I live on three acres that were subdivided off of a quarter section (160 acres). The hundred and fifty seven acres that are left sit behind my house. It belongs to a friend of mine's family. Every year this family rents the field to farmers in the area to be hayed. The farmer hays the field and pays my friend's family based on the number of bales that are made. Every year we have lived here, except for this one, the same guy has hayed the field. He was very efficient. He would cut it, then rake it, and then bale it. One, two, three, just like that.
This year, we have someone new. Or someones. I can't really tell how many people actually rented this field. When the field was started, it was a guy on a little tractor with no roof, and he had a mower-conditioner. He started one day last week when it was blazing hot and worked for awhile then left. That was understandable, since it was so hot. So this went on for a number of days. Sometimes he would arrive at 10pm and start cutting. Then one day, there was a big fire in the field as they were burning old bales. That day, there were four trucks here and no work was done. I think someone brought hot dogs, maybe some marshmallows.
Then suddenly, all the hay was cut and it layed in the field for a day to dry. The next day, a baler showed up attached to the little tractor with no roof. The baler went around and around and pooped out bales every so often. In the evening, a new tractor with a brand new New Holland baler showed up. This tractor had a cab, and I assume air conditioning. The baler made square bales, instead of round ones. The next day, the little tractor with no roof was out baling, but the fancy one sat there all day in the sweltering heat. In the evening, the new tractor fired up and went around the field and made square ones.
A few days ago, someone came with a truck and a trailer and picked up all the square bales and left all the round ones. On this particular day, the air was very still. The tractor with no roof and the round baler went out to the far end of the field, followed by the truck. The tractor started putting bales on the truck. Suddenly a voice yelled 'You're doing it all WRONG! Put it down! Put it DOWN! F***!' A quarter section is 1/2 mile by 1/2 a mile (about 1km). I heard this voice from 1/2 a mile away. The truck stopped running. There was silence. Eventually the truck fired up again and drove back to the entrance of the field.
Today, all the round bales are in the field, as well as ALL the tractors and balers. I still don't know how many people actually worked that field.
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