Bale tonight or early tomo morning?

Deepsouthwest

Big pressure on in this neck of the woods as it's the first time in 3 wks it looks like we'll get two dryish days together. Mowing 14 acres of surplus grass here right now, that should've been baled nearly 3 wks ago. Will tedd out as soon as I finish mowing. Problem is my contractor is totally booked out tomo, so he can only bale my grass late this evening or early tomo morning? Which is the better option?

freedominacup

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Big pressure on in this neck of the woods as it's the first time in 3 wks it looks like we'll get two dryish days together. Mowing 14 acres of surplus grass here right now, that should've been baled nearly 3 wks ago. Will tedd out as soon as I finish mowing. Problem is my contractor is totally booked tomo, so he can only bale my grass late this evening or early tomo morning? Which is the better option?

Late this evening. You could have a lot of dew on them by morning.

Greengrass1

freedominacup wrote: »

Late this evening. You could have a lot of dew on them by morning.

+1 2 runs if the tedder today and you will get it very dry I would think

Milked out

Turning into a belter of an evening nice breeze and good heat and sunshine so may be as well to go tonight. Mowing here now, contractor said phone is hopping, they'll tedd this evening and bale 2moro. I let them work on there own time frame cos in fairness they.ve never said they can't when I rang them so it may be late in the evening by the time they get to me

Deepsouthwest

Just finishing up now, another 80 odd bales, 6ish/acre, heavy for surplus grass, which gives u an idea of just how long I've been waiting to take this out.
Turned into a super drying evening with plenty wind and sun, tedded once after the mower and raked about 2 hrs before we started baling. Not ideal doing it all in one day, but could be a lot worse.
The value of a tedder really comes into its own on a day like today, if this was mowed in double or triple swarths (as was often done before) and picked up 6 or 7 hrs later, there would be flood out of it, hopefully this won't be too bad.

Cow Porter

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Just finishing up now, another 80 odd bales, 6ish/acre, heavy for surplus grass, which gives u an idea of just how long I've been waiting to take this out.
Turned into a super drying evening with plenty wind and sun, tedded once after the mower and raked about 2 hrs before we started baling. Not ideal doing it all in one day, but could be a lot worse.
The value of a tedder really comes into its own on a day like today, if this was mowed in double or triple swarths (as was often done before) and picked up 6 or 7 hrs later, there would be flood out of it, hopefully this won't be too bad.

bet your glad its in now, misty/drizzle here and not looking like it will clear either, knocked a bit yesterday evening, only saving grace is we're not the only ones with it on the ground :pac:

Milked out

Cow Porter wrote: »

bet your glad its in now, misty/drizzle here and not looking like it will clear either, knocked a bit yesterday evening, only saving grace is we're not the only ones with it on the ground :pac:

Feck sake, same here except all the neighbours have some down as well, left it shaken out last night just so it would all get a good soaking...

Deepsouthwest

Absolutely got out of jail with that one alright, drizzling heavy here all morning, even though forecast was for it to stay dry for the day, that happens a good bit here right on the coast, sea fog could set in for a wk. have had 3 wks of it now on and off.
V v lucky, and I actually tried to get him to hold off til today, but he was fully booked out, feel sorry for all those lads now with grass on the ground.
Pile of men with a lot silage to cut around here, they're absolutely desperate at this stage. 3 or 4 wks with little or no chance to cut anything is hard to take in June/July.

mahoney_j

Mowed yesterday am ,Tedded in afternoon and again this am ,rake on way now with baler following .only one who took a chance as rain on way tonight .glad I did as 8 paddocks in all out .really nice dry stuff now..also got 8!acres grass seed in

Green farmer

I'm waiting to do silage as well. Had planned on knocking it yesterday and baling today but it was very late in the day before things starting drying up. Looked at the forecast and misty showers around tomorrow. Very frustrating.

mahoney_j

Green farmer wrote: »

I'm waiting to do silage as well. Had planned on knocking it yesterday and baling today but it was very late in the day before things starting drying up. Looked at the forecast and misty showers around tomorrow. Very frustrating.

