Square Bale Chopper

Since there's little food value in the straw, there's a greater likelihood of getting mice in your farmhouse kitchen than a straw-bale building; plus, the rodents would need to gnaw through as much as two inches of plaster just to get to the bales.

Learning how to plant straw bale garden beds, on the ground or in a raised bed offers easy access to those who should not bend.Purchase bales of straw from a farmer's market or a local farmer.

If the twine eventually rots, the stakes will hold the bale together. Pull any weeds that appear. Locate the bale where the plants will receive at least six hours of sunlight every day.Drive a metal stake into the ground directly behind each end of the...

If they are no longer heating and all danger of frost has passed, then you may begin planting.Transplant your strawberries into the bales, four to six plants per bale. As the bales continue to decompose, they hold more water and retain it for a longer...

Take breaks to cool off and escape from the sun. Keep fans running when and where possible. With enough people and multiple wagons, you can even have one team baling hay while another works on unloading each wagon as it gets filled—a very efficient...

The pieces can be placed directly on top of the ground. Straw makes a great cover for growing potatoes. The 2 feet will allow the potatoes to grow and spread under the straw. They can also grow in almost any type of soil, and it is even easy to grow them...

First, it gives you plenty ofin the middle of the summer growing season, when most of the freely available ingredients are green. If the plants look identical, the compost is safe for food crops.

Another advantage is the fact that the straw itself is a waste material from farming. If a potential client lives in a very humid area, where the climate does not have a significant drying season, then straw-bale construction may not be the right choice.

Weeding Is Minimal If you feel that weeding your garden on a weekly basis is highly overrated—and who doesn't?— hay-bale gardening is right up your alley. Most of the weeds in your bale will be grass or grain starts that are super-easy to pull out...

If appearance isn't a concern, consider placing your compost bin on a future garden-bed site. The bin height should not exceed 6 feet to avoid compaction and lack of oxygen from too much weight; plus, any taller could be unstable if not properly situated...

It's possible to remove individual feedings by gradually unwinding the bale and forking them off, but it's hard work and often results in a lot of waste. Large round bales: Ranging between 500 and 1,800 pounds, these bales are the most economical type...

It also makes excellent winter mulch. I can attest from experience. Straw bales retain moisture very well so they only need watering a couple of times a week unless the weather is unusually hot.At the end of the season, cut the string on your bales and...

If the straw is not dry enough to bale, the farmer allows it to set on the uncut stubble for several hours before baling. In northern states wheat is planted in the late fall and harvest the following summer around July.

Then you need to feed it efficiently, as every mouthful of wasted hay adds up to wasted money. Horses should never be offered moldy hay. Finding a good deal on hay or learning to make it yourself are ways to maximize your hay dollar.

Two of our balers, the New Holland Model 565 and John Deere's Model 328, are configured in the traditional manner: The baler operates offset to the right side of the tractor with the hay wagon trailing behind the baler.

“Buying by the bale can make it difficult to compare prices between and within bale types. “Ideally, the app will be used to compare prices of hay with similar forage nutritive values,” Martinson says.

This article first appeared in the January/February 2013 issue of Hobby Farms. Find a lab in your area by contacting your local cooperative-extension office or the National Forage Testing Association (402-466-7677).

The seed head is the most toxic part of the plant. It flourished as a wild plant and was officially discovered in Kentucky in 1931, then released in 1943 as Kentucky 31 Fescue. Unusually thick umbilical cords are hard to break, and placentas can be so...

So with my current pairs of leather gloves starting to show their age, I picked up a new pair for this hay season. The leather gloves that I use for haying eventually develop holes in the fingers where the baling twine repeatedly contacts them.

But the alternatives aren't always satisfactory either: let the crop go to waste or arrange for custom baling. Abbriata manufactures the Abbriata M50 small round baler for 18-horsepower and larger tractors with center drawbars, lateral drawbars or three-point...

July and August were equally wet months, making second cutting blur into third cutting. Unfortunately, even hemlock falls victim to the harsh weather eventually. We called off the combining, not wishing to ruin the combine with the mush of the weeds.

Some of the most common include: Grass: Hay can be made from many types of grass, with timothy, bermudagrass and orchardgrass being common choices. But as with any crop, growing hay has its share of complexities and challenges that must be considered...

Add the wine if you are using it and raise the heat to evaporate the wine.Add the simmering vegetable broth (or boiling water and a little salt) 1 cup at a time, stirring frequently with a long wooden spoon or fork, over highest heat.

During the Industrial Revolution in 1796, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which allowed cotton to be processed more quickly. Cotton fabric is appreciated because it is lightweight and breathable.

Straw is one of the best mulch materials you can use around your vegetable plants. If you pileinstead of hilling up the soil, the potatoes will grow cleaner and be easier to find at the end of the season.

It was definitely compost, but not the fine seedbed texture that I've grown accustomed to here on Illinois' old riverbeds.Plus, the only gardening chore that I cannot force myself to do, in fact have NEVER done, is shovel soil.

A simple, natural way to feed large, stalled animals is the Noble Panels and Gates' large, sturdy corner feeder manufactured of seamless molded poly- urethane. Basic Feeders A wide variety of feeders are designed to serve individually portioned concentrates...