WEBVTT - Ep. 129: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Hauling Hay 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.240 Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.680 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.040 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.840 my stories and country skills that will help you beat 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.599 the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as part 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:27.520 of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast. 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:28.480 The airways have to offer. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:31.920 All right, friends, pull you up a chair or drop 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:32.720 that tailgate. 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:34.760 I think I got a thing or two to teach you. 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:44.239 Hauling hay. The images that come to mind when someone 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:48.080 mentions hauling hay they're pretty diverse from me. They go 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.960 from downright angst and dread to fond memories of hot 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:56.480 summer spent with good friends and relatives, and heartwarming instances 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:00.760 of good times in nearly unbearable heat. I grew up 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.240 hauling hay out of necessity and for summer work. I 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:06.959 continue to work in the hay fields now, but only 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:11.039 with the nostalgia of the mission, not the methods. We're 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.800 gonna be talking about, hey this week, how farming it 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:18.680 has changed and its impact on the landscape. Impact. It's 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.160 just cutting grass for animals to eat, ain't it? What 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:21.959 impact could it? 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:22.120 Have. 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.720 Well, if we're talking about quail, and we are big ones. 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:36.120 But first I'm gonna tell you a story. A square 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.880 bale of hay, which should really be called a rectangle, 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:43.440 can average anywhere from forty to seventy five pounds. It's 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.959 held together with two strands of tightly tied haystring, and 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:49.040 considering you're going to have to put your hands on 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.360 it about six times before it's used, it may be 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.760 the singular most labor intensive item on the farm. Now 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.840 people say firewood will warm you four times when you 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.320 got it, when you're splitting it, stacking it, and finally 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.160 when you burn it. Well, old school square bales of 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.040 hay in the summer had to be loaded onto a trailer, 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.240 stacked on the trailer, unloaded at the barn, stacked at 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.240 the barn, loaded from the barn to a truck, and 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.920 unloaded wherever you were feeding cows that winter. Now, that 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.919 makes about six times. You don't see many folks using 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.680 square bells anymore, and that's one of the reasons. But 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:31.079 in the early eighties they were still very much in vogue. 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.280 A friend of mine and his parents had cattle, just 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.520 like most of the folks where I grew up and 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.720 they needed some help hauling hay. That summer was a 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.680 bad one. It was beyond hot. It was stifling, take 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:46.400 your breath away, crazy hot. But everybody knows that if 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.600 your cows are going to eat in the winter, then 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.760 there's work to be done in the summer. My friend's 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:55.000 dad was paying twenty five cents a bail, which would 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.040 be split amongst the field hands, and that was more 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.040 than I'd ever made per bail, and an incentive enough 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.640 for me to be there as the dew finished drying 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.680 in the heat of the morning to get started. My cousin, 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.840 whose dad was in the military, was stay in the 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.320 summer with us, and he joined me that day. My friend, 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.080 who still lived at home, wasn't getting a nickel of it, 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:18.480 so the quarter prevailed would be divided by two. That's 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.040 twelve and a half cents prevailed instead of eight cents. 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.639 If we'd have had to split it three ways. We 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:27.239 were going to be rich if we lived. My cousin 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.000 probably wished he'd been in the military too, rather than 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:33.640 walking alongside that hay trailer chunking bales of hey and 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.880 that humid, blistering Arkansas sun that weighed a third of 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.320 what he did. Welcome to the country, cousin, we're fixing 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:44.040 to try and kill you. He did great, though, and 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.800 he worked like he'd been doing it his whole life. 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:47.080 Now. 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.680 I don't remember how many bells we get hauled by 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.600 noon when my friend's mama brought our dinner to us, 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.800 but it was several loads. We gathered in the shade 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:57.920 of a huge oak that had been there longer than 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.120 there had been tractors or even a farm in that 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.360 area to eat or dinner. The breeze was still hot, 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.600 but it didn't feel like a hair dryer blowing on you. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.000 While we sat in the shade. 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.160 We were eating baking and tomato sandwiches and washing them 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.640 down with sweet tea that was so cold it would 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:14.720 make your teeth feel like they were freezing out of 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:18.040 your mouth when you took a drink. She brought two gallons, 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:20.680 and the four of us drank it up pretty quick. Now, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.000 we had a five gallon keg of water with us too, 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.640 but it was warm as dishwater, and it couldn't cool 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.440 you energy as fast as that tea could. I don't 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.080 think that I've ever had a glass of tea before 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.919 or since that was as good as that first one was. 