David Weeks, a leading hay nutritionist and biologist, brought our final 34 bales to the barn this morning. The bales are all first cut; I ordered four additional bales because we are getting two new sheep in a few weeks.

I also ordered 10 to 12 bales of the second cut, which is a little more nutritious and which we feed to the animals and donkeys during the coldest days of winter.

Second cut hay is like an energy drink for sheep and donkeys. We now have 64 bales of first cut hay, we use about a third of a bale each day sometime between November and May, depending on the weather.

The rain and climate change have made all farming unpredictable, so I try and order our winter supplies as early as possible and not wait a day longer than necessary to get the hay into the barn.

David cut some hay just before it started raining every day. Bless him for that.

David went to Cornell and studied hay and fee for decades; he has devoted his life to it. He loves animals but has none until this morning when a cat and two kittens appeared outside his kitchen window.

David is a special human. He knows about all there is to know about soil and hay and animal nutrition.

He is as fascinating to talk to and listen to. I learn more talking to him for a half-hour than I’ve learned in all my time here about hay.

I am especially fond of David; I would love to see more of him and talked to him. We’re having him over for dinner as soon as his work eases up. I gave him a copy of “Talking To Animals,” one of my books on communicating with animals; we think alike on the subject.

I’ve never looked forward to much to stacking hay bales.

We do meet some of the most interesting people here, you would never find David anywhere outside of an agricultural college or the country.

He works out of the Country Power Products, In. (formerly Agway) in Greenwich. He sells hay all year through the company, his research partner.

Anyone who needs hay locally or has questions about hay or wants to learn more about it no matter where you live can reach David by calling Country Products, 518 692-1015.

Ask for John.

I can’t wait to introduce him to Moise; these two will fall in love.

Maria stacked the hay from inside the barn; she also loves David and talked hay with him for a half-hour while she brushed up the hay that fell onto the ground.

David showed us how to stack the hay in a way that releases some of the moisture inside and preserves the nutrients. Our animals love his hay and devour every inch of it.

They nearly rioted when he pulled up by the barn with a truckload of it, they could smell it.

David lives alone on a nearby farm. He has devoted his life to studying hay and nutrition.

In July, it is a wonderful feeling to know there is enough wood in the woodshed and hay and the barn for winter.  I can’t relax until our wood is stacked and the hay is in the barn.

Time for a deep breath.

I’ve worked on this system for 15 years; we have the right people to work with and the right facilities to store and keep our wood and hay.

It is a special feeling; we are going out tonight to celebrate with a hamburger at the Bog, the best hamburgers around.