Hay drying in cool weather

In Indiana, open country, so I get a good bit of wind....

Cut with a Mower Conditioner.

Had .65 inches of rain Friday/Sat Morning.

Supposed to rain Weds night, then Friday, then Monday and the following friday(supposing the 15 day forecast is close to accurate....)

Will my hay get dry enough before a Weds night rain if I cut tomorrow morning????

It's a tough call. The schededule for cutting hay is a tight one. I live in the Wabash Valley in north central Indiana. I had about a half an inch with a shower Sat. afternoon. I am waiting for a better window. With the ground wet and below normal temps. There is a good SW breeze this morning, but with 45 degrees at chore time this morning I think I'll wait. If doesn't rain on Wed. it is a great call to cut.

Good Luck,
John

I guess I will wait to see if we get anything on Weds... if not cut Weds night. Looking better toward the end of the week....

If it gets rained on, do the same thing as soon as you can get back on it. Don't let the under part steam thru the drying upper part. Keep it turned. You'd be surprised how good a job of salvaging rained on hay this makes.

Mark

Was some of my hay's salvation last Spring. The ground wet, it was not going to help drying it turning it over from one wet palce to another from the last windrow raked away.

I have an old pto driven AC rake ideal for this purpose. BUT, can also be done with most any bar type rake, by swing tongue so the discahgeor delivery end is swung out from behind tractor.

Laugh and snicker if ya likes but this works for me. This effort saved my first and last first cutting's efforts last Spring Fernan

I used to work for an OEM designing things. It didn't always work out right the first time. We made several versions before we got what we wanted. Course we did have several criteria that had to be met.

On the farm, you get it right the first time as you don't have the resources to do several versions; however, you do usually have a lot of leeway.

That's why I admire the construction industry. When is the last time you saw a house built, just to have it dozed down and rebuilt cause the builder goofed on the first try. Ha!

The guy doing the concrete on the shop this winter remarked that he had specs and plans, but when it comes right down to it, the contractor has to "make it work out". Good point.

Mark