Before balers, loading hay was a lot of work
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
BARRE – It is believed this photo was taken in the Town of Barre in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
It shows two men on a horse-drawn hay wagon pitching around loose hay to level the load. What is of particular interest is the mechanical hay loader being pulled in the rear. This greatly saved on manpower and eliminated having men on the ground to pitch hay onto the wagon.
All this kind of work was done before hay was commonly baled.
