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Implement Alley Discussion Forum

rain on my windrows,now what?

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steveinmaine

07-13-2005 02:00:42




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clear as a bell yesterday afternoon and early evening and absolutely no rain in the forecast. put our hay in windrows,some are pretty big. woke up at 3:30 am to hear the rain coming down !*&%#..got up to get on the computer for help as i could not sleep and wishing i could fire the local forecaster ;-) not sure if our tedder will be able to handle most of our windrows to spread it out again to dry..if we had seen any threat of rain, we would have left it tedded and re-tedded this morning..we have a nh 56 rake and have noticed some people suggesting leaving one side of the rake up and the other down to roll the windrow over. will this handle a large(tall) windrow or will we just clog it up? rain forecast for tomorrow afternoon. pretty much stopped raining now,so medium rain for about 1 1/2 hours. am i down to re-spreading the hay, or any chance the windrows will dry with sunshine and a 5-10 mph breeze?

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havvey

07-13-2005 13:09:16




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to steveinmaine, 07-13-2005 02:00:42  
steve i am fairly close to you the windrows out of a mower will handle a shower no problem tighter the better. do not put hay on wet ground as it will such up the moisture. let it dry then tedder it. a 440 is an awsome tedder for small farms. if you have a wet field (holds water) they can be very hard on a year like this drainage pipe or bailing in august sept is an option good luck.



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Hound

07-13-2005 06:12:52




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to steveinmaine, 07-13-2005 02:00:42  
...no use spreading or rolling wet hay on wet ground. Let the ground dry off, roll hay on warm ground. Hound



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Allan in NE

07-13-2005 05:29:11




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to steveinmaine, 07-13-2005 02:00:42  
Hi Steve,

Not me. I'd let 'er set there 'til about midday if you have ample sunshine and a good breeze this morning.

Then, about noon or 1pm, lift that windrow up on edge with your rake to get air to the bottom. By the time you get that process done, you should be good to go with the baler on the first of it and with any luck at all, you'll have 'er in the barn by the time the rains come tomorrow afternoon.

Rained on windrowed hay dries very fast if allowed to dry on the top first and then stood "half over" to let the air circulate underneath.

The only deal killer would be if you get hit again today with another rain.

Your mileage may vary according to location, humidity and type of hay tho.

Allan

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James2

07-13-2005 06:02:41




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to Allan in NE, 07-13-2005 05:29:11  
This is exactly what we have always done, with great success. Let the top dry and then roll over with the edge of the rake so the bottom is right-side up. When the top dries, bale.



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mike brown

07-13-2005 03:19:30




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to steveinmaine, 07-13-2005 02:00:42  
Steve;
There is no chance your windrowed hay will dry without tedding. You must ted it out the sooner the better. The fact that you had it windrowed will help preserve the color because less of it was exposed to the rain so that is good. It will dry much faster than it did when it was fresh cut even though it may feel just as wet. If you go slow with you tedder you may get through it. Every hour it sits there wet it is growing mold. Think of wet laundry. It won't dry in the basket. It needs to be spread out so air and sun gets to it.
Good luck. Making hay can be exasperating.

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steveinmaine

07-13-2005 03:28:19




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to mike brown, 07-13-2005 03:19:30  
thanks mike, guess we will have to give the tedder(kuhn 440gt) a workout..feel a little better since you mentioned it ,and i should have thought that windrowing actually hopefully kept some of the lower hay in the windrow dry..am heading out there now to assess the situation and will hook my tedder up..sun is shining(of course) definitely rained on my hay parade and yes exasperating is one word to describe it ;-)

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Ken Macfarlane

07-13-2005 05:59:35




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to steveinmaine, 07-13-2005 03:28:19  
Steve, we are just across the border in New Brunswick and we got caught too. 200 bales in windrows that have been rained on twice and tedded twice and raked twice...

Me thinks mulch hay for us.



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txgrn

07-13-2005 06:40:25




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to Ken Macfarlane, 07-13-2005 05:59:35  
I was custom baling for a neighbor. He said cut it. I didn't pay attention to the weather cause when they said cut; I cut.

Well it turned out that it rained off and on for several days. After things dried out I thought I was going to get some respectable hay after all. Looked pretty good going into the baler.

But 6 months later when I wanted to feed it it was moldy stinking junk. The stuff was dry when I baled it. So the mold pores must have been there lying on the ground and I didn't see them.

Course I had no option but to bale; had to get it off the field for the regrowth and couldn't burn the field or I'd kill the plants..... whadda deal. Yuck!

Anyway it is still stacked in the field from last year; unused.

Mark

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Ken Macfarlane

07-13-2005 07:01:46




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to txgrn, 07-13-2005 06:40:25  
Luckily highway construction projects consume most of that type of hay here for grassing slopes! If I could just get a contact... They pay almost as much as horse customers, pick it out of the field or barn, show up when they say, checks clear and will take the worst stuff you have with a smile.



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steveinmaine

07-13-2005 09:01:42




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to Ken Macfarlane, 07-13-2005 07:01:46  
well, i would have been game to try the rake trick and roll the windrow over since the bottom seemed pretty dry(rain did not penetrate)..but had to get after it so tedded once, tedded second time a few minutes ago..will have to re-rake windrows when dry enough..have sunshine and nice breeze and humidity not too bad..whaddya think..? are we looking at decent feed hay(have better stuff already in the barn for horses) or are we looking at mulch like ken has...? quite a bit of road construction going on in our area so maybe a market there...have an area we bush hogged the last 2 years that we mowed this year..am using that as mulch hay already..this other somewhat rained on stuff is nice timothy,orchard grass,red clover ,vetch,etc...hate to see it go bad and be just mulch....

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txgrn

07-13-2005 14:35:08




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to steveinmaine, 07-13-2005 09:01:42  
My 2c is that if it smells good go for the hosses. I think the secret of saving rained on hay is speed. Get there fast and save it. Let it lie and loose it. If it stinks, go for the road.

Mark



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mike brown (in NY)

07-13-2005 09:53:22




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to steveinmaine, 07-13-2005 09:01:42  
Steve; If your selling it , it needs to look and smell good. If your feeding it , it doesn't have to look good. Years ago I worked for a farmer who had two samples of the same hay tested. One sample had gotten a shower like yours and was a bit bleached and one had not . Both samples came back with about the same analysis.



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steveinmaine

07-13-2005 19:22:22




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 Re: rain on my windrows,now what? in reply to mike brown (in NY), 07-13-2005 09:53:22  
we always were told(my dad used to put up hay with a 31 model a doodle bug, an old hay rake and a pitchfork) that rain leaches some of the nutrients,but depending on whether fresh cut or almost ready to bale, the damage amount changes.this was not too bad (not a downpour) so we think it still looks and smells like hay..here i was feeling bad for myself and my dad told me of having to turn the whole field over with a pitchfork after a rain..he and my grandmother did the field like that and got the hay in before dark..the hired help took one look at the wet hay and proclaimed his leg hurt..strangely enough my uncle saw him a couple of hours later hoofing it thru town with no apparent limp :-) at any rate,tedded twice, raked once, baled about 300 bales..sold 50 in the field and the other 250 were in the barn by 8:00 pm..long day but what else is new..hay does not look as good or smell as good as the 450 bales we put up over the 4th of july(no rain at all on those)..we'll use the earlier bales as horse hay..the 50 we sold today was for beef critters..going to do about 150 mulch bales tomorrow..thanks to all for the advice and thoughts.

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