Haying 2013

[Ed Thayer]

Is anyone getting ready to knock down hay this week? Looks like a small window tomorrow thru Sunday evening. Our grass is a little stunted but heading out already.

Ed

[Does’ Leap]

Hi Ed:

I would love to start haying, but my forecast has rain the next 4 out of 5 days. I don’t know about others, but I have found drying 1st cut in three days challenging unless there are ideal conditions (dry ground, hot, sunny, breezy etc).

Good luck and tell us how it goes.

George

[Ed Thayer]

Just watched the weather at noon. Looks ideal through Sunday but now they say showers possible early Sunday, I guess I will have to wait.

George, when you get the hay down, have you ever raked it away from the edge of the field before tedding to get better exposure to the sun where there is heavy shade?

[Carl Russell]

This is the current weather map…… while I still have a few weeks before I need to cut hay, this is NOT the map I would be considering cutting hay under….

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[Eli]

Hay in north east Wisconsin needs a few weeks but at least I’m not buying any more. Put some fertilizer on a month ago and it looks pretty good. I look for a big hi pressure to the west and cut then hope for the best. Eli

[Does’ Leap]

Ed:

I don’t rake hay away from the edge of my meadows. Side delivery rakes are not set up to rake green hay. If you were able to rake it without plugging up your rake you would have a tangled mess that would be hard to dry. I have left, weather permitting, hay on the edge to bale the next day though.

George

[Donn Hewes]

I am still fixing a tedder and wagons, so the rain is alright with me. I hope we get some haying weather in the next week or two. Donn

[Hopewell Farm]

Like Donn, I am still repairing my tedder and need to put a deck on my wagon gear. Both of which were “winter” projects. Hopefully the weather will start cooperating next week.

John

[Ed Thayer]

Thanks George, good info.

I installed all new teeth on my JD 594 roller bar rake last weekend and ended up making my own strippers that were missing. I used 3/4 inch wide x 1/4 inch thick flat bar and used an old stripper as a template to bend the new ones.

My mower and tedder are good to go so all we need is good weather and we will get after it.

Ed

[wild millers]

Highway, you asked about raking hay in from the outside edge of the field. One approach we use sometimes depending on the field is to change the tracking angle on the tedder wheels for the first two passes around the outside of the field so it kicks the hay farther into the field rather than spin it into the brush at the edge.

[Ed Thayer]

I noticed my Kuhn tedder has adjustable wheel positions, is that what you are talking about?

It is a 4 rotor 12 tedder and there are 4 indipendant wheel adjusters.

Ed

[wild millers]

Yes, you have to adjust each wheel independently and its kind of futsy getting them all to run at the same angle, but we set them so the wheels are turned in towards the field one notch.

[Eli]

Do most people use tenders they are not popular in my area even when I was a kid and most cut with a mower I didn’t see them used much. Eli

[j.l.holt]

Are you speaking of a hay’bind” mower of some sort? most have some sort of rollers to break up the hay stems and aid drying. A tedder just fluffes the hay and lets it get air flow under to speed drying.

[Eli]

I was just wondering how popular tenders are, I have been making hay for almost 40 years and haven’t seen many tenders used in my area of Wisconsin. I’ve cut hay with most machines but never horses, I hope to this summer.

[Author]

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