Hay bales

[RushIsRot]

I find fields that are filled with those huge, round hay bales very fascinating. I like the random patterns that are generated by the differing volume of grass at every location. I like the juxtapositions between the different bales. I like the lighting that I have found. I'll leave a couple of shots taken recently that I'm particularly fond of. This is a great time of year for finding scenes of this type.



One seldom finds bales that have landed flat-side-down. This one is a first for me.



Late afternoon sun adds delightful color to this pair of bales.

[harmonicon]

1. very nice

I also like hay bales.... or straw bales. Bales are just good.

When I was a kid, the hay bales we had were rectangular and good for stacking and playing with, but I think the round bales are more common now. Never having spent as much time with the round bales, I probably don't have as deep an appreciation for them as I should.

Thank you for the lovely pictures. I especially like #2.

[RushIsRot]

4. I lived in northern NY with some friends who had a rectangular

baling machine. I actually drove around on their tractor raking the mowed grass into windrows. Those "square" bales are heavy -- about 45-50 pounds when they're new and not dried out. Still, they are far lighter and easier to handle than the round bales. I've been told the round bales can weigh up to 400 pounds initially! HayHAY! I've also been told that the first round baler was invented in Louisiana, which is where I'm from. Now they're made by many different companies it seems.

I'd love to hire an airplane and fly low over a bale-filled field for some aerial shots. I'd be willing to bet they would turn out interesting.

[harmonicon]

8. good idea, with the airplane!

That should get done.... though I'm sure there are examples out there, but maybe not taken with an artistic slant in mind.

When I was a kid, we had to go "tip" square bales - put them over on a particular side, so a machine could pick them up (even the square end of the rectangle isn't a perfect square, so they have to be in a certain orientation for the machine to come pick them up). Funk memories, fun times, but I'm glad that I'm not a farmer myself. Too much hard work.

[rockymountaindem]

2. I thought those were giant wheat cereal clusters

that hadn't been broken down and frosted yet.

[RushIsRot]

5. Bon appetite!

[Kali]

3. I hate those things

I dream of old style two wire bales that a normal person could buck - with REAL baling wire that could be reused.

Giant round bales = too much plastic string that is hard to deal with and eventually lethal to livestock if you don't get it all cleaned up and the need for petroleum guzzling machines to move it around. bleh

[RushIsRot]

6. I make no claims as to their usefulness, only to their appropriateness

for photography.

I can see that the plastic net bindings could be quite detrimental to livestock, should they ingest it.

[Kali]

7. no prob, I'm drinking wine - didn't mean to sound so aggressive

one thing I always thought - they would be fun to use for is camping - they unroll in a nice thick "pad" about 4 inches thick for 50 yards or more - you could sleep quite a few sleeping bags on one:rofl:

[harmonicon]

9. "square bales are better, round is easier"

That's what my uncle said when I ask him why they'd changed from the old kind that you're mentioning to this new round kind. He's just too old now to be hefting bales all day and needs to use the machine, but knows that it's worse.

[pnutbutr]

11. My neighbor

I let my neighbor mow my field for hay to feed his cattle. He has an old round baler that ties them with two strings. The bales are looser than with the plastic wrap that some use but it seems to work just as good. He likes the round ones because they are easier for him to move and store. He's 74 years old.

[Ptah]

10. old style here.

[wartrace]

12. Here is my contribution to your Hay Bale thing.

My dog Curly enjoying the day. He loves sleeping on them.

They are talking about making round bales illegal in Tennessee. Seems that they are worried that the cows aren't getting a square meal.....Ha-ha.