... Walk with Me ...
Weldon has 3 silos in which he stores the silage that he feeds the cattle throughout the course of the year. The last of the silos was almost empty, so he had to cut some corn last Thursday (August 27) to tide the cows over until it's really time to harvest. Walk with me as I tag along behind the workers.
The parade is just about ready to start: tractor, corn chopper, wagon, and clown.
Weldon has 4 cornfield areas on the farm, "cut up" into about 21 small patches. These fields cover about 33 acres. His dream is to "just once" farm a big flat piece of land. Today Weldon, Tim, and Jeff would be cutting in the furthest field (3/4 mile from the house), down by the Little Yadkin River. They drove the equipment down and started working while Jasmine and I walked and took some pictures along the way. This is the edge of the first field on the left side of the road.
Next is a scuppernong vine and a pretty view of Pilot Mountain.
On the right, Weldon's sister Pat has a house that she used to live in and an old house that came with the property. It's old and falling apart and I love it!
We have one neighbor at the end of the "real"road , but the wagon tracks continue to some more fields. This looks like the corn is planted too close together, but Weldon had to plant some sorghum amongst the corn to make up for all the stalks that the deer, crows, and turkeys pulled up. And in this picture , you can see where Weldon has cut the hay beside the corn field. Now it needs to be baled and brought up to the barn.
If you look carefully, you can see the smoke from the tractor in the middle of the corn field. The Little Yadkin River is nestled in those trees on the far side of the field. By the time Jazz & I got there, they had already cut one wagon load and were working on the second.
Silage in the first wagon.
Loading the second wagon.
On our way back up the hill: It was nearing 90 degrees and I think we were both panting by now. Jeff came by on his "Mule" and offered us a ride. Jazz isn't crazy about riding in strange vehicles, but she sat on my lap and didn't complain at all. I guess she knew she shouldn't look a gift mule in the mouth.
And here we are, back at the silo. The wagon has a conveyor chain that pushes the silage out and then a blower blows it into the top of the silo. This silo is 40 ft tall.
You can see an exciting video of the silage moving along the conveyor table on my Facebook page :-)
Thanks for walking with me. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.