Hay making 2015 in the area of the irrigation system Lommel-Kolonie

At the weekend of June-13/14 the grass of seven meadow parcels was cutted and conditioned with the manpower of 17 volunteers. On Thursday, 18th of June the hay could be harvested - 1890 bales in total ! The hay is mainly sold to horse keepers.
 

Hay making in June 2015 in the vloweiweiden of Lommel-Kolonie, photos: Albert Mertens
 

In the period of 13^th to 18^th of June  seven meadow parcels (7 hectars) were mown and processed to hay, which then was harvest as hay bales (number of 1890 in total!). From the 22th to 26th of June hay could be made from another 3 parcels (3 hectars) which resulted in 770 bales additionally.
All the work is done by volunteers from local nature conservation organization (Natuurpunt Noordlimburg). Up to 17 volunteers helped on days, when the hay had to be (manually) turned to dry or loaded and carted away after baling. Horse keepers are the main consumers of the hay from the Lommel-Kolonie meadows.
 

Hay harvest 2014

Haying July 2014, photos: Albert Mertens

Every year the making of hay is a laborious challenge in the vloeiweiden (water meadow) area of Lommel-Kolonie that only can be tackled by the huge effort of a lot of volunteers. 14 ha of meadow land need to be cutted, hayed (turned and dried), baled and brought in. Since the weather conditions in 2014 were rather favourable, the harvest could be completed, earlier than usually, by the 3^rd of July.