Making Quality Hay.

[Does’ Leap]

We started feeding our second cut a few weeks ago and I am surprised at how good our hay looks. Last summer was a frenzy of haymaking in between short stretches of barely acceptable weather. Because of the wet weather this summer, we pushed the envelope in terms of baling hay that was slightly on the green side. The result has been high moisture hay with excellent color and palatability. There are some occasional dusty bales to be sure, but our milking goats seem to eat it with relish anyway. They are milking very well on this hay too.

All things being equal, it seems like maintaing good color in hay is key to quality and palatability. Based on this year’s results, I will try err toward baling on the slightly green side compared with too dry. Any thoughts?

George

[carl ny]

There’s a fine line between green and dry, and green and “burn your barn down”. just make sure it’s “dry”. JMHO

carl ny

[Ed Thayer]

I have been looking at my second cut as well. I feed it to the horses by mixing it in with the coarser hay from first cut. I noticed my second cut is bleached out a little in color as a result from letting it sit out a couple of days longer because I could not get it to dry with cloudy conditions. It never got rained on but the morning dew took its toll. The horses seem to love it however.

My first cut was a challenge like yours was George. It should have been cut earlier but the weather would not allow it. It is stemmy and the horses pick through it and eat the finer grass first. They will eventually much on the stemmy hay but save that till last.

Ed

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Gang, I love thinking about hay in the winter! I think the secret to increasing the quality of the hay is getting it to dry faster. There have been times when I dried hay more than needed due to equipment, weather, or scheduling, but in most cases it is a matter of planning to make it quickly. Not mowing too much, being able to ted anything I mowed in just 2 or three hours. I can usually use two teams and two rakes if I want to. This allows for raking, immediately followed by baling. Being available and ready to bale it all when it is ready. I think it is a life learning skill to be able to tell just when hay is ready. Every year I know I start to bale or rake at least once when hay is not as dry as it should be. then I hit groove for a while and as the weather improves, I usually have at least one field (usually mowed too much) where I know I should have been baling 12 or 24 hours earlier. One of the commonly held beliefs is that loose hay allows for hay that is a little less dry to go safely into the mow. I have never spent enough time with the process to see this for myself, but it would make an interesting question.

Now that I have a good ground drive PTO cart, if I find a good deal on a rotorary raky it will be one of my next tests for better hay. I can also use my tedder to bunch hay that is not quite dry. I never got a chance to try this last summer, but hope to this year. Donn

[Rivendell Farm]

My dairy farming friend is on his second rotary rake, after wearing out the first one, and he says the difference in hay quality is significant, worth the expense for the rake. Bob

[Ed Thayer]

Please explain the quality difference using a rotary rake vs other methods. I am new to hay making and never heard that comparison made before.

Ed

[Donn Hewes]

The funny thing is this contradicts a little what I said on another thread a while back! The idea with a rotary rake is that it will not make the windrows so tight and you can rake hay before it has finished drying and let it finish drying in the windrow while preserving some color, out of the sun. The common view of side delivery rakes is that they twist the hay up too tight to continue drying after raking. This has been my experience.

On another thread I was questioning how valuable it would be or whether it was worth the extra expense. I still think that will depend on how well you have figured out the mowing, tedding, and baling. All of which can have big impacts on making good hay.

[Does’ Leap]

Hi Donn:

I think you hit some important points in your first post. Namely that good haymaking is about a combination of knowledge/judgement/experience and good practices. The two go hand-in-hand. One good practice I have taken from this forum is the benefits of tedding early (i.e. within a few hours of mowing) and that tedding has diminishing returns as the hay gets drier. I still tend to tedd a lot – usually a minimum of twice and sometimes up to 4-5 times if the time window is extremely tight. Like you, I rake when I am ready to bale. The question in when to start raking. Since we dry hay to the lowest common denominator, this can be challenging because 90% of the field can be dry and I have to wait for the rest to catch up. However, my limited experience tells me that some green batches will dry in the bale.

I have no doubt that a rotary rake could increase hay quality. However, I think it is easy to latch on to technology as a substitute for experience and knowledge. We purchase 25% of our hay from a retired dairy farmer who has turned to wholesale vegetable production. He farms rich bottom-land and puts up outstanding hay with a side-delivery rake and a hodgepodge of old equipment. His hay is almost always very green and – for lack of better word – moist. He seems to know when just when to bale in order to hit that sweet spot. There have been several instances where I almost brought back wagons of hay b/c I feared they would mold or worse. With the exception of the odd dusty bale, they hay has always been dry and dust free.

George

[Carl Russell]

I have more experience with loose hay than baling, but have bought many bales from others over the years. One of the challenges we are faced with is that we are not conditioning our hay, as cutting with a sickle-bar does not crush the stem. In my mind this leads to better hay, but it also complicates the drying and baling process.

I have posted before that I learned most of my haying from men who adapted their horse-drawn ways to machinery. Cutting a lot of hay at one time was not a common practice. 500 bales was about tops in one section. This way the hay could get the attention it needs. Also with less on the ground, there is less tendency toward short-cuts. I have learned that big windrows and tight bales are great methods for increasing production, but they run contrary to making good hay that can store well.

