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HAY HELP

P

phil lowe

Member
buddy of mine cut bunch of hay last weekend .
Unfortunatly we got hit by a tropical storm on Tuesday,Hay is still down in the field very wet.He's starting to tend it,after fixing the road that washed out to the field,,but we can't get two days of good drying together..what's the chances of loosing this hay?
Be a real set-back for him causee he's just getting into raising some beef(10 head with 4 new calf) and this hay was spozed to feed em this winter,,But you've all been there and worse.
 
some years ago I had my largest field rained on 2 days after mowing in mid June. just one rainy day, then we got it dried down. I thought at the time that the hay was ruined, but my dairy farmer mentor said "don't worry it don't hurt it" so we took samples, got it tested, and sure enough energy and protein were still good. However, we are now in late July and it does hurt over mature hay to get wet. Every wet dry cycle takes value out and every day of sitting wet takes value out.So my recommendation would be to bale it up and sell it for mulch. I am seeing the hay market as very tight so prices for mulch should be strong.
 
A neighbor ( horse people) mowed hay Thurs7/17/08. 1/4in. Sat He came and got me to tedd.it Sun. .
Tues got 2in. rain on it ,Today he is back for me to round bale it so he can burn it . Its OK with me ,the pay is same no matter what he does with it.
 
put up some bermuda grass first cutting that got six inches of water on it. Dried it out and round baled it. Tested out at 12% protein. If he gets it dry and is feeding cows it could still be okay.
 
My record is having 40 acre field lay for 25 days thru rain and cloudy weather. It was cut with a swather. After the weather straightened out I rolled it up and fed it to my Black baldy cows and never heard a complaint.
 
Value is lost with every soaking. So is the palatability. However it takes a pretty fussy beef cow to reject it once she's hungry. I don't ever remember actually throwing away (or mulching) any amount of hay. Sometimes you have to put it in front of them and let them sort through. A lot of people "sell the best and feed the rest."
 
nothing unusuall when doing hay year in year out,let it dry off on top rake soon as you can.
rake again turning bottom to top and let dry then bale. Still makes cattle feed.
 
nothing unusuall when doing hay year in year out,let it dry off on top rake soon as you can.
rake again turning bottom to top and let dry then bale. Still makes cattle feed.
 
nothing unusuall when doing hay year in year out,let it dry off on top rake soon as you can.
rake again turning bottom to top and let dry then bale. Still makes cattle feed.
 
Leave it alone unless you're hearing of two good drying days. I haven't heard that yet... although yesterday and today would have done it here had he turned it.
When the sun comes out, ted it out, dry it, rake it and bale it.
It wasn't much at this point anyway, so he's not losing a pile really. If he was going to feed it before, he can feed it yet. Just get it DRY before baling.
Make sure the cows get enough of something else to keep them going through the winter...
Also, if he gets a lucrative oppertunity to sell this stuff for mulch and has access to better stuff for the cows, that's an option too... but be careful because I've heard that some of the big boys took a pretty poor first crop off and may be short. Hay could get expensive.

Rod
 
Chances of losing it depend on how long it lays there, the longer it does the better. But the sure bet to lose it is to bale it too wet. When it finally does dry out, see whats left and where it goes. My record in 14 days, and I finally rolled it way too wet, set it in the ditch and let it rot. My rule of thumb on where it ends up is 2 rains. If it gets wet, and I get it dried out, its fine for me to feed. If it gets wet, almost dry and wet again I just wanted it baled off the ground and gone so as to not interfere with growing more.
 
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