A rude awakening....
 

At 11.45pm last nite, I was woken by what I thought was a disco in my bedroom...that I didnt remember going to.

It was the CFA (Country Fire Authority) and 4 Fire Trucks....it appears the haystack had caught fire.

A guy travelling along the highway 6 kms behind the property had seen the blaze and called it in.

You cant save a haystack without an excavator to pull it apart quickly.

$60k of hay....gone....in a year where the farmers will be screaming for it.

I didnt think to get pics last nite, but I got some today and tonite.

It will smoulder for a week, but the wind tonite is fanning it badly and it will be another sleepless nite.

I tried to upload some pics in this post, but it didnt happen.

Here's the link to the picaso album, sorry, I havent edited anything yet and I couldnt miss the pic opportunity ;) (its uploading, so if you look straight after I post this, you wont see jack shit)

That sucks. Sorry you lost your haystack. I had no idea a haystack was worth so much money. Amazing.

Damn, damn, damn.
Tough break, Ducks. That is a major blow going into summer. Bummer on losing the hayshed too... was anything insured? Any idea on how it started? Three cheers for the CFA, as always. Ever read The Drover's Wife? Australian women on the land have a reputation for endurance almost beyond belief. I have no doubt that you will get by.

For non-Aussies, we've had prolonged drought for several years now, stock feed is hard to come by and worth heaps.

Wow, I'm sorry. That's scary. Do they know why it caught on fire?

Great photos Ducks
But I admit that's small consolation - really sorry to hear this

I don't know how close the haystack was to your house, Ducks, but I'm glad everyone is safe.

This sounds like poor compensation....but it doesn't seem like it killed you in your sleep along with your family. It sounds like everyone is safe along with your house. That's awesome.

I'm just going for a bright side here. If it sounds like I'm reaching here, I probably am.
:)

Glad you are ok Ducks.

Oh yeah, I meant to ask Ducks--is there insurance for this sort of thing?

My sympathy, hope there's a silver lining.

Must've been scary, Duck. I didn't know your farm is a "working farm". Hope everything works out.

Holy shit! Scary ducks... the pics are intense. Glad no one was hurt, but that the sucks, I'm sorry...

Was it your haystack Ducks? I assumed you meant a neighbor's. still a bummer

I don't think companies like insuring things that are so easily destroyed.

Luckily for Ducks, she may qualify for some kind of drought relief though. I'm sure she'll be able to give us more info when she's about again.

If I had some hay I'd send it Ducks. Unfortunately it's just as bad up here.

Thanks.....I was just drained last nite.

Its tough, to grow crops for hay, you need water, we havent had decent rain for years. This season, we were lucky and got enough rain to produce a crop. No one can afford to irrigate at the moment, at $1000 a megalitre of water, so we are at the mercy of the rain god.

Farmers locally are walking off their land, actually, the government is encouraging them to walk off the land to stop the bleeding of drought relief funds.

Anyways......

Its insured, but only for $20K, plus the hay shed.....unknown what we will get for that.

You can insure anything on the farm, stock, crops, feed, hay etc....but it costs a small fortune.

The house is about 50 metres away, and I have been really lucky that the wind has been blowing northwards and not westerly towards the house.

The other thing I just found out was that cyanide is released from the corrugated iron as it is burning....greeeeat.

We were all safe, the CFA are fantastic (this is the 3rd time they have been out to my house....last time was a crow that flew into the power lines and combusted, then fell into the dead grass :eyebrow: )

Oh and cause.......a couple of bales that werent dried properly....like fresh grass clippings, they generate heat. Add that to the 37 degree day we had and some wind.....up she goes.

wow...spontaneous combustion? srsly?

Sorry to hear that, glad no one was hurt and that was all that was destroyed.

so so sorry Ducks, for your economic outlook. so so happy no one was hurt.

Glad you and your's are OK... and your boots.

I've dug into the barn hay mow (loose, no bales) in the winter, and found a hole as big as a bathtub. Spontaneous combustion, but died from lack of oxygen, thankfully. Farming and fire have a very tenuous relationship.

That's terrible, Ducks. But thank goodness the wind was blowing the other way, at least.

Well, spontaneous smoldering, which was fanned by the wind and encouraged by the heat.

Another stack went up about 10kms away for the same reason.

Tuesday was the hottest day in October since 1962. 37 degrees celius is unheard of in October and thats when we do the majority of our baling.

Happens a lot, especially when you wrap them so they will ferment.

I have about 100 bales of wrapped (silage) but they are left out in the paddocks, for months before being stacked (and sometimes buried).

so sorry to hear about that. hope your insurance comes thru for you.

Bloody hell is all I can say to that. Farming in Australia. Sometimes I wonder why you do it. I know the answer, and it doesn't go well into words.

As said by a crow, on a lark:
Ark Arrkk Arrrrk .... SPARK! FARK! KARK! CHARKoal...!

That is crazy! I am glad everyone is safe.

Hey toggie, was wondering where you were.

Friggen thing is still burning, even with rain yesterday.

Time to bring out the snags and make a party of it?

Or marshmallows if you want to go exotic and make smores.

Meh, the shit reeks....its shitting me coz I cant hang any washing out

Nasty. I put up hay one summer for my uncle, who was a rancher (and a child molester, as it turned out). Being inside hay barns full of hay on a hot summer day, no matter how dry the hay is to begin with, is utterly stifling. The heat deep inside the stacked bales is insane. Its a wonder they don't all go up.

Condolences on the financial loss. Were you just going to sell it all, or will you now have to buy fodder for your own herd/flock/fold?

BTW - who are the kiddos in all the other picture albums?

Great pics. I see in your "Waynes World" folder that there might be some pics of the pole barn before it went up in flames. Was it spontaneous combustion or arson?

Sorry I didn't read the whole thread before I saw it was spontaneous. A common thing. I grew up around hay farms as a teen and it is a well known fact that wet hay can do that. Sorry for your loss.

Thanks Merc, yeah, there were some pics in Waynes World.

Its out now, I need to take some pics.

Gale force winds blew what was left standing over on Sunday.