Hay 2021

Sami23 · 01-07-2021 7:18am

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

raked 80 acres of hay yeasterday for different farmers and cant say much of it was actually fit to bale..can never understand lads willing to bale damp hay and let it heat instead of spending €6 per bale and having decent haylage

Only have small number myself but for lads making a lot of bales and that have storage for Hay there's a big difference in €5 to make a bale of Hay compared to €11 or €12 for a bale of silage I suppose.
Over double the price.

Too_Old_Boots · 01-07-2021 7:35am

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

raked 80 acres of hay yeasterday for different farmers and cant say much of it was actually fit to bale..can never understand lads willing to bale damp hay and let it heat instead of spending €6 per bale and having decent haylage

Baling up unfit hay just to save a few bob is madness and poor economy. You end up with at best white moldy hay to at worse pure dung in the center of the bales.
I ended up wrapping two fields as the crop was just too heavy to dry out properly. No amount of shaking can reduce the internal moisture of heavy silage stuff.

Reggie. · 01-07-2021 7:56am

Some amount of hay being made this year. Lads avoiding the price of plastic as much as they can

Sami23 · 01-07-2021 8:18am

Very dull start to the day lads - hope it picks up quickly

Reggie. · 01-07-2021 8:58am

Sami23 wrote: »

Very dull start to the day lads - hope it picks up quickly

Very foggy here

ABlur · 01-07-2021 9:04am

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

raked 80 acres of hay yeasterday for different farmers and cant say much of it was actually fit to bale..can never understand lads willing to bale damp hay and let it heat instead of spending €6 per bale and having decent haylage

I wonder are lads out of practice or actually don't know how to make hay? I've been making it since I was 8 with those lovely square bales, graduated to 5 x 4 belt made bales in the early 1990's. The hay had to be really dry for those. The standard was 1 day more than small square bales for it to be fit. Making Welger bales today and it could have been baled yesterday but I'm old school!

White Clover · 01-07-2021 9:11am

ABlur wrote: »

I wonder are lads out of practice or actually don't know how to make hay? I've been making it since I was 8 with those lovely square bales, graduated to 5 x 4 belt made bales in the early 1990's. The hay had to be really dry for those. The standard was 1 day more than small square bales for it to be fit. Making Welger bales today and it could have been baled yesterday but I'm old school!

20 years ago I gave a few summers baling. You had the lad that had it roasted to a crisp and you had the lad that insisted on baling unfit hay. I suppose the skill is in getting it correct and in between the 2 extremes. Plenty of them lads too to be fair.

2smiggy · 01-07-2021 9:43am

got everything finished yesterday thankfully. about 600 bales off 50 acres. 3/4 already sold and gone off the fields

Reggie. · 01-07-2021 10:13am

2smiggy wrote: »

got everything finished yesterday thankfully. about 600 bales off 50 acres. 3/4 already sold and gone off the fields

Hay will be plentiful this year

2smiggy · 01-07-2021 11:40am

Reggie. wrote: »

Hay will be plentiful this year

I know, that's why very happy to have it sold. Held out other years and having to draw it all in and store it, and selling it bit by bit over the winter and after is not worth the effort

Hard Knocks · 01-07-2021 11:45am

2smiggy wrote: »

I know, that's why very happy to have it sold. Held out other years and having to draw it all in and store it, and selling it bit by bit over the winter and after is not worth the effort

Best thing about hay is it can last for 2-3 years and is always useful
I wouldn’t be getting rid of it easily

Dunedin · 01-07-2021 11:51am

2smiggy wrote: »

got everything finished yesterday thankfully. about 600 bales off 50 acres. 3/4 already sold and gone off the fields

What’s it making out of the field if you don’t mind me asking?

Mitchells33 · 01-07-2021 12:56pm

Dunedin wrote: »

What’s it making out of the field if you don’t mind me asking?

Sold rounds for €30 a bale out of the field in Waterford. €3.50 for squares

2smiggy · 01-07-2021 1:07pm

going by donedeal the average they are looking for is €25 ...

Sami23 · 01-07-2021 1:19pm

Turning mine again now.
No sun yet but its trying its best o break through the clouds at moment.
It's do or die today as doubt b any sun tomorrow

Genghis Cant · 01-07-2021 3:25pm

Baled my bit yesterday evening, mowed last Saturday morning. Nice bit of stuff , