haying

[colttrainer]

Like Donn I cut 3 to 4 inches off the ground. Not only is it easier on the plants it helps to dry things quicker by holding the grass up off the ground letting the breezes in the bottom side. Al

[CharlyBonifaz]

Not only is it easier on the plants

that is exactly what I was taught; left a little longer the grass will grow back a lot faster (leave the apical meristem responsible for producing leaves).

[jac]

Yes thats the same cutting height, give or take, I use too..nice to know im doing something right :D..
John

[Tim Harrigan]

The only time I have tilted the bar down is to try to get under hay or straw that was lodged and laying down. Smooth knife sections are reported to be better in fine-stemmed hay than the serrated knives but I have not used them. I think the most important thing is the overall adjustment of the cutterbar just as Donn described.

[Does’ Leap]

Thanks everyone for all the input and advice on the haying schedule. I think I have sufficiently recovered from last week to think about it! Things we will change next time are: only ted once in late morning instead of twice, and only rake the day we bale so we don’t need to flip it. Part of our problem is that we have small hilly fields all over the place, so we actually were working 3 different one acre plots, ranging 1/4 mile away…not very efficient.

And we were cutting a mix of stuff. We graze most of our hayable land too, so everything we cut had been grazed at least once in early may, we had one small plot that had been grazed twice and it was a dream to deal with. There were 40 very nice bales we were able to bale a day early, so it gives me hope. The rest was more first cut -like, and one plot that can’t be more than 1/2 acre gave us 90 bales, what a nightmare that was all around…we ended up only tedding that once because the vetch just wrapped up in the tedder. that was part of a bigger field that we abandoned and will start to graze next.

Thanks again for the input, Donn I think we have similar forage quality and drying conditions, so your schedule will be a handy reference. Question though…you are out there with the haybine and sickle bar, do you notice a big difference in the drying of the hay that comes from each?

Kristan

[mitchmaine]

2″ rain last night. spotted showers today. monday and tuesday look sunny with s-west breeze. then back into showers. not the best haymaking weather, but the best chance in the last week. here we go. thats the weather from here.

mitch

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