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:38.160 That day, after about thirty minutes, my dad's friends said, 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:42.400 well y'all about ready. We were not, But it wasn't 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.160 as much a question as it was an announcement that 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.760 work was fixing to start again, because that hey wasn't 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.520 about to put itself in the barn. Now we've been 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.120 taking turns of rotating, chunking bells on the trailer and stacking. 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.960 It went clockwise. You had two rounds walking on the 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.440 ground beside the trailer and one on the trailer stacking. 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.320 You started out on the right side of the trailer 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:06.360 for a load, then you went to the left side 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:08.520 of the trailer for a load, and then on the 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.320 trailer stacking for a load. Being on the trailer saved 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.760 you from walking, but you had to handle every beil 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.400 and you couldn't just stack square bells on top of 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.520 one another like legos. You had to stack and where 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.720 the innerlock, which helps keeping them from falling over as 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.320 you move around the field into the barn. Only job 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.960 that we didn't rotate out was driving the truck that 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:32.000 pulled the trailer. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:32.440 That was his. 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.000 Mama's gig and his daddy only got off the tractor 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.080 bailing more hay long enough for her to go home 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:41.280 and fix our dinner. Once we got them to the barn, 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.200 they had to be stacked very carefully, ensuring that air 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.960 could flow and removing any moisture that was left in 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.279 the hay. Damp hay that's not finished curing in the 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.200 field when it's bailed, gets rained on heavy dew, anything 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.000 that keeps it from dry and cause it to generate 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.200 heat when it's all mashed up together, tight in a 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:05.480 barn and spontaneously combussed. A fancy way of saying catching fire. 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.520 Always thought that term was kind of funny. Reminded me 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.080 of the warning label I saw on a magnesium battery 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.760 for an army backpack radio and a n p RC 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.920 seventy seven U old vets will remember it. The warning 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:23.039 label on that cardboard case that contained the replaceable battery said, 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:28.920 do not submerge battery may vent violently. I always wondering 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.080 why they didn't just say blow up. That'll boost your 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:35.400 confidence crossing the river toting the radio and spare batteries, 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.039 knowing that the parts that are all working together to 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:40.480 keep your radio man from shooting out through the woods 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.160 like a Roman candle was built on a government contract 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:47.200 by the cheapest bidder. Anyway, the same goes for hay. 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.520 Water is your enemy, and in more ways than one. 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.120 In the hayfield, we had returned from the barn to 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.560 the field for another load. We'd hauled a lot of hay, 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.680 and the end was in sight, but knowing that it 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.039 couldn't boost our energy, the sun and the heat had 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:08.320 absolutely drained us. We'd all three given up wearing shirts 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:10.400 not longer after we ate, and while only one of 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.480 us got darker, my cousin and my friend were burnt 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:16.680 and looked like a couple of bowl crawfish. We were 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:18.960 about a third of the way into that load when 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.600 we worked by a small farm pond in that pasture. 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.400 I was on the trailer stacking and I saw my 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:26.920 friend walk past a hey bell that I thought he 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.600 was fixing the load. He just kept marching, never missing 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.560 a step or breaking stride as he walked down that 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.440 pond levee and into that water until his head disappeared 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.640 beneath that stagnant algae colored fem that sealed back up 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.000 when he went under, and it was like he had 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.240 never been born other than a couple of tracks he 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.040 made in the mud where he walked in the water. 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:50.680 There was no trace of him. 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:52.520 He was gone. 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:55.119 I was fixing the holler for his mama to stop 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:57.400 the truck, but she'd seen him literally walk off the 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.480 deep end and was already getting out of the truck 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.040 before I had a chance to say anything. She was 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.680 halfway around the front of the truck before he popped 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:06.400 up on the other side of the pond, doing the 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:09.520 backstroke and smiling like he was swimming on a beach 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.440 in Hawaii. Get out of that pond. His mama was 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:14.760 hollering at him, and it made him nearly jerk a 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.560 creak in his neck. It was like he had lost 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.720 all sense of where he was, and her voice had 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.960 brought him back into the stark reality of floating in 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:28.160 