As dsw said its in spells of weather like this it's where a Tedder come into its own.its now really turning into a nesecity on a dairy farm anyway where we are constantly taking out n rich leafy grass .

Deepsouthwest

Left 20 bales at outside yard lastnight. Should've stacked them then instead of this morning, things starting to get mucky

Greengrass1

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Left 20 bales at outside yard lastnight. Should've stacked them then instead of this morning, things starting to get mucky

Feck ground still rock hard here. Bet your growing alot of grass atm though

Deepsouthwest

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Feck ground still rock hard here. Bet your growing alot of grass atm though

Have grown a crazy amount of grass this yr, esp the last 2 months. But with a lot of rain in the forecast ground conditions deteriorating would be my biggest concern, but hopefully that's a while off yet. Still plenty more surplus to be baled, but can wait another wk for that if I have too. Wet down here til nxt Tuesday or weds anyway

frazzledhome

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Left 20 bales at outside yard lastnight. Should've stacked them then instead of this morning, things starting to get mucky

We won't see that till Nov. dry as snuff here feck all rain and forecast not good. Grew 70 this week after 2 weeks of 40.

Thought we were out if jail from a feeding point but back on the cards if rain doesn't come.

Cows milking well heifs doing 1.7kg and ithers doing 1.85kgms. 10.5 tonnes grown on milking block to date and 250kgs ms sold, 400 kgs nuts fed since Jan 1. So alls well just need rain to drive growth a bit. Average milk price to date 35c which will come under pressure from now on

Deepsouthwest

frazzledhome wrote: »

We won't see that till Nov. dry as snuff here feck all rain and forecast not good. Grew 70 this week after 2 weeks of 40.

Thought we were out if jail from a feeding point but back on the cards if rain doesn't come.

Cows milking well heifs doing 1.7kg and ithers doing 1.85kgms. 10.5 tonnes grown on milking block to date and 250kgs ms sold, 400 kgs nuts fed since Jan 1. So alls well just need rain to drive growth a bit. Average milk price to date 35c which will come under pressure from now on

That's gas, bad forecast here too, but it's too much rain. Bad forecast for u, not enough rain. Strange little country! Plenty of this going on today in gaps and soft spots etc after spreading a bit of fert

Milked out

frazzledhome wrote: »

We won't see that till Nov. dry as snuff here feck all rain and forecast not good. Grew 70 this week after 2 weeks of 40.

Thought we were out if jail from a feeding point but back on the cards if rain doesn't come.

Cows milking well heifs doing 1.7kg and ithers doing 1.85kgms. 10.5 tonnes grown on milking block to date and 250kgs ms sold, 400 kgs nuts fed since Jan 1. So alls well just need rain to drive growth a bit. Average milk price to date 35c which will come under pressure from now on

Would have swopped with u today, contractor raking in with a nice mist coming in on top of it, said we'd drive on as rain likely till mid week. Could be worse will only be 60 or 70 bales in this lot, was thinking of knocking more yday but would have left things very tight as well i didn't after

darragh_haven

11acres mowed yesterday and not baled til this morning. Wet-ish to wet but the forcast is bad so it just had to be baled up.
All done when I got home this evening. 60 bales. You got lucky DSW

frazzledhome

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

That's gas, bad forecast here too, but it's too much rain. Bad forecast for u, not enough rain. Strange little country! Plenty of this going on today in gaps and soft spots etc after spreading a bit of fert

Jaysus, what I'd give for a mucky gap

just do it

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

That's gas, bad forecast here too, but it's too much rain. Bad forecast for u, not enough rain. Strange little country! Plenty of this going on today in gaps and soft spots etc after spreading a bit of fert

Good man DSW. Good to see a muddy track for a change! So what's your normal grazing season? Do you practice much on-off grazing etc at the shoulders? I need to listen to you more than those drought stricken leinster lads

Deepsouthwest

just do it wrote: »

Good man DSW. Good to see a muddy track for a change! So what's your normal grazing season? Do you practice much on-off grazing etc at the shoulders? I need to listen to you more than those drought stricken leinster lads

