OWASCO - They were making hay in the haze at the Ward O'Hara Agricultural Museum Saturday morning as the sunshine didn't quite get through. It was the seventh Draft Horse and Hay Day presented there by Charles Minturn, of Sennett, one of the museum's 14 commissioners.

A number of town historians from Cayuga County were also on hand to explain their exhibits in the museum.

The first demonstration at 11 a.m. took about two hours to complete. At least one more demonstration would be made before the day ended at 4 p.m.

Two of six Belgian draft horses pulled the hay wagon as part of the hay baling demonstration. Others were coupled to a hay rake and a wagon to give families a ride. A seventh horse, Hallett's Chance Fancy, a yearling, will be raffled off by the New York State Draft Horse Club this year.

Minturn, a member of the Draft Horse Club, owns 15 horses (four riding horses). He supplied horses, wagons, and some of the hayloading equipment. Jeffery Herrick, of Sennett, provided his 1929 tractor attached to the bailer.

To begin the demonstration, one of three large, round, 3,000-pound bales of hay was rolled out and pulled apart, then spread out with a tedder in the field as if to dry. A horse-drawn hay rake piled it into rows, then a hayloader moved the loose hay from the fields to a horse-drawn wagon to bring it to a hay press baler. The baler makes 100-150-pound square bales secured with three hand-fed wires.

“These are the old-fashioned bales that everybody put on boxcars to ship out,” Minturn said.

“It's hard to load hay with a pitchfork,” he said. “We fork it into a plunger operated by a drivebelt attached to a pulley on the tractor.” According to Minturn, hay was baled this way up until the '40s and '50s.

At the baler two people have to feed wires through the bale and hook them, with blocks put into the baler's chamber to separate the bales. It takes about an hour to produce two bales. Sue Cuddeback and Ron Jones from Cayuga were working the baler, while Jeff Herrick fired up the tractor attached to it.

“Our father taught us well,” Sue said, wiring the bales.

Minturn gauges how many bales to make on the number of people coming to the demonstration. He encourages audience participation. Between 20 and 30 people watched the early demonstration. Sandra Governanti Goecke, of Cincinnati, and her daughters, Kaitlin, 5, and Sarah, 3, are spending a few weeks on Owasco Lake with their relatives. Goecke is originally from this area.

“We drove here in our van,” Goecke said. “It's still cheaper than flying.”

Minturn first came to the O'Hara Museum to give wagon rides twice a year, then became a commissioner. After his friend Dave Jones bought a stationary hay press, the plan evolved.

“It was a piece of junk,” Minturn said. “The guy who sold it said, 'You'll never get it started.'” He and his friends painstakingly took the press apart, numbered all the pieces, and rebuilt it.

“We went by trial and error,” he said. Ernie Luke, another friend, made a business of running a hay press for years and went all around the county baling hay. Ernie's expertise helped make the press operational.

After the hay baling, those attending Hay Day went into the museum to visit with Cayuga County historians from various towns. Owasco, Aurelius, Sempronius and Cato all had their own exhibits.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net