I see a lot of poor hay being made.

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member
Seems that since we have had such crummy weather for making hay this year , guys are running out and baling up rained on hay with out turning it to dry. One guy near me cut every thing he had a week ago, it got rain for 5 days. He just baled it out of the swath where it laid. I think it will be dusty moldy junk, if it doesn't take fire. New round balers will bale tough or wet hay, but it still won't keep. Same guys I see doing this keep some beef cows. I sure wouldn't want to feed it to anything.
 
Maybe the are just getting it off the field so more will grow. I've had to do that in the past. If nothing else it can be rolled out for bedding when it snows.
 
it sure has been a challenge.cut it with chance of rain every other day or let it stand and get older every day?roll the dice?
 
This may sound like folklore, but my daughter arranged for some hay from one of her school mates years ago. I got the hay and it really looked green. It didn't take long for it to start flattening on the bottom and turning dark brown. It stunk.

Later I got the story from the guy who bailed it with water in the field, hay uncured when baled.

It sat and that fall I fed it. It stunk, but just slight surface mildew on the outside. Inside was burnt from going through a bad sweat.

Cows loved it and ate every leaf. Go figure that!

Must have fermented and turned to whiskey and they all got drunk! Ha.
 
My uncle did a lot of custom baling. When he had moldy hay, he would sell it to a place that grew mushrooms. Baling wet hay may be the only way to clean up the field.
 
My Grandson has been baling high moisture hay the last couple years. Not out of the swather though. He wraps it and seals the ends and starts feeding it after 30 or more days. Probly not what you are seeing.

DSC04761-vi.jpg
 
Lot of barns burned in past years due to wet hay. I've seen guys try to sell that stuff and tell customers in was never wet. If I was buying hay I would find a guy I trusted and be the first one in the field when he cut and take a few chances as possible. We haven't done much hay around here (Western NY) as June was one of the wettest Junes on record. Fortuneately my horse customers would rather have it way past prime than wet and moldy.
 
I've baled some junk in my life,that I didn't think would ever be good for anything but a fire. It sat in fence rows for several years after that. Come a time that I had to try,they ate the darned stuff. I never put anything in front of those beef cows that they wouldn't eat eventually. I've seen them stand right out in the pasture and nibble at bull thistle.
 
We are seeing fellows mowing hay for dry bales this week. The first of the year. Those who are round baling or chopping are on the second cutting now. I would be surprised if any of the first cutting going in now is going to test over 6-7% protein. Beef cow hay or fiber for the dairy cows, but they sure aren't gonna make any milk on the stuff. When I first started farming I put up 12,000 bales of dry hay per year. Don't think I ever had more than 2-3,000 per year that was ever good for anything. Finally gave up and chopped the first cutting.
 
Maybe they are just baling it to save the next crop. I rarely bale the frits crop of hay. I usually chop it. We had a window that I could have made dry hay but I did not change it and just chopped all the first crop. Mow one day and chop the next.
 
I've fed hay like that too, the burnt smell is a result of a carmlization process uncured hay goes through when baled. Still makes feed if its not too moldy or dusty, but the carmalization renders any protein undigestible for ruminants.

Ben
 
Can't say what the situation was, been too long ago. Don't know if the cows lost weight or what. Just know it disappeared as does a junk bale you put in a ravine for erosion control. They walk away from new hay to eat that.
 

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