Bales in the Mist

For some reason, fields of cornstalk bales as far as the eye can see are just eerie to me. Maybe it's because they're made in the fall, when everything is stark and gray and damp. They are the last product of the fields before winter drops her snowy blanket over the land.

Hay bales made in the summer are happy, green, warm, bright things.

This field belongs to another farmer, one who doesn't have livestock. So he agreed to let us and one of our neighbors make bales from his stalks. We got 75 bales between the two of us.

Cornstalk bales are much cheaper than hay - $15 versus $40. We use them for bedding and also feed them to the cows and bull, along with grass hay. They get the nutrition they need from the hay, and extra energy (to keep warm) from the cornstalks. The calves that we feed out to sell get the good alfalfa hay and corn.

And here's a picture of the corn coming out just over a week ago. Nothing eerie about this.