Country diary: Even in a heatwave, haymaking is a race against time | Nicola Chester
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- Foxglove Farm and Manor Farm are actively making hay during the heatwave, while a neighbouring farm, Rolf's, appears to have sold its crop standing for someone else to harvest
- Last year's drought produced very little grass, resulting in high hay prices and scarcity through the winter, whereas this year's mix of sun and rain has created ideal growing conditions
- The haymaking process follows a fixed sequence — mowing, tedding (spreading grass with rotary tines to dry), re-tedding after a day, rowing into windrows, then baling — and cannot be hurried
- An unforecast West Country storm on the evening of 22 June delivered more than 18,500 lightning strikes, soaking some fields and forcing farmers to re-ted and dry them again
- Despite the storm, baling continued into the following night once the heat returned, because damp-baled hay risks mould, overheating, and spontaneous combustion
- Lower-lying, lusher fields made their first cut during the late May heatwave, but the higher chalk fields needed more growing time and are only now being harvested
Why it matters: The diary captures how a single 18,500-lightning-strike storm can undo days of patient drying work and force all-night baling to prevent mould and spontaneous combustion — a vivid illustration of the tight margins farmers face as climate change intensifies both the heatwaves that ripen hay and the violent storms that threaten it.