a festering pool of contaminated water that was the only 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:30.880 water warmer than what we had been drinking. Out of 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.360 that joke, he walked backed up the pond bank, grabbed 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.959 that bel of hay he'd passed earlier, and went back 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.760 to chunking hay like nothing had happened. His wet blue 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.440 jeans commenced to rubbing the insides of his legs. The 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.559 longer he walked, the worse it got, and he still 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.160 had to finish out that load and then walk another 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.520 one before it was his turn to ride and stack. Now, 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:55.560 my cousin I both tried to swap out with him, 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.160 but he wouldn't have it. He was halfway through his 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.920 round on the left side of the trailer, walking like 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.319 he was trying to stay straddle of an electric fence 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.040 when he told his mama to stop the truck. It 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.080 was his truck, and he'd ask her to hand him 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.720 a necktie he'd taken off after church and stuck in 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.800 the glovebox. Now we all thought that he'd had gotten 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:15.760 to him again, so he had to ask her twice 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.440 to hand it to him. She did, and he walked 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.240 out of sight from her and dropped his wet breeches 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.640 low enough to where my cousin and I could see 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:27.040 how raw the inside of his legs were from walking 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:32.440 in those wet blue jeans. His nether regions were as 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.319 galled as anything I had ever seen in my life. 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.400 The hide was gone from everywhere, and I don't know 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.720 how he was walking. I also didn't have any idea 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:43.440 what he was fixing. To do with that necktie, but 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.280 I wasn't about to turn away and miss it. He 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.320 taken his pocket knife and cut his wet drawers off, 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:53.400 and then took his Sunday necktie and fashioned himself an 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:58.880 athletic supporter that defied human engineering. To this day, I 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.240 have yet to see a more. We were thoroughly thought 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:07.080 out and functional, fielled expedient answer to anything. When he finished, 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.120 he buttoned his breeches back up, and we hauled two 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.760 more trailer loads before we quit for the day. I 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.160 know with every step he was in continuous burning pain, 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:21.200 because he said, every step I take burns and hurts. 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:24.520 He also knew he couldn't quit because there was no 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.120 one to take his place. He didn't have anywhere to 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.680 quit to anyway. That was his family's farm, and unlike 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.640 me and my cousin, he was working for room and board. 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:36.680 He also knew that he had to do something to 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.960 be able to continue. We finished and was settling up 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.079 with his dad when he came out of the barn 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:44.520 without tie in his hand, working on loosening up a 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.160 knot he'd tied in it. I said, why are you 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.440 working on that? Not just throw it away? He looked 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:54.320 at me like I was crazy. Throw it away. That's 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.840 one of my good ties, and that's just how that happened. 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.679 The advances in hauling hay in the past forty years 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.280 have turned a multiple man operation into that of only 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.360 a few and theoretically just one. I still work in 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:15.880 the hay field helping my good friend Jacob Wood put 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.080 up hay for his cow cafe operation. But instead of 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.319 walking and chunking square bells on a trailer to be stacked, 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.920 we do it all with a tractor and implements big 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.079 round bails of all but taking the place of the 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.439 square ones, and one round bell that we produce will 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:34.320 average fifteen square bells. Also, you don't have to leave 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.920 the air conditioned cab of the tractor until it's time 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.840 to refuel or go home. Regardless of whether it's square 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:44.440 bales or round bells. The order in bailing hay is this, 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:46.960 You cut it, you let it cure in the field 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.920 for up to three days, You rake it into rows, 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:53.080 and then bail it up. One man with one tractor 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:57.199 and three attachment pieces of equipment can do that. Now 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:00.440 we'll have three tractors going when we're cutting hay. And 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.680 halage is different from hay and that it's not allowed 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:07.480 to cure. It's fresh cut green grass that soon after 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.960 its cut, is baled and completely wrapped in plastic, preserving 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:14.880 the moisture content while keeping it airtight. Halas that we 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:16.880 bail up in June will be just as green and 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.079 fresh as the day we bail that when we unwrap 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:22.240 it and feed it in February, with virtually no loss 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.480 of nutrients. Keeping the air out is key. If air 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:27.880 is allowed to get in, it can mold. It's a 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.640 pretty cool system. Once it's cut, there's a narrow window 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.200 of moisture content that we have to get it bailed 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.640 and wrapped. One tractors raking it into rows. The next 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:40.080 tractor is coming behind it bailing it, and then the 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.240 last one is picking up the round bells and completely 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:46.640 wrapping them in that plastic. The halage has grown separate 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.000 from the rest of what we culd. It's looked after, 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.040 like it with soer beans. That's not just grass growing 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:56.000 in the field. That's meat, loaf, steaks, and chili, among 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:56.800 other places. 