It's summer here in Central Texas, grass is growing (well, it's struggling due to the lack of rain for the past month or so, but there's still forage for the critters), animals are eating, we're not having to feed any hay. 

But that's now.  Living in the country, we need to look ahead to winter way before it's here.  A few days ago, taking advantage of the dry weather (every vice has its virtues, and vice versa), lots of people in the area, including us, were having their hay cut and baled. 

When we first moved out here, and for several years thereafter, we weed-killed and fertilized, and we had our hay put up in square bales.  I will never forget that first year, when the three of us (husband Phil, daughter Jess, and I) were putting the hay in the barn, 500 bales, 3 days, 108 degree weather.  

About 3 years ago, with it being just the two of us at home now, we decided to try round bales.  We had them baled smaller than usual, to make them easier to handle.  We got 20 bales that first year, and with the tractor, they were put up in an hour and a half instead of the 3 days we usually had to schedule. 

We gave the field a rest for a couple of years, due to first drought, then flood.  Last year we decided to try something different.  Instead of weedkiller and chemical fertilizers, we decided to try a more natural approach, using liquid compost extract applied by Sustainable Growth, Texas.  It's applied in the same way, the cost is very close to the same if not a little bit less, and we noticed almost immediately that the grass was growing in thicker. 

When we baled last week, we got 28 round bales off of the same field that had produced 20 in past.   That's enough of an improvement to make the argument for continuing with the liquid compost, which is better for the soil, the plants, and the animals (including us).  

Our planning for the coming winter, then, started last fall, when we chose the treatment for the field.  Now, we have more than enough hay to see our critters through the winter (and, for that matter, this August, which is another time when we like to give the grass as much of a rest as possible).  It's just another good feeling of life lived in the country.