Ferjunes farm keeps old-style hay baling alive

Ferjunes farm is still making hay in small bales using a 1970 New Holland baler, mbl.is reports. The farm lies on the banks of the Þjórsá river, about 20 kilometres east of Selfoss.

“Small bales have their advantages, and since the baler is still available, it is enjoyable to keep working this way,” said farmer Benedikt Kristjánsson.

A tractor drives across the fields with a hay baler attached through a drive shaft. The machine produces bales measuring 45 by 90 centimetres and weighing about 10 kilograms. Twine holds each bale together and also creates a handhold for lifting it onto a trailer.

Benedikt farms with 28 cows and some other cattle. About 300 bales were lying in the field when he spoke to the newspaper, and the day’s task was to collect them.

“Small bales are sought after by, for example, horse owners, because it is convenient to give one bale to perhaps two horses. They are also useful when sheep are indoors and need only a small portion. I sell the bales, and I know they move quickly,” he said.

Bale haymaking was common from around 1970, but farmers began switching to large round bales around 1990. The change transformed the work and reduced the physical effort required. Previously, large family and extended family groups were often called in to collect the bales, particularly when rain was approaching.

The old baler at Ferjuness is older than the farm’s tractors, which are several model years newer. Benedikt estimates that after 56 years of use, it has produced around 300,000 bales.

“The baler is a simple machine. One part connects to another in its mechanism, and the power brought in through the drive shaft makes everything turn,” he said.

Large round balers are more complex and use electronic equipment. Farmers now generally hire contractors to harvest their fields and wrap the hay in round bales. Ferjuness is expected to produce about 1,000 round bales this summer.

Contracting has become increasingly common as farmers choose not to own all the machinery needed for haymaking, which is used for only a few days each year.

Victor Örn Victorsson of Skyggnisholt in Flói said this summer’s haymaking had gone smoothly. He runs Hestafl ehf., a contracting company, with his parents, Victor Björgvin Victorsson and Sigrún Hrefna Arnardóttir. The company carries out various work for farmers in Flói, the countryside between the Ölfusá-Hvíta river system and the Þjórsá river.

Hestafl has worked on about 50 farms and properties this summer. It operates three large tractors, the biggest with about 200 horsepower, each equipped with a round baler capable of binding and wrapping up to 35 bales an hour.