Cows could go out by day here anytime from the first of feb to the end of november. But it's normally later than that, the last two springs proved fairly challenging in feb and March. Cows didn't get out by night til end of March this yr, and early April last yr. I generally have the grass but poaching of ground is my main prob, ground takes too long to dry out around here. Carry a high stocking rate, 3.4 on the milking block, so I find having cows in by night early and late in the yr takes a lot of pressure of the ground, as the amount of hrs spent grazing is massively reduced.

keep going

You got a stroke of luck there, loads of grass on the ground today around here.did a bit of raking for a neighbour this evening and id say twas the hardest raking ever, clung to the ground and dog heavy, crawling around the field

just do it

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Cows could go out by day here anytime from the first of feb to the end of november. But it's normally later than that, the last two springs proved fairly challenging in feb and March. Cows didn't get out by night til end of March this yr, and early April last yr. I generally have the grass but poaching of ground is my main prob, ground takes too long to dry out around here. Carry a high stocking rate, 3.4 on the milking block, so I find having cows in by night early and late in the yr takes a lot of pressure of the ground, as the amount of hrs spent grazing is massively reduced.

Similar experience here. Ground, not grass, is the issue. I find the field turns from being scratched to poached in maybe an hour. It's where being full time would really help - being able to let them out for 3-4 hour grazings

Cow Porter

looking like it will end up being a salvage operation should have kept the wire up :rolleyes:

pity as it was nice stuff

Deepsouthwest

frazzledhome wrote: »

Jaysus, what I'd give for a mucky gap

Believe me u wouldn't!

Muckit

frazzledhome wrote: »

Jaysus, what I'd give for a mucky gap

We all know the mucky gap you'd love to get bogged in

frazzledhome

Muckit wrote: »

We all know the mucky gap you'd love to get bogged in

As long as I didn't see you coming along to give me a pull

darragh_haven

frazzledhome wrote: »

As long as I didn't see you coming along to give me a pull

It'd be another ball game if he wanted to give you a "push"

Deepsouthwest

Anyway, back on topic! Not at home today, as soon as I travelled 30 miles inland, sea fog, mist etc lifted and gone. We pay for our super views in this weather.

Cow Porter

Turned out an ok day here, all baled up, few drops an hour ago and actually after brightening abit now. Reckon 20% Dry matter would try it

just do it

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Anyway, back on topic! Not at home today, as soon as I travelled 30 miles inland, sea fog, mist etc lifted and gone. We pay for our super views in this weather.

That sea fog never shows up on forecasts or met eireann's rainfall radar either :rolleyes:

Deepsouthwest

Have the weather pro app on my phone which is normally pretty accurate. But when that sea fog or drizzle sets in I'd check the rainfall radar again and it would show perfectly clear skies right over me!

Green farmer

Anyone doing silage next week ? Hoping to go on cut on Monday if it's dry enough for Tuesday baling .

orm0nd

Green farmer wrote: »

Anyone doing silage next week ? Hoping to go on cut on Monday if it's dry enough for Tuesday baling .

monday not looking great ,, tuesday & wednesday promising

mahoney_j

orm0nd wrote: »

monday not looking great ,, tuesday & wednesday promising

Monday very promising ,loads of badly needed rain!!80 bales made yesterday,fertiliser out today farm thirsty!!

Deepsouthwest

mahoney_j wrote: »

Monday very promising ,loads of badly needed rain!!80 bales made yesterday,fertiliser out today farm thirsty!!

Will u stop! Holding back on spreading as ground getting v soft. Another 14/15 acres surplus to take out nxt wk, no guarantee we'll get any chance to take it out though

frazzledhome

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Will u stop! Holding back on spreading as ground getting v soft. Another 14/15 acres surplus to take out nxt wk, no guarantee we'll get any chance to take it out though

Need rain at home, hoping to mow more second cut on Sat and bale Mon 20th.