The rotary rake has been developed for large amounts of hay and bigger balers. As George points out, the tools we use are only aids in the process that we are trying to perfect. The tools alone cannot make good hay, and good hay can be made without any tools. It matters what context you are working in.

One reason that loose hay stores so well is that it isn’t compacted the way baled hay is. I used to love coming into the stables during winter evening chores with a fork-full of summer. The animals just loved that hay. It filled the barn with a luscious odor, and created an intimacy to the situation that just doesn’t exist with baled hay, even from my own fields.

Carl

[Eli]

I have made dry hay as long as I can remember and ith all about moisture. I have a moisture probe if I question the moisture at all I bale a few bales and test them. It can be done without but if you are new or unsure it’s a valuable tool. Eli

[Does’ Leap]

Eli:

What type of moisture probe do you have and what did you pay for it? Can you test hay in the windrow or does it have to be baled? What is the moisture range that you shoot for?

George

[Jay]

Ome more observation on side delivery rakes – I use a couple of New Idea rake tedders- with a lever that adjusts the angle of the teeth, so it will rake into a tight windrow or “kick” it into a nice loose row. These old rakes are a bit tempermental, however they do a nice job IMHO if one is willing to learn how to work with them. I believe the IH and JD high wheel rakes also have this adjustment. Jay

[Ed Thayer]

Jay, you are correct, my JD 594 high wheel rake has an adjustment to change the pitch of the teeth. I played with it a little but found once the rake was working well it was best to leave it be and stop tinkering with the adjustment.

I raked all but one field right before baling. That seemed to work well for me with my set up. The one field I raked into a windrow and tried to dry took forever to dry out and I ended up raking it two more times before baling. Not a big deal with a tractor but would have been a challenge for the horses.

Ed

[Jay]

With the seat just between the levers on the rake, I am watching everything as it happens and can adjust as I’m driving the team, not having to get on and off a tractor – that’s what I like about it. Jay

[Tim Harrigan]

Well, -17 F and windy this morning, I forgot how much harder it is walking in snow up to your knees. Good time to think about hay. Generally, when hay gets down to about 20% moisture you can begin baling small square bales, 18% for large round bales. Probably 22% or so for loose hay but that depends on how much and how big the stack, how quickly, if there will be air movement through the stack, etc. Loose wrapped bales with dry better than tight bales when moisture is on the edge.

The best meters for testing moisture and calibrating your hand/eye is a Koster meter that is like a little stove. You take a few samples, chop them up, weigh them, dry them down to near 0% moisture and reweigh the dry matter to calculate the moisture. The Koster is kind of expensive but you can do the same thing with a small microwave oven and a small gram scale. If you use the microwave put a cup of water in the microwave with the sample or you could set it on fire. The probes will not be as accurate but will give you a good idea. You just need to create similar conditions between samples. For instance, if you are checking a windrow, grab a handful and squeeze it tight around the probe, don’t just lay it in the windrow. Tight bales will give a different reading than what you get by hand.

One challenge when to bale is due to the variability in the field. Some places might be 18%, in the swales might be 22%, higher yielding areas greater than lower yielding areas, heavy red clover in some areas will slow drying, north slope dries slower than south, edges of the woodlot slows things down, etc.

Rapid drying of hay requires heat (sunlight), dry air (low humidity), and air movement to move moisture and moist air out of the windrow. Anything that interferes with these conditions, cool temperatures, high humidity, cloudy skies, still air will delay drying. Tools like a tedder or rake create conditions that allow natural drying processes to work, but they do not in themselves dry the hay. Tedding right after mowing lifts the hay and spreads it over the entire area making full use of available sunlight and air movement. If the hay gets matted down or something happens to impede air movement through the hay perhaps second tedding is justified, or for instance a heavy dew the next morning when the hay is still tough, tedding again may be justified. A tedder is most valuable at first cutting in heavy yields. Second cutting, you may make the most $ with a tedder by leaving it in the shed. Alfalfa in particular takes a beating with the tedder because the leaves get knocked off. Look at the weather, if things look good leave the hay alone and let nature dry the hay. That will be the best hay.

Rotary rakes sweep the hay sideways and disorient the stems, thereby improving air movement through the windrow. This can allow you to begin raking at a slightly higher moisture than you might with a bar rake. My rake tilts so if I tilt it forward so the teeth contact the windrow sooner it kicks the hay up. I do this to speed drying. If I tilt it back it tends to roll and rope the windrow. I do this if no rain in sight, the hay is drying quickly, and I want to delay drying to keep some moisture in. The best approach here many times, particularly with second cutting is to cut and lay the hay in a wide swath and stay out until it is time to rake and bale. The question is always when do you use your tools? Raking and tedding can help if the conditions call for it, but high quality dry matter is lost and at a cost of finite energy expended by the team. Am I just getting old, or does anyone else think about energy conservation?

So for me the issue with tedding is, will the tedder improve drying conditions enough to justify the energy expense and wear and tear on the equipment? If you have conditions in the hay that suit good air movement, but the humidity is high, cloudy conditions or cool temperatures, etc., you can ted all day long and the hay will not dry any faster. You will bale stems with no leaves.

Everyone needs to find their comfort zone when making hay, every cutting seems different. Give nature a chance.

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