The lambs love their new home in the west barn and the forage on the west side of the farm. They're becoming autonomous, as I transition them off grain and strictly onto pasture. I'll still use grain for bribes when it comes time to change pastures again.

Norm, Lisa and Brian made round bales all week, cleaning up all but one little field. It looks like the volume was high, being so late in the season, but perhaps,the nutritional value somewhat diminished since some of the grasses have gone by.

In the picture below Norm is pulling the round baler over the dry raked windrows. It's like a giant carpet brush, catching the mown grass on tines, scooping it up and whirling it into a 500 pound spool inside the metal chamber as it's towed around the field. The whole thing then gets wrapped in about a mile of twine to keep the bale intact.

When the contraption is done wrapping, Norm pauses for a moment and the box swings open on a hinge, kind of like a giant clam shell, depositing  a newly minted bale in the field. Then he continues traveling down the windrow, scooping up another 500 lbs. for the next bale. Even with "time saving" equipment, it's a labor intensive process, since someone then must drive around the field  with another tractor that has a giant spear on the front to pick up each bale one at a time and load the wagon. And then, naturally, there's the unloading and stacking back at the barn.