Cornstalk Bales

Back on September 20, one of those “golden hour” photo opportunities appeared.  I was feeding milk bottles to calves around 7 p.m. and happened to gaze yonder into the field.  Yup….it looked photo-worthy, so I dropped everything and dashed to the house for the camera.

What you are looking at is one of our cornfields which had  been hit hard by a very strong wind the week before.  It happened in the middle of the night and the next morning we were quite dismayed at the sight we saw in the field.  But, what can you do about it?  Absolutely nothing.  

Part of that downed field was harvested earlier this week.  The combine could be driven only one way through the field, due to the direction the cornstalks were laying.

Remember that net wrap I mentioned in yesterday’s post?  It has been used to make some cornstalk bales already.   

Here is the very dusty baler:

And, next is a close-up of the net wrap:

Due to the wind damage, there were many ears of corn that ended up on the ground and consequently they escaped being swallowed up by the combine.  Instead, their fate was to become imprisoned within the cornstalk bales!

These bales will be used as bedding in the cattleshed this winter.  Looks like bedtime snacks for the livestock are included! 

Click here to read one of my earlier posts about cornstalk baling.

Click here to view one of my posts about baling hay.  (It is from two years ago, and I had fun reading it again.)