Tractor Tuesday - Triple JCB

Around the house there was no sign of tractor activity so thought I would look elsewhere driving to a location for a new dog walk. Didn't produce anything either but we skirted around the forest hearing chainsaws and hoping myabe to see a harvester or forwarder-

The forest work season started a few weeks ago and will soon be the main activity for many. Most farmers also have a bit of forest, normally treated as the "Savings Bank" - when a new tractor is needed then a few weeks of work felling timber. The last few years the wood price has been high but I suspect has fallen after the storm in spring 2015.

With the lack of activity was forced to go to my Tractor Tuesday Blip Bank, the grass/maize drying unit at Sontheim. The forecourt was packed with piles of grass, I don't remember seeing it so full. The three JCB's belonging to the plant were parked up - either because it was lunchtime or more probably because they couldn't collect any more grass, there was simply no room to off load it.

In the Farmers Weekly I mentioned a few days ago, the headline photo was dealing with a trending issue - making more hay, the various modern drying methods and the move to "Hay Milk", ie herds only fed with hay and no silage. In Austria this trend has caught on with over 15% market share. In Germany its still under 1%, the main area is here in the Allgäu. Dairies are paying a 5 cent/kg premium for hay milk.

In effect the idea is to harvest the hay almost in the same way as silage, ie without so much mechanical turning and thrashing which knocks out much of the interesting smaller herbs, flowerheads and baling it with a higher moisture content. When then in storage it is mechanically dried with air derived mainly from various environmentally friendly systems.

In the tourist areas of the Allgäu, several spa resorts offer "Hay baths" in their fitness/wellness programmes. You get wrapped up in hay which is warmed and then wettened. Even offer of hotel hay beds. All supposed to be very good for circulation and particularly rheumatism.