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:57.840 We cut hay. 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.040 On a portion of the White River Levee, nearly nine 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.760 miles of green grass that cows turn into groceries. It 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.520 makes an interesting ride with a sixteen degree angle in 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.000 the cab of a tractor that's eight feet off the ground, 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:13.760 stayed in a straight line while watching behind you to 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.840 make sure the equipment is operating correctly while trying to 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.600 stay upright in the seat. Man just a rough estimate 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:22.600 in my head that comes out to about a pucker 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.839 factor of ten out of ten. Cutting hay effects the 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:28.760 landscape and the wildlife it lives there, and according to 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.840 the US Department of Agriculture, Arkansas cuts over a million 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:37.440 acres per year with fertilizer and regular rain, which usually 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.600 never happens. Anything over three and a half round bails 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.480 per acre is a good average. That's about thirty five 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:47.160 hundred pounds of grass. The effects it has on wildlife 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.240 can be immediate. I can't count the times that I've 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.960 sat on a tractor cutting hay and washed hawks and 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:56.000 coyoats have an absolute field day with rabbits and mice. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:58.280 Jacob told me that when he was a kid, he 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.480 was sent to do some busch hogging along the edge 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.319 of a creek on the back side of their farm. Now, 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:05.920 my friend Isaac Neil who hails from Missouri would call 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.920 that brush hogging, and there's no telling what it's called 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.000 in the rest of the country. But regardless of the 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.400 terminology or the number of ours found in the description, 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.320 the end result is the same. We're cutting bushes and 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.800 brushed with a tractor powered more stout enough to turn 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:27.360 an inattentive armadilla into an abstract work of farm art. Anyway, 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:31.160 Jacob said he was going about his business bush hogging 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:33.280 and was coming around for his second cut when he 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.120 started seeing those big old wood rats hopping around back 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:39.040 and forth through that fresh cutting. He said, the tractor 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.720 must have been like ringing the dinner bell, because all 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.640 at once hawks came from every direction and. 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:46.280 Were wrecking that rat population. 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.360 He told me he looked forward to that first bush 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.120 hogging of the season every year, and it was always 0:14:52.200 --> 0:15:04.400 the same. Unfortunately, the occasional wayvered battle possum isn't the 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:08.200 only victim of modern hay farming or mowing. The first 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.200 cutting of the season usually coincides with the arrival of 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.680 whitetail fawns on the property, and knowing something about where 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.280 they like to hide while mama's out doing her chores 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:21.280 is essential in avoiding fawn tractor accidents that will one 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.040 hundred percent of the time be a worse outcome for 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:24.480 the deer. 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:26.320 Here's how we avoid it. 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:29.520 Since those like to leave their fawns on field edges, 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.880 we'll cut inside those edges a full width of the 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:36.640 hay mower, watching for movement and looking for bedded fawns. 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.320 Nine times out of ten they're gonna boat out the 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.480 safety of the woods and we never see them anyway. 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.440 The other time we're gonna see them and either go 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:46.920 around them on the next pass or shoe them off 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.400 into the woods if they don't lieve on their own. Now, Brent, 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.520 don't you feel bad about ruining their hiding place. No, 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.040 I don't. I would if that was the only place 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:58.920 to hide in the woods, but it ain't. On the 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:02.520 other hand, cutting hay exposes and stirs up the insects, 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.520 and just like raptors and coyotes will work on the mice, 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.120 anything and everything that each bugs would be out having 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:13.840 a picnic. Hen, turkeys with pots, salcoons with kittens, bats, 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.720 you name it. They're all out there reaping the rewards. 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.720 And don't forget the deer. They'll be out in strengthen 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.000 a day or two to eat the tender regrowth of 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.680 grass that was covered up before the hay got cut. 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.840 It also allows them to be able to see other 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.080 predators that would have been slipping around trying to make 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.880 a meal out of them. Now down here where I 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.960 grew up or up here, depending on where you're listening from. 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:41.560 The Bob white quail was king. Quail hunting was something 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.280 nearly every hunter did, and if they didn't have a 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:48.120 good bird dog, they knew someone who did. I remember 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.320 a portrait of a black and white setter that hung 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:52.320 in our living room for the majority. