Help, Oat hay swathed, rain in forcast.

fastline

Member
Too many variables this year as my first year in the hay business. Decided to drop the Oats because they were maturing too fast. Dropped in the milk stage with just a slight bit of dough in a few. I would have dropped earlier but lack of rain hurt the growth.

Now I have 40 acres swathed and a 50% chance of rain tomorrow. Down from 60% I guess but.... I really cannot push them along and with clouds today and tomorrow, I highly doubt it will be ready until Monday at the earliest.

I have heard that a light rain on swathed Oats is not biggy, I have also heard it is a huge disaster. I have bet the farm on this crop so to speak. A LOT invested and need this to work. What angle would YOU play here?

Temps have been 100* but cooling into the 90s for the next week. I would think if we do get rain, it will move through quickly and probably not much in it. Just enough to ruin my day.
 
Don't bale it till its ready. If it rains on it
flip it and get the baler in when its ready. No use
having a heart attack or ulcers over it.
 
I think what is prompting the heart attack is Inet searches that indicate rained on Oat hay is useless. I can't see why but it is the Inet afterall.
 
Treat it like any other hay- if it gets wet, flip it and bale it as soon as you can. May not be as pretty, but they'll still eat it before snowballs.
 
If it doesn't rain tonight, wait til the dew burns off, and temps go up in the am . Maybe 10:00
Make one bale, Check the moisture. Keep at it til you have nice 15% bales.
 
You are thinking it could be ready Sunday? That is only 1 day curing on most of it? I will admit I have never grown Oats and have no clue how long it will take but was my understanding the hollow stems of Oat makes it take a bit, even if conditioned.

I am not questioning really, just asking. That would be great if I could bale Sunday but I know it will likely be cloudy all day. Probably could bale all day long if so.
 
(quoted from post at 22:41:50 06/15/13) I think what is prompting the heart attack is Inet searches that indicate rained on Oat hay is useless. I can't see why but it is the Inet afterall.

fastline
I'll send a truck to pick-up that "useless" hay if you bale it at or below 15% moisture. That will save you the trouble of disposal :lol:
Seriously when I was a youngster my Dad raised oats for hay every year and very few yrs did the sq bales make it to the barn without the hay getting rained on.
 
(quoted from post at 04:34:23 06/16/13)
(quoted from post at 22:41:50 06/15/13) I think what is prompting the heart attack is Inet searches that indicate rained on Oat hay is useless. I can't see why but it is the Inet afterall.

fastline
I'll send a truck to pick-up that "useless" hay if you bale it at or below 15% moisture. That will save you the trouble of disposal :lol:
Seriously when I was a youngster my Dad raised oats for hay every year and very few yrs did the sq bales make it to the barn without the hay getting rained on.

I think I am mostly pizzed at myself for dropping it with rain in the forecast. I was expecting machine failures and the oats were really maturing fast. They went from boot to full head and milk in a week and did not want to see them go to grain. I should have waited to cut until tomorrow.

Learning can suck... But I do appreciate the note on rinsed off oats. It seems like rain might hurt alfalfa more than oats. I was just out and was surprised to see that some of the outside windrows are ready to bale. I cut that Thurs eve late. I think I will continue to prep machines and see what happens tonight. By the time I haul equipment there, rake, and then try to bale, it will probably rain. I am probably over stressing on it though. I just have a LOT riding on this venture and need things to work out smoothly.
 
With oats you have to cut it when it's at the stage you want it. a few days makes a big difference to the end product. We have had oats cut for 10 days with rain and turned out ok. If you bale it before it's dry you won't be happy either. Best to cut it and not let it bother you as you can't change the weather and it will get dry when it does and not before. If we watched the forecast this year we wouldn't have much done yet. As it is right now the last of the hay will get baled tomorrow and the oats will all be cut. Only one day of rained on hay.
 
(reply to post at 22:37:00 06/19/13)

I agree with Cliff. Oats for hay have a small window as to when they need to be cut. Wait a few days then the seeds will be in dough stage and I'd just as soon get a combine rather than consider baling and have the RATS that come with mature seeds. Add to that every day after the seed head emerges from the stalk the crude protein of the hay goes down.
 
Years ago we had oat hay rained on for 14 days and the days it wasn't raining it was so humid it wasn't drying any way. We got it baled and the heifers ate most of it and what they didn't eat they laid on it
 

Damage from rain varies greatly with maturity. In my earlier years of haying, I had half of a field rained on, half not, probably third week of June. This was grass hay. We were told that it did not hurt it so we got it tested. The nutrient value decreased by only two-three points. It hurt it far less than late mowing does. Getting rained on reduces the value of early hay to horse owners but not to the horse.
 
Thanks for the input. I think the combination of rain and too much dry down from having rake and baler issues, the product was not the best but guaranteed, it ain't gunna have mold issues.


As an engineer, I started looking at some numbers on bale weights. I have to wonder if wet hay is so common because many people buy by the ton, which is mostly water weight. There is actually a HUGE difference in weight based on water, NOT compaction. Bale tension can be observed in many other ways.

I also learned that oats are tough! the heads want to stay on, and its just plain hard to mechanically hurt the stuff when haying it.
 
(quoted from post at 08:26:34 06/30/13) Thanks for the input. I think the combination of rain and too much dry down from having rake and baler issues, the product was not the best but guaranteed, it ain't gunna have mold issues.

I wouldn't say that wet hay is common. It gets a lot of attention when it does happen.


As an engineer, I started looking at some numbers on bale weights. I have to wonder if wet hay is so common because many people buy by the ton, which is mostly water weight. There is actually a HUGE difference in weight based on water, NOT compaction. Bale tension can be observed in many other ways.

I also learned that oats are tough! the heads want to stay on, and its just plain hard to mechanically hurt the stuff when haying it.
 

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