Haying 2014

[Ed Thayer]

Anyone else getting anxious to cut hay. My orchard grass is all headed out and the clover is tall. We need some weather soon to get it in.

Who was it that said, ” New England produces great grass, if only you could have the weather to harvest it.”

Ed

• This topic was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by Ed Thayer.

[dominiquer60]

Moments like this is when it is handy to have a dairy herd to feed, it just has to wilt in order to put it in the silo 🙂

We are chomping at the bit for 3-4 good days in a row, the orchard grass is already something that they pass up in the pasture. Thank goodness for our recent hay field renovations with late timothy, it seems to make a big difference in quality.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by dominiquer60.

[Does’ Leap]

“Anyone else getting anxious to cut hay?”

Hey Ed, I am not anxious, but would welcome some hot sunny days. Keep in mind that it is very difficult to put up square bales this time of year. Even with a long, sunny stretch, high ground moisture, stem moisture, and lower temps are challenging. I have only made 1 crop of hay before June 1 in the past 5 years….barely.

Good luck.

George

[Kevin Cunningham]

Common wisdom around here is not to cut before Memorial day. It is too risky that bring said we already put 300 bales in the barn and it was some of the best hay we’ve had here. We got lucky this year.

[PeytonM]

even if I was ready to cut hay there no way it would be done, I think we got a good 2 inches of rain lastnight and last weekend we got over 5… its soggy places that were always dry no matter what are now wet… really wet..

[dominiquer60]

First 23 acres are chopped and in the neighbors silo in trade for planting our corn. Sam is out tedding the first 5 acres for small squares, we need it badly for the horses. It is drying nicely though we are working it more that we normally would because the ground is so wet, but it is drying on schedule for baling tomorrow. It is almost 80 today and should be in the mid 80’s tomorrow. 36 last night, and I just planted tomatoes this morning, warm nights from here on out.

[Ed Thayer]

Glad you got some haying weather Erika. Looking forward to getting started here.

[Ed Thayer]

The neighbor dairy farm was tedding and raking green chop because it was so rank.

We missed our ability to cut by 1 day. Hope next week looks better.

[Mark Cowdrey]

I would gladly trade the 2 2-day windows in the forecast for 1 3-day!

[Kevin Cunningham]

Not to rub it in but we got in another 100 bales of nice grain hay. I say this only to share the different cycles. CA is in the worst drought in decades which make for good hay weather but I had failures in my corn and buckwheat last season. I remember four years ago we had three inches and hail the first weekend in June. I wasn’t the only one to lose hay that year. Farmers are an optimistic lot. There’s always next year.

[Ed Thayer]

What do you think of the forecast ?

Looks good after today through maybe Tuesday. The grass is so thick I question whether it would dry in 2.5 days?

I have a neighbors field that is thinner than mine and think it might be OK to try that. Frustrating year for hay everywhere I think.

ED

[Does’ Leap]

We are going to start cutting in the rain today and probably finish mowing tomorrow. It is a narrow window, but the further the season progresses without optimal weather, the more chances I am willing to take. I have tedded as much as 3x daily in conditions like this and have done OK. We have Sat-Mon looking good with 40% chance of rain Monday night.

George

[dominiquer60]

We are going to cut in the morning even if raining. We hate to take the risk, but we hate to see is go by, with 100 acres we should get enough decent feed for ourselves. We have cut twice so far with 700 safe in the loft. The crop has been very light and varies a lot field to field and within the fields. The last 2 fields generally make 3 loads stacked well above the top of the wagon, this year they only brought 2 loads, not quite full to the top of the wagon.

[Ed Thayer]

We are going to hold off, the weather is just not going to cooperate. I sought the advice of a couple respected hay makers here and neither of them are cutting yet.

Networking with them made up my mind.

Good luck to the rest of you,

[Ed Thayer]

I could not stand the anticipation any longer, I cut on Saturday afternoon after the sun decided to show. Glad I did, I tedded 2 times today and the grass is drying great in this wind and sun.

Will ted a couple times tomorrow and hopefully get it baled early Tuesday before the possible thunderstorms.

Ed

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