Swathing

West of the Mississippi people don’t “cut” hay. They swath the hay.

When you look up the word on online dictionaries, it is listed as a noun. Here, people use it as a verb. “I’m going to swath the big pivot.”

The first few months we lived in Kansas, the hay broker/hay manager for the farm would correct me every single time I would say “cut”. The lesson was quickly learned.

They don’t use a mower. It’s a swather.

This year alfalfa was swathed. Sometimes we get to ride along as a family.

The cab area is fairly large. There is a driver seat and a passenger seat.

While swathing, Matt watches in front of him, to the sides, his gauges, the controls, his windrows and his side mirrors.

I watch the scenery, the kiddos, sing songs, and enjoy the air conditioning and the scenery.

The alfalfa is swathed, dried for a few days, sometimes raked (depending on the moisture level or how wet it is), and baled at a high humidity. Here in Wyoming the humidity is best between 2am-9am. Good alfalfa is not a classic “hay” color of yellow or gold. It puts up as a nice light green. The lighter the color of alfalfa, the less nutrients, less protein, less leaves, etc.

We enjoy riding in the swather. It gives us good family time and time to talk to each other.

Swathing.