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:52.760 Of my childhood. 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.880 It was a Christmas gift from us to my dad, 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.200 and he loved it like dad's do, even though he 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:02.200 was a one hundred percent dyed in the wool pointer man. 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.160 For you that don't know, the setters have long hair 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.840 and pointers have short hair. Cockle birds and briars here 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.080 would wreck a setter's coat in the native grass understory 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.280 of where birds like to be. And while the setters 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.719 were good dogs, the aggravation of common or are cutting 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.560 birds and broken knotted links and briars and brown alot 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:23.760 of dogs area it ain't fun for either one of us. 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.159 It was a culmination of time and the changes in 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:30.840 farmland utilization that sent the bob White quail into a 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:34.920 downward spiral. Here in the southeast, in an area known 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.679 as the fescue Belt that covers a large portion of 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.560 the eastern half of the United States, the propagation of 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:44.880 fescue type grass was beneficial to hay producers and detrimental 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.359 to the ground nest in bob white. Fescue grows like 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.240 sod in your yard. It grows evenly across the landscape. 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.479 That produces more grass parakre, which is good. But if 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:59.440 you picture in your mind your yard if it had 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:04.280 a small bare runs that were almost void of grass 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.280 that criss crossed over their property like a diagram of 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.879 the veins in your body, well that's what the pastures 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.880 look like when they just had native grass growing in them. 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.800 The native grass grow in clumps, and they're separated by 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.840 a few inches between each clump, leaving little avenues of 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:22.600 travel for the quail to get around in. I know 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:26.280 that don't sound like much, but considering a fresh hatched 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.280 baby quail is about the size of your thumbnail. The 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.840 difference in that gap being there or not is the 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.800 difference between life and death. We're talking about a fragile 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:38.399 creature that when they get up and start moving around, 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:40.879 if they can't stay dry or avoid getting wet from 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:44.800 the morning dew, they could get hypothermia and die. The 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.840 native grasses also provided an overstory that hid the quail 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.480 as they fed around and hit them from their predators. 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.640 There's given take in farming. Thankfully, there are some folks 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.479 who recognize these issues and are working hard to provide 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.200 a suitable habitat solution for a resurgence of. 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:03.000 Arkansas's quail population. 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.000 Clint Johnson is a wildlife biologist and the quail program 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:08.760 coordinator for the Arkansas Game. 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:09.480 And Fish Commission. 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.760 He says habitat and its diversity are the critical factors 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:16.879 in the healthy regrowth of quail. When I ask him 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.520 about fire ants and described to him how I'd seen 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.520 a turkey nest get overrun by him one time as 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.080 soon as the eggs started hatching, he slapped me in 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.240 the face with the dead squirrel of reality and explained 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:30.440 it to me like I was five, which is my. 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:31.679 Preferred method of learning. 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.119 Clint had me picture a bucket of water with the 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.200 water being quail in the bottom of the bucket. Being 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.119 habitat y'all with me, of course you are. I'm the 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:44.119 only five year old here anyway. Now Here comes the 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.680 fire ants, the wild hogs, nest predators, and every other 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:50.679 possible bad actor in this scenario in the form of 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.480 a drill bit poking holes in the side of the bucket. 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:56.080 Clint said, we can tape up the holes and stop 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:58.639 him from leaking, but when the bottom falls out of 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:03.000 the bucket, it's game over. I get it. No habitat, 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:06.399 no quail. He also told me if he had a 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:08.920 large farm with catle on it, that he'd have fescue 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.080 grass growing on it too. Diversity of habitat, that's the 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:13.160 key if you want. 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.160 Cows and quail now. 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:17.440 I came along towards the end of the Arkansas Quail 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:21.240 at least in Southeast Arkansas, and when it ended, man, 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:23.159 it was like somebody walked out of the room and 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.719 turned out the light. But before that happened, I remember 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:28.639 going with my dad and a neighbor who had a 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.840 good dog. I went with Tim, my older brother, and 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.800 we always did pretty good. We'd be at the pond 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:37.000 fishing in the spring of the year, and Tim would say, 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.239 you hear that quail, He didn't whistle him up, And 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.399 he taught me how to do it too. He just 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.920 repeated the same sound you heard. The real quail was whistling, 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.720