Out west at the moment and ground looks wet. Crops crying to be cut. Growing here but can't be cut, not growing at home but can be cut and only 100 km apart. As funny little country

trixi2011

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Will u stop! Holding back on spreading as ground getting v soft. Another 14/15 acres surplus to take out nxt wk, no guarantee we'll get any chance to take it out though

know the feeling we got our 2nd cut in on Thursday and Friday, had to leave some fields as they were just 2 wet and wagons got bogged down twice halting things up

Green farmer

Watching the weather forecast. Hard to get two days with dry weather together. Any one here cut and bale on the same day. Ie giving it more time after rain to dry while standing and less time wilting ? My field has reached maturity ,so the quality is dropping every day it's left standing there ?

Deepsouthwest

Green farmer wrote: »

Watching the weather forecast. Hard to get two days with dry weather together. Any one here cut and bale on the same day. Ie giving it more time after rain to dry while standing and less time wilting ? My field has reached maturity ,so the quality is dropping every day it's left standing there ?

Yes, mowed around lunch time, tedded out straight away, tedder going in the same field as the mower. Raked around 6ish in the evening and starting baling around 9. Not ideal, but turned out ok. Have had no chance since, and can't see any opportunities on the horizon either. Ground conditions have deteriorated a lot too, but 2/3 windy drying days would sort that. That's a big 'but' at the moment though!

orm0nd

Green farmer wrote: »

Watching the weather forecast. Hard to get two days with dry weather together. Any one here cut and bale on the same day. Ie giving it more time after rain to dry while standing and less time wilting ? My field has reached maturity ,so the quality is dropping every day it's left standing there ?

just checked on line there if you could mow to morrow afternoon , keep it shook out on wed & bale wed evening

just do it

frazzledhome wrote: »

Need rain at home, hoping to mow more second cut on Sat and bale Mon 20th.

Out west at the moment and ground looks wet. Crops crying to be cut. Growing here but can't be cut, not growing at home but can be cut and only 100 km apart. As funny little country

A lot of that could have been cut but lads like bulk

frazzledhome

just do it wrote: »

A lot of that could have been cut but lads like bulk

As I sup a few pints here lads could be mowing this evening. Grand evening

td5man

frazzledhome wrote: »

As I sup a few pints here lads could be mowing this evening. Grand evening

Turned into a nice evening here might mow a bit tomorrow.

darragh_haven

Frazz. You were saying you wouldn't mind looking at a mucky gap. This is one days work by 28 bullocks. No silage round here for a few days.

darragh_haven

Attached now

freedominacup

frazzledhome wrote: »

Need rain at home, hoping to mow more second cut on Sat and bale Mon 20th.

Out west at the moment and ground looks wet. Crops crying to be cut. Growing here but can't be cut, not growing at home but can be cut and only 100 km apart. As funny little country

Must be a coastal thing. I'm thinking of reviving the best grass year ever thread. Ground conditions perfect here but spread a bag of urea/acre here on ground now stopped for third cut. No concern at all about lack of moisture but ground still rock hard.

We were heading into moisture defect when I came back from holidays but a couple of nights rain and enough misty/drizzly days to make silage harvesting difficult have us well set up. We're probably ok for silage at this stage but this will be a real cushion. There'll probably be a few paddocks in the mix for baling or to go in with the wagon as well.

I'll be looking for a bit of advice about timings for building covers for the backend the way things are looking, something we're not used to around here in the past few years.

just do it

48 hour window to mow. Heavy rain promised for Thursday morning and it looks like rain that will be hanging around. A bit forecast for the morning so that will determine tomorrow's events.

orm0nd

just do it wrote: »

48 hour window to mow. Heavy rain promised for Thursday morning and it looks like rain that will be hanging around. A bit forecast for the morning so that will determine tomorrow's events.

hope next Monday's prediction doesn't come true :eek:
:eek:

just do it

orm0nd wrote: »

hope next Monday's prediction doesn't come true :eek:
:eek:

+1

Birdnuts

Getting a bit concerned about my own situation as regards my place in the West. Normally we make baled silage and some hay(depending on conditions) around mid July most years. This year though we've had no break in the weather(North Mayo Coast) and land is still too soft for contractor machinery. For the scale and nature of my operation running into August is not the end of the world but given that August since the millennium has been more of an Autumnal month than a Summer one in terms of temps and rainfall, I'm gonna need next month to buck an established trend.