Well this last week of getting hay done has not gone well. Starting with the rainy spring, into June with rain every 3-4 days. Grass growth was phenominal! But the pasture we saved for hay went over height. Then with winds, we had quite a lot of the grass that fell over because we could not cut it earlier. Never had that before, do NOT want it again! Miserable to cut, so thick the mower/conditioner was choking trying to shoot the cut stuff out behind! Husband spent much longer cutting than such a small area deserved.
The hayfields (not used for pasture) were also tall and thick, but much less effort to cut. Their grasses were not laid over, did not need such effort to get thru. Still took two days to get them cut, with 4 days of hot, clear weather predicted. Weather folks lied! Got a drenching rain Monday with accompaning thunder and lightning. Thunder nearly shook me out of bed!! I checked the rain gauge, an inch and 4/10s was the reading!! Amazing.
Husband got on the phone to his friend “Dennis’ Hay Help Line” for advice. They talked. Dennis said leave it lay, dry in the sun. Then ted it when dry. Hot and windy day did it’s work, was able to ted the now dry hay before evening. We figured any dew would be off early in the heat, to rake and start baling. Get the bales on the wagons for unloading in the barn to be ahead. We had help coming to put hay away later the next day. That part went mostly according to schedule. Had issues with the baler knotter not holding on one side, exploding bales as they came down the bale accumulator. Took a bit to get that worked out, then the windrows were so thick it was packing up feeding into the baler. Already in low range, first gear, can’t go any slower, but I did by stopping, letting baler pull hay in when it got really thick. Still had to stop and clear the baler feed a number of times. Garden hand fork claw was VERY helpful with that. Add in 90+F and we were all getting a bit crabby!! We could not stay ahead with wagons for the unloader guys, so we sent them home. We loaded all the wagons, hauled them home, put under cover, went back to get the extra bales. I knew we had more than wagons could haul. 4 bales at a time with the bale grapple on tractor, into the little barn, equaling 40 bales. Glad the hay field is just across the road!
Tucked everything away for the night with more rain predicted. Yep, got up to wet ground, almost half an inch in the rain gauge! Rain is a blessing, but timing is poor. That’s farming for you! The unloader guys arrived on time, got the wagons emptied, drank all the Gatorade and water they could hold. They enjoyed having the horse fan to stand in front of during frequent breaks! Not trying to kill them into heatstroke. They were all soaked in short order after arrival. We told them that was the end of it with hay getting rained on a second time. I paid them with a good tip each. No complaining, worked well together, arrived promptly. Lovely crew of workers!
Husband found a guy to come round bale the stuff still on the ground. He tedded it yesterday, breaking up the windrows to dry again. Pasture grass was difficult, still had green grass lumps. Baler guy was HOPING he could bale today but it is raining again in showers. We talked about green chopping it but no one has a chopper with no dairy cattle nearby. We need to get the cut stuff off as the grass is visibly longer since cutting! We probably lost almost 250 small bales to the wet. But what we put up looks quite nice. Horses will like it. Everyone he talked to has put up rained-on hay before, instead of losing the whole cutting. “Just get it dry again before baling” was the common remark. They had no mold or dust issues feeding that hay to their own horses. They laughed that “rinsed clean hay is never dusty!” And the few nutrients washed away, did not hurt their already-fat horses any. Ours are almost air-ferns, so a few less calories won’t them either. We have very good hay with yearly fertilizer applications.
A second cutting should be more hay than we need to fill both barns. The round bales will go to auction. No place for it and some cattle will really enjoy it. We sold a horse, so one less to feed as well. Our horses only need about 1100 bales when there were nine horses. Baler count was 868. With me figuring 40 or more exploding bales that got rebaled and 10 or so “heavy” bales we set off to the side with a fan on them to dry more. We are in good shape and second cutting still to come. The unloader guys said to call when we need help again! Lovely to hear that!
