How dry berore I can mow hay?

John S-B · Jun 5, 2008

We had 1.25-1.50" of rain yesterday. Stopped in the afternoon. Today has been sunny near 90, tommorrow will be hotter. I need to mow about 30 acres so I want to get started ASAP. I walked the fields this afternoon, and they are still somewhat wet, but no soupy. Most of the fields have a gentle slope so there are no areas that have standing water. Can I go ahead and mow tomorrow? Or do I need to wait? The hay is getting past it's prime.

Don-Wi · Jun 5, 2008

Depends. If the ground has been saturated with rain for a while, chances are it'll still be wet for a good while yet. If it's an older hay field the ground should be fairly solid. I would wait a day or 2 after the rain if you can and go. If time is running short, shouldn't be much of a problem to go the next day.

Biggest problem could be taking it off. An older baler with narrow tires will cut in more than the tractor tires will.

Donovan from Wisconsin

JM in Merit · Jun 5, 2008

Cut a field last week that was still damp. Cut ok but the hay had a hard time curing as the hay made a blanket and ground did not dry and keep all moisture on the bottom of the hay. Had to rake it twice to get it to go. If you can wait till ground drys and weather forecast looks like it be ok, I would wait.

old · Jun 5, 2008

The way it is here I can't even think about mowing hay. And the weather man is calling for more rain. I figure you need 2 or 3 dry days and then 3 or 4 after that to do hay the way thing are this year. If you lay the hay down and the ground it still wet it will soak up the moister from the ground and still be no good
Hobby farm

Blue guy · Jun 5, 2008

If you have a disc mower and a tedder with a hot dry forecast you should have been cutting today. That is as long as you don't have water standing in places.

Sid · Jun 5, 2008

If it were me I would mow tomorrow if it isn't soft enough to leave tracks. I know I'll get arguments on this but I leave it in a windrow for two reasons. One I can straddle cut hay with tractor and two the ground between the windrows seems to dry out quicker giving me some dry ground to roll two together.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 5, 2008

Saw that going on around my town today...had 3/4" yesterday, overcast all day today...grass is as wet as you can imagine it. A 30% chance of T-storms tomorrow...the 4 sunny days with temps in the mid 90s coming up!

I figure by Sunday afternoon baling should be in full swing.

How dry berore I can mow hay?

John S-B

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Don-Wi

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JM in Merit

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old

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Blue guy

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Sid

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Anonymous-0

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