and being entirely inside, we hoped they would last. I am pleased to say they are still lasting 30 years later and of course, no preservative treatment. For roofing, some bright person had hit on the idea of using tar drums. Being in plentiful supply, they cut the ends out, cut down the side and put them through a corrugating machine which gave a final effect of imitating a sheet of corrugated iron. But were they hard to work with, much thicker, you couldn't drive a nail into them and had to punch the hole first and of course, the overlap took a lot of holding. The person doing the corrugating discovered it was easier to put it in off-square so you can imagine what it was like to get them all matching for a finished job.

There was a lot of sore fingers around. Added to that was the tar still on them. I have vivid memories of Bernie getting cramp one day. 21ft up he stretched out on his back on top of the edge of the ridging timber. It made me dizzy to look at him and look down to the ground. We had a favourite saying on a frosty morning "someone has been here with a white-wash brush". Another favourite was "come on Clive, get cracking". As we had a young family, I thought it would be a good idea if he travelled from Wanaka each day, I l miles as is normal nowadays. After some hesitancy, he said "Alright, we will be down for breakfast at seven". However, that hayshed has had one thing in its favour. The rusty colour of the roof matches the environment much better than shiny new corrugated iron.

Ensilage: Someone discovered you could bale green fresh-cut hay quite easily despite the fact that hay, a little too green, was hopeless to get through the baler. So the "in thing" was to make baled ensilage. Being green, an ordinary sized bale was hopelessly heavy to handle. So handy-man Ray Gillespie made a special attachment which tripped the bales at half length. So we made a few acres of this by the hay-shed but then we had nowhere to put them in so we had to get Billy Bell down with his bulldozer and make a pit. Then we had no mechanical means of handling them so put the dray "frame" on the sledge and had a low lift and then stacked them in the pit. For some strange reason, strings do not rot under these circumstances and the bales can be lifted out, carted out like hay, years later.

An interesting experiment that was never repeated, I don't know why. The special attachments made for the baler still lie around. But in those days, even as now, it was felt if ewes had too long a winter on hay, a feed of ensilage was more sapping for them. In the long run, there seems to be still nothing better than good lucerne hay well made. The next time we made ensilage, we had a surplus of grass half a mile away, so we borrowed Jack Lethbridge's ensilage chopper and basket and carted it in one load at a time with the tractor. Quite well made ensilage for its day but it stayed in the pit for many years before we used it.

Then came the very latest idea “vacuum silage”. Seemed to be invented by a chap Potter in Gore who specialised in selling plastic sheeting. Again we baled it and lifted it on to the truck with the hay elevator which attached to the side of the truck. Stacked in the corner of the paddock with a plastic sheet under it, when the stack was complete you covered it all over with sheeting and joined it with an ingenious idea of pressing plastic piping inside an open piping, then you proceeded to vacuum it. The rage was to use a disused milking machine pump and so by extracting all the air, you had perfect ensilage. But it seems the odd straw butt made the old holes in the cover and let the air in. I remember Potter looking at the completed job with me one day and after inspection he said you will end up bulldozing all this over the bank. However I seem to remember the cattle enjoying chewing away at it most of the winter and some good garden manure later on.

In 1998 the rage seems to be to wrap haylage with plastic. The material is made into round bales while it is much greener than hay and wrapped several times with a plastic material. Naturally there is a cost, approximately $8 for individual bales or less if all done in one row. Another method is to make big square bales instead of round bales. They can be wrapped with plastic too and made into hay or haylage, depending on how much the material has dried before baling. It is important that the plastic does not get punctured and allow air into the haylage. Round bales of hay do not require plastic covering. They require heavy machinery to handle them.

Another method is to cart the green material into a pit and consolidate it well, rolling it with the tractors then covering with plastic weighted down with old tyres. Haylage is wilted for some hours before harvesting while ensilage is handled immediately after cutting.

Haymaking at Lake Hāwea