Leave it to Craig Haythorn to incorporate horses into the task of putting up hay. The Nebraska rancher, whose family owns and operates Haythorn Land & Cattle, is always looking for ways to work with horses. During haying season, he uses a beaver slide stacker to build large hay stacks. It’s the way farmers and ranchers put up hay before tractors. The team of Belgian horses are hitched to a pulley attached to a platform that lifts hay up and on top of the hay stack. While visiting with Craig Haythorn for a story in the November 2008 issue, I got the opportunity to watch true horse power at work. Here, a ranch hand and the horses wait for the next load of loose hay to be pushed onto the platform.
