Anyone cut their clover hay yet? Almost every alfalfa field here (South Western Illinois) has been cut. I haven't cut my clover yet. Still trying to get the weather reports and my work schedule to cooperate. Around here the soil holds so much moisture that you can't rake one day and bale the next. Have to rake before you bale or the bottom of your square bales will be green. Even in the middle of the summer it would find some moisture to pull out.
- Thread starter Bkpigs
- Start date
Have you ever looked at a merger? I have a new holland 144, it is one of the smaller mergers and I bought it cheap at an auction. Two advantages, combine windrows right after mowing and let the ground dry out in the middle then flip the whole mess over the next day and get the hay on dry ground plus cut your trips around the field with the baler in half.
I don't cover near enough ground to justify a merger. I usually will mow. Let it sit and on day 4 (day 1 being the mow date) I will rake it into the windrows of desired size. Usually it is two swaths with a 9 foot rake. I would rather have small windrows and make more trips than thick windrows and strain the old baler.
In my area a 4 day window is not happening, we have to get it up in 2-3 days or get a rain on it. I think that baling at or near full capacity of the baler in use puts less strain on the baler, say you are round baling, the longer you travel around the field continuously rotating half a roll of hay the more you are wearing the bearings and stretching the belts. Consider a 5' X 6' round bale, the last half of the bale requires roughly 4 times as much hay to build as the first half, all that weight is rolling a long time chasing small windrows, if square baling, all balers are designed to make a leaf of hay with a certain number of plunger strokes, anything over that number of strokes is added wear and tear with nothing to absorb the shock. When a square baler is rocking and shoving your tractor it is usually underloaded, unless there is just not enough tractor hooked to it.
Zachary Hoyt
Well-known Member
Our clover is only about 4" high so I am looking forward to when I will be able to cut hay but it looks like it will be a while yet.
Zach
Zach
showcrop
Well-known Member
Clover is no doubt tough to dry down. Here in NH we all mow into a 4 ft swath so that the sun can dry the ground for 4-8 hours then we tedd it out. We will tedd again after another eight hours or so. Then it gets dicey as to getting it raked before it is completely dry so as to avoid leaf loss. Sometimes we may tip the windrows over to give the bottom a little more sun just a couple hours before baling. We have to bale in full sunlight or dried hay will suck moisture out of the moist ground. There is no place for a merger in this game, it is impossible to make hay here without a tedder. The dairy farmers will combine swaths since they are making haylage. The dairy farm where I hung out as a kid mows 27 feet wide into one swath with a Krone Big M then follows with a big V rake to merge three swaths into one. They load it into their trucks with one of their 800 HP NH choppers.
Well I quit making hay 35 years ago and what works for you would not have worked here in Ohio. I am 71 years old now and my first memories were putting hay up with a buck rake made out of a 1929 Buick. Would load up 2 wagons with the hay loader to set back for anouther day to unload then would take the buckrake out and finnish the job and the guys working in the mow did not have as long or hard a job in the one day. I bought my first mower in 1958.
K Effective
Well-known Member
I like to spread my moco windrows out as soon as possible after cutting- our tedder has high and low speeds, high scatters the crop back out to almost the original width. Let it dry as long as possible, rake it once and bale, if possible, often first cutting requires an additional roll, but I have found the spreading shortens cure time by about a day.
I harvest alfalfa containing fields by growing degree days- cut before you get to 1000 god for first cutting, usually less than quarter bloom. subsequent cuttings usually by first sight of blooms- once it blooms it doesn't get any more tender.
I harvest alfalfa containing fields by growing degree days- cut before you get to 1000 god for first cutting, usually less than quarter bloom. subsequent cuttings usually by first sight of blooms- once it blooms it doesn't get any more tender.
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