This past summer was extremely wet for this part of the country. When I made the statement, “I never remember seeing so much rain before,” several of my friends asked, ”Don’t you remember the summer of 1957?” I really don’t remember anything about that year, ‘cause we weren’t living here then.

Our summer rains always seem to occur at the same time the hay crop is ready to be harvested. In recent years, alfalfa has become a big cash crop in this part of the valley. High altitude alfalfa is in demand and brings top prices. This was a tough year for alfalfa raisers —  too much rain when the hay was down!

I enjoy watching modem day haying procedures and thinking about how it was when I was a boy. I was probably 13 years old when I got to work in the hay field for the first time. My Uncle Harry Burch, worked for Gotthelf  Inv. Co. on the White House ranch located 20 miles west of Saguache. (This ranch is presently owned by Jim and Peggy Curtis)

Driving the stacker team always seemed to be the job given, to the newest rookie. The stacker team was usually older horses who were just a step or two away from retirement. Nearly all of the ranchers in the area used Dempster overshot stackers. After a buckrake load of hay was deposited on the teeth of the stacker, it was my job to keep the stacker team moving until the load of hay, was raised high enough to hit the “bumper”. The force of the load being raised and the sudden stop, dumped the hay in the middle of the stack. Occasionally, these wise old horses would stop just before the load reached the critical point and the hay would spill down the front of the stack. This meant one real mad Uncle Harry and a lot of work with a pitch fork to load all of that dumped load back on the stacker teeth.

The second summer in the hay field I was advanced to driving a sulky rake. My job was usually raking the scattered, hay left by the buck rakes. I think this was called bunch raking.

My Granddad Sandy Burch had his own team and. always rode a mowing machine. It was important that the mowers be well acquainted with the hayfields and know where the boggy ground was located.

Power buckrakes were just starting to be used at that time Model A Fords were real popular, when converted, they made great buckrakes. Joe Torrez made so many of them, I am sure he could build one in his sleep!