Making hay - a long story with a view

- September 11, 2019

Being on a goat farm all sounds like lots of fun and cute, but the reality is slightly different: summer is the time to make hay. And hay is what gets the goats all through the coming winter. No playing around, it is hard work and hay-making time.

Michael has several meadows up above the village, so we hop in the jeep and drive up the steep gravel-rocky-windy road for about 20 minutes and arrive at one field that Michael had mowed that morning. Now the sun is out (11-11:30am) so we can start the second step after mowing: spreading the cut grass. Normally a machine can do it, but on these very steep hills with rocks here and there, the machine can't reach everywhere. So we each take a fork and start spreading: you can (sort of) see the rows of the cut grass and the goal is to pick up the grass (that is still packed and wet) and kind of shake it and spread around. Why? So it can be aired out and dry better in the sun in the next couple days before it can be collected. Hay needs to be dry, otherwise it gets moldy during storage and that is not okay for goats (or any animal). So this step is really crucial. After about 3 or 4 hours, my arms have no more strength and my ankle is kind of throbbing, so I call quit for the day and wait another 20-30 minutes for Michael and Lauren to finish the last corner of the meadow. Hopefully I will have enough strength and endurance to be in full power again for the next days on the meadows!

The next day, Wednesday, we all go up to the high meadows with Michael, Nicole and Lauren to spread hay again, but on a different field. I like this field much better; even though it is steep, you can see the lines of the mower much more clearly and I can be more efficient and systematic, knowing exactly where the spreading is needed. It is hard work but really rewarding at the end to see how much we have gone through all together in the field. It is also very meditative. Just focus and be mindful. I felt very happy and peaceful during and after. Also, I really enjoy the experience of participating in the whole process of the goat milk: to get milk, you need hay! Lots of it!

The next day, Thursday, it was a big day for me on the farm: finally the raking of hay! I had heard it was easier than the spreading and also the last and important part of haying, I was really looking forward to it, no joke. And it was. On the part where the tractor couldn't reach (which was most of the field), we were raking the hay towards the inside and then forming these giant worms of hay. Making sure that no rock was in the middle and the tractor could later drive over it to pick it up. What a job! Hard work but also not that much. Forming and handling giant worms was an experience. And also leaving the field clean of hay, raking a few times over, you see how much hay there still is! Every so often, you could just look up around you and see the view, soak in the sun and the stunning sight, hear the birds and crickets and breathe in the fresh air of the mountains and pleasant smell of hay.

Once all our giant worms were formed (and some huge piles in places not even that truck could go through and the hay had to be loaded by us), the tractor can just drive over them and 'swallow' everything. As I see the tractor gobble down in few seconds the rows of hay that we raked for hours, Nicole says: 'and this is enough for just one day for our goats.' What?! One goat eats 7kg of hay - per day! 70 goats x 7kg per day x 7 months = over 100 thousand kilos of hay to gather for the winter, is that even possible? All done mostly by hand?!

But why don't people just go down to the valley and get hay from flatter land that they can process with a machine? Wouldnt it be much easier? Yes indeed, but this was the livelihood of the people living here for centuries. This is the traditional way and still the only way to gather hay up in these lands. There was no other way for people to survive up here in the mountains than with animals who ate the green pastures in the summer and hay in the winter. At such high altitude, the vegetable growing season is really short, it is not enough to feed all the people. Also, the Swiss government supports farms who keep working theses lands, meaning up high on the steep meadows. And I'm glad they do, the fresh milk is just so delicious!

I'm not sure how much it would still be true if I were to make hay during 3 months of summer every year, but I did experience after several days a feeling of well-being, happiness and simply joy for no reason. Bonus: stronger arms, back and legs!