Load of Hay

Making hay the hard way on the 6-7 acre field behind the LH Rivard house in TL.    Note the dump rake used to bunch the hay, which was then pitched onto the wagon (or truck) by men using pitch forks.  This load may have been off-loaded into the small barn on the property as winter feed for the 3-4 cows kept there by L.H. Rivard.  The Rivard boys milked the cows, separated the milk, and then delivered milk and cream via hand pull wagons to customers in TL.  This provided a supplemental income for Alma during the lean years of the 1930’s, and taught the Rivard boys responsibility and work ethic.  It’s not clear if this was still happening in 1939.  I think not because the Rivard boys were otherwise occupied.   In that case, this load of hay may have been bound via truck to one of LH’s farm properties, maybe even the Horseshoe Lake farm (although the new barn there wasn’t completed until ~1940.)  The truck was likely Erv Smith’s “dray line” being operated by Raymond Rivard.  There is a pretty good chance that the two men on the truck are Richard and Raymond.  What do you think?   

In the late 40’s and 50’s, Raymond continued to raise hay and corn on this field, and used the dray line trucks to haul the crop three miles via the Canyon road to the Horseshoe Lake farm.  Ray’s 1949 purchase of a Ford tractor with “road gear” made it no longer necessary to use trucks for hauling the hay.  Also, hay baling replaced loose hay.

Sometime in the 20’s or 30’s, LH was the first in the area to introduce the superior mix of alfalfa and brome grass, replacing clover as the hay of choice, over a period of years.  LH was in many businesses, and he did them all well, including following the advice coming out of the University of Wisconsin via the county field agents, whose job it was to help farmers learn their living to earn their living.  John