haying

[Ed Thayer]

Looks like we are not the only ones getting rained on. ?

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[carl ny]

We got in our first 400 bales today,got a lot more for the next two days. Late year,we usually have the first cutting done by the end of June.

[Livewater Farm]

I quess we should stop listening to the national weather forecasters
they have no idea of the weather I think they set up all the tourist for the 4th to get out and spend money with the forecast of dry sunny weather for the holiday weekend

can not tell you how many folks around here saw the 4 day forecast and mowed mowed mowed
alot of wet hay on the ground
I believe the horse hay customers are not going to be so fussy be luckey if they can find hay down here this year
I have been turning away customers all month
round wrapped bales has saved alot of rained on hay for me this year my bovines will eat good and the horses will be getting second cutting if the sun ever shines for more than 12 hours
hope you all are having better luck than I
Bill

[Donn Hewes]

Finally think we can bale some hay tomorrow! Mowed on Friday, rained 1/4″ on Sat, tedded today, and will likely ted 10 am tomorrow if need be. Then rake and bale. It might make 300 bales off 4 acres? I can see where we will be able to mow again before next weekend though. Hopefully we can make a bigger piece then. This summer I have borrowed a horse, so introducing her to work (she had about 3 or 4 years off) and all the tools. So far she has been great, but tomorrow I will introduce her to the motorized PTO. I will let you know what she thinks of that. Donn

[Ed Thayer]

Put up another hundred bales this afternoon, got wet yesterday and was able to Ted it 3 times today and bale it and made pretty good hay considering. Horses will be happy with it come middle of January. Lots of farmers down here with wet hay on the ground, gonna be scarce to find top notch stuff this year.

[Donn Hewes]

Must be some kind of record! Baling in the rain today. Sprinkles for 20 minutes while we continued to bale. The sky over our head was blue, but the sprinkles kept coming anyway. Now I will watch the bales for a few days. I always tell people how much I enjoy hay making, as my friends point out; it isn’t always obvious. Maybe we will try again in a few days. the borrowed horses took to the baler without missing a step. I hope we get some better hay making weather soon, this 225 bales was pulled from the jaws of defeat at every turn.

[mitchmaine]

at the risk of jinxing things, i’ve been dodging bullets up here and have made some pretty ok hay. not much, and i think i’m getting better weather than you guys (for some strange reason). anyway, its always different tomorrow and you’ll all be making fine hay and i’ll be the one complaining. its a long summer and who knows what it will bring. i’m getting about 2/3 to 3/4 crop up here. covering lots of ground for not much action. good luck all.

[Ed Thayer]

Our hay day Sunday.

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[Does’ Leap]

We put up 750 over the last few days to finish up our first cut. We did get some rain Saturday night, but not too bad. We dodged a big bullet as the rain was torrential just south of us.

Yesterday was hot and humid (the first such day all summer!) and horses were digging deep to finish raking. Hay quality is decent considering the challenges.

George

[daniel grover]

We got in 1500 bales, mostly first cut (20 acres worth) but also a few wagons of really nice second cut. Finished last night around 10:00 with still two and a half wagons worth in the field, some in windrows, some untouched. It’s raining tonight so we’ll see when we have a chance to bring in the last of that first cut, may end up being bedding hay.

The early cut we got in May of 1,200 bales has put us in a decent position despite not being able to make any hay in June. If the rain stays consistent, we may get 4 cuts off that ground this year. Feels really good to finally have some sizeable stacks in the barn and the crews recovering before the next window rolls around.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by daniel grover.

[Donn Hewes]

We finished the first cutting yesterday! Yes, I know August 8th is a little late. We made 47 acres and 2700 bales. All mowed, tedded, raked, and baled with horses (and one mule that learned to rake and ted). I did use a tractor to move a few wagons one day when rain was threatening while we were still baling; and yesterday a neighbor helped us move four wagons with a truck after we made about 10 acres over a mile from home! The day before we pulled three wagons home (up hill) and it took longer to draw and unload wagons than it did to bale them. When the baler is working well in good windrows, and the hay is dry we are putting over 100 bales on a wagon and filling two wagons in just over an hour.

One of our experiments this year was 12 acres that had been grazed in May. This year the hay quality from that field was great in mid July when it was finally dry enough to make the hay. We made about 600 bales off that field that was practically second cutting quality.

In a couple weeks I hope to make about 20 acres of second cutting. We will see how it grows from here on out!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Donn Hewes.

[Carl Russell]

I just acquired this JD #3. I had to do a bit of tuning and tinkering, but it ran pretty well, and I was able to catch a nice little crop of late season rowen.

Carl

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