Below is a memory from the very early 50's probably 51 or 52 as electricity was established in our area in 1953.

 Author: Ralph Roggenbuck West Fargo, ND

Hay Day

When it was a "HAY DAY" and I was young; it meant Hard Work. Everyone and everything, had to go and that meant NOW! The time required to make hay was long and the time frame was short. This meant every available minute that could be used was. The normal farm chores were done earlier and later than the normal sequences.

Now with daybreak before 5:30 and nightfall almost 11 o-clock for the few prime weeks arduous days were the standard. The mower was a sickle mower pulled by horses. While, just the mowing, was going on only one person, my dad, had the real long days. My mother, brothers and I were busier on the normal yard activities, feeding, watering, cleaning etc. of the cattle, pigs, and chickens.

The horse mower that I remember was a 6 foot McCormick-Deering pulled by the work team. They were just mostly white medium sized draft horses of no particular breed. They were about the same size and worked well together. The left horse was a mare named "Faye"; while the right side partner was a gelding named "Tom". They had been together even as colts.

When I was old enough to begin to remember them they were probably 6 or 7 years old. I was very young and afraid of them. I really didn't have any reason to be afraid of them, but, I was. By the time I was actually able to help with the haying, dad had gone to a tractor mower. He still used the horse team for raking with a dump rake. The rake we had either had no brand name or I just don't remember it.

A dump rake does exactly as it's name implies. It dumps. because, a hook attached to the rake teeth is pushed into a cog that is attached to the wheel and turns with it. This hook is engaged with a foot pedal by the rake operator The system is designed to only go so far and then disengage; just by the design of the catching mechanism The hay field is first raked into straight lines called windrows. Then they are raked together by going 90degrees from the lay of the windrows. When the rake is full it is then dumped.

These are called haycocks. The hay cocks were then hand forked in to a hay rack by a pitchfork. Yes it looked just like the one on "Green Acres". Usually the hay load was walked down to pack it so the rack would haul more. We did use the horses to pull the hay rack for several years. The load was then hauled to the yard and stacked. Again by hand; and someone walking the stacks to pack the hay down.

The horses had normal horse harness for the rake and some accessories for the heck of it! Supposedly they helped. The accessories were nose baskets. Like a small wire minnow net that "kept the flies off the horses noses".

The other fashion accessory that I remember was the blinders "kept the horses from seeing right beside them and so wouldn't be as easily startled"! Whether or not any of these worked is still disputed.

The hay fields also had other attractions to keep you occupied. This was prairie hay; not lush cultivated grass. Thistles and prairie needles were very prevalent; along with foxtail and a few cockleburs just to keep you awake. As if these were not enough to make you hate the "TRAMPING" you also seemed to attract every fling ant, wasp, bee, horse-fly, and any other crawling, flying and BITING thing that was out there. To add even more to the fun was the nice cool upper 90's temperature that usually occurred during "HAY DAY"!

The water supply was a beat up old metal clad jug. It kept it cool for at least the first 15-20 minutes and after that you had hot water to drink. The nearby coulees had ripe wild fruit and cool shade; sometimes it was possible to sneak away for a few minutes, but not over 10. Just as a frosting for the perfect day any serious dust removal was either a dip in the livestock watering tank, closest waterhole, or a pan and wash cloth.

Running water and electricity were not available. I much prefer the air-conditioned cab of the swather, tractor, or modern bale wagon now used for a good share of this past glory! The above story is real,

Thanks for letting me share my memories.
just rjR