Bill Moffat, of Natland, recalls hay time in the 1950s

Hay time in the 1950s was a big job. Most farmers carted the hay loose as there were not many pick up balers around at the time.

Some had stationary baler and hay sweep; they would stack the bales in the field and cart the bales in winter. The stationary balers had no knotters on them; these bales were tied by hand.

The baler was driven long belt of the tractor. Some balers had two fly wheels on them so they could be driven from either side. Some bales were tied by twine and some with wire. The hay was swept to the baler with a tractor and hay sweep then forked in.

One day on Brigsteer Mosses the baler got stuck in the soft ground and it took two tractors to pull it out.

My dad was a very experienced tractor driver. He could always free machinery when it became stuck. When dad was younger he worked for Crowdales of Greenodd timber merchants.

As time went by we purchased our first pick-up baler - an International B45 from Crofts of Wildman Street, Kendal. When we were very busy sometimes if there was no dew on the grass we would work all night to get the hay in.

In my experience the early years were the best. We would make about 30,000 bales a year. Our round consisted of roughly a 20-mile radius of Kendal, Grayrigg, Orton, Tebay and into the Lake District.

In the 1950s gateways were very narrow therefore you always carried a snigging chain. At this time there was no need to take your own bagging as the farmer’s wife always kept the workers fed!