The 3rd of June

Hey, speaking of the 3rd of June.... Wasn't it the 3rd of June, another sleepy,dusty, delta day that Billy Joe McAlister jumped off the Tallahatchie bridge? I have been sort of confused by the words in that song. Accordingly, she was out chopping cotton?? Does that mean she was chopping the old cotton stalks from the previous year...early June would be too early for cotton to be coming in. Wouldn't it? And isn't hay usually baled in the fall?
I know the question we are to ponder is WHY Billy Joe jumped off the bridge not why the others were doing what they were doing, when they were doing it. But it just seems the timing is off or is it me that is off??? Ummmm, or maybe both???