Very wet, 3rd cutting hay

Northvale PA · Aug 10, 2020

Time to get the 3rd cutting alfalfa grass hay done. It rained very hard Friday evening. Might have been 2”. And we had 3” from the Tropical storm last Monday. So on Saturday morning we put the repaired rotor back on the tedder and mowed one field. I decided to try the technique mentioned on this site of setting the windrow shields tight and tedding the windrows after a few hours of ground drying. To be honest, I don’t think I like it. Keep in mind the hay was soaking wet when cut. But the windrows were starting to warm up 3 hours later and not all of the hay spread evenly. There were a few bunches that didn’t spread out until tedded a 2nd time. These were still warm and had that funky smell. Worth trying but I think I will just spread wide as I normally do.

Tgrasher · Aug 10, 2020

Ground saturation and humidity make a big problem getting the moisture down. Baled Saturday after hay layed three days with sunshine and light breezes, still had high moisture, toward evening it tested 24 %, but still had to bale it as more rain was due that night..

SHALER · Aug 10, 2020

Its crazy, Northvale, you dont have to go north or east of you very far at all to find guys that would give their eye teeth for the precipitation you've received.

showcrop · Aug 10, 2020

I wouldn't recommend the method that I use with hay that wet when mowing. I wouldn't mow at all with that much moisture in the grass, simply because I know that there are going to be some small clumps flinging off the tedder tines even when the grass is basically dry on the outside. Morning dew is OK but not much more.

Case Nutty 1660 · Aug 10, 2020

You got more rain in one day than I have in a whole year Congrats ,,, good looking hay

Northvale PA · Aug 10, 2020

The farther east into Cecil county and Delaware and the rain will be double what we get here. But, don’t forget the ground around here bakes hard in the heat and much of that water can run off. The flatter the ground, the more stays and the better yields are over time. Delaware gets more rain, is flatter, so they keep more rain. Same for south Jersey. You know what they say: location, location, location. One thing that makes hay tricky is you need rain but you need to dry it too. I believe I have lost more $$$ to rained on hay than drought. A slightly dryer year turns out to work best for quality, price and zero loss.

Very wet, 3rd cutting hay

Northvale PA

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Tgrasher

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SHALER

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showcrop

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Case Nutty 1660

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Northvale PA

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