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baling shredded grass for hay ???

D

dwragon

Member
I have read here that you cant bale shredded grass for hay, then I have read that you can with certain small square balers (Hesston 4550/4590/4600, being specifically stated (Case/IH 8545, 8555, 8530a12, Cat Challenger SB36 same types) that you can bale bushhogged grass for hay. Are they able to do this because of longer needle /pick-up teeth? or does the non bushhoged hay apply solely to round balers? The reason for the ?is that I was wanting to use a JD 224 or 336 after cutting with a Woods B320 bushhog.

This post was edited by dwragon on 11/24/2021 at 08:53 am.
 
About 15 years ago I bales some hay a neighbor had brush
hogged using an international 37 small square baler. Yes I did
lose some of the hay from being finer cut than a hay mower
and i had to rake a lot of it together to get a decent winrow but
it can be done and loss isnt bad; about comparable to doing
second cutting.
 

Mike would you please explain what you mean by this,

The left side comes off and it leaves a windrow and doesn't shred,

(Do you mean it leaves grass on the left when baling, and wont shred if you put it in a cattle feed shredder? or?)
 
It's a Woods Cadet 60. The left side of the deck comes off with 6 or 7 bolts. The blades rotate to the left so when they cut the grass is thrown out and not shredded
under the deck and leaves it in a windrow. I guess not all mowers are made this way.
 
Any baler can do it as long as its raked properly. The problem with chopped grass is that its tough to get tedded and then raked well because the pieces are so short.
 
(quoted from post at 16:10:11 11/24/21) It's a Woods Cadet 60. The left side of the deck comes off with 6 or 7 bolts. The blades rotate to the left so when they cut the grass is thrown out and not shredded under the deck and leaves it in a windrow. I guess not all mowers are made this way.
Click to expand...

No, Mike, neither my JD 606 is, and certainly not the Woods B320 I just bought, but in buying a hay spike the guy tried to sell me a bushhog that had a 2 foot gap at the rear, explaining that it was modified that way to leave the cuttings in a row so hay could be made from it. And thanks for the explanation.
 
(quoted from post at 16:10:34 11/24/21) Any baler can do it as long as its raked properly. The problem with chopped grass is that its tough to get tedded and then raked well because the pieces are so short.
Click to expand...

Ahh, I had thought that might be it, but having no experiance in doing any of this yet, as I am just now gathering equipment so I can make sure it is in good working order for spring. I am hoping that by towing a v rake behind my bushhog (1st cut) that it will work to make hay for small bales, and I will use a sickle mower the then the rake on the second for round bales, on a 40 to 60 acre field. I dont want to cut the entire 80 acres because there is too much sand and a blow hole.
 
I think you are wasting power to run a bushog to mow hay with versus just mowing with a regular hay sickle bar mower. Mower will cut easier with less power required and faster. You will not want to pull a rake behind the mower of any sort. Let it lay out flat to dry faster. Then rake after it drys will be fluffier in the windrow and let more air through to dry the bottom of what was the now previous swath. This will be especially true with first cutting where it is heavier thicker hay.
 
I was having a major problem with my sickle bar mower, so I mowed with my bush hog and baled, lost about 50% in my judgement. I
baled with a Int. 46. So it can be done. But I would NEVER do it again. I'd hire the neighbor before I would mow hayground to
bale with a bush hog. gobble
 
Caterpillar guy and Tomturkey

[CG Quote]I think you are wasting power to run a bushog to mow hay with versus just mowing with a regular hay sickle bar mower. Mower will cut easier with less power required and faster. You will not want to pull a rake behind the mower of any sort. Let it lay out flat to dry faster. Then rake after it drys will be fluffier in the windrow and let more air through to dry the bottom of what was the now previous swath. This will be especially true with first cutting where it is heavier thicker hay.

[Tt Quote]I was having a major problem with my sickle bar mower, so I mowed with my bush hog and baled, lost about 50% in my judgement. I baled with a Int. 46. So it can be done. But I would NEVER do it again.

Cg, I bought the woods B320 bushog to cut weeds, never heard of a weed getting resistant to being bitten or cut, so I will use the sickle mower, but I am going to just let it dry without teddering it as I live in south central Oklahoma where few people tedder their cuttings due to the heat.

Tt, thanks for the 50% predicted loss warning, I will use the sickle mower.

I appreciate all the sage advice.
 
I recall Worksaver announced a rotary mower that would leave a windrow for baling 20 or 25 years ago. Apparently it never caught on.
 
the woods does a decent job if ground is flat and even so as to get a close cut. as for tedding I don't think you will gain anything. you
don't drive on the cut hay and it is well conditioned for grass hay. my 2 cents worth. ps you need to take left side panel off.
 
In the advertisements for mowing with the Woods mower one selling point was the hay dries faster than mowing it with a sickle mower.
 
This depends on your end goal, and what crop you are working with.

If you want to make 150 bales of grass a year for your hobby horse you can get it done with a bush hog. Will be some waste but no problems. Fun hobby and you can
get that done.

If you want to sell hay off of 100 acres of alfalfa, boy would you be in for a rude awakening as to the time, hay, and money lost!

If you want to sell your hay bales for top dollar and make some money, look at your customer. What do they want? Grass hay, mixed hay, alfalfa hay? Do they want it
long, or shredded up, or ?

How big a deal is this, 5 acres, 25 acres, 100 acres? Goals of just fun, needs to pay for itself, or it needs to make actual profit?

So its difficult to answer your question properly.

You can make hay with a brush hog, but the results might be average if this is for fun, to poor if this is for bigger scale profit.

Paul
 
In tall heavy brome grass my Woods Brush Bull 72 inch will leave the cuttings long enough to rake and bale. I have never tried raking and baling behind the Woods because the brome grass I cut with it is in CRP for weed control. A sickle does a lot nicer job of cutting compared to the Woods.
 

Paul, I was planning on 60 acres at this point, planted in Bermuda, by the guy I bought my first 150 acres from. He had someone do a first cut, saved it for winter then grazed about 20 bred heifer/cow-calf pairs on the 150. All I want it for is sheep hay.
 
Had 3 different bush hog type of mowers over the years and they would not leave pieces long enough for the McCormic 46 or previous New Holland 66 baler to pick up or if goild get it picked up you could not get a bale to hold together. And no side pannels to be able to be taken off. Would be about like taking your lawn mower and mowing 6-8 tall grass and it would be so short you could not even handle it with a hay type pitch fork.
 
(quoted from post at 11:36:50 11/29/21) Sounds like this will be a fun adventure between hobby and profit. Enjoy it! :)

Paul
Click to expand...

Hoping it will be, especially profit for Mhai wife, I am only doing this to set her up in what I hope is a profit making farm for when I am gone, as she is 30 years younger than I am.
 
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