26
Jun
2008
Norway’s Incredible Sky
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Category: Europe
I am slowly, ever so slowly, sorting through my photos of this most recent trip. I also have photos to sort through from Chicago (June 6-8), and NY/NJ/PA (May 29 - Jun 2). Also, for those with the password, my upcoming trip details can be found in the Where page. If I didn’t have this website, I’d be asking myself, “Where did June go??” But I do know, because it’s all here!
Here’s how the Norway album is looking thus far:
[thumbnails] [slideshow] or click through the Pictobrowser below
Thursday, 26 June 2008
I love the barn photo! What are those white cylinder things?
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Hay bales! I don’t know why they use white plastic, though. There must be some explanation for that.
Thursday, 26 June 2008
My first reaction was that they were gigantic marshmallows! I must be hungry again.
Friday, 27 June 2008
LOL Well, I thought they were the right shape for hay bales, but the white plastic threw me.
Friday, 27 June 2008
I’ve seen this in other places, so I had to go digging around for an answer. Apparently, this is a relatively new farming practice to preserve hay by excluding air:
http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/2005/050527.Johnson.balage.html
For a (*pun alert*) drier but more technical study of hay bale moisture content, there is this Canadian article:
http://mha-net.org/msb/html/papers-n/strwmoist/strwmoist.htm
Monday, 30 June 2008
Baling hay before it dries completely keeps more protein and other nutrients in it. The problem is wet hay tends to get moldy and rot faster, so the plastic wrap is used to prevent the mold spores from getting to it. The individual wrapped bales waste about 40% more plastic than when they line them up and do a continous wrap
The other problem with wet hay is when its placed in a mow, it creates a considerable fire risk. This is more of an issue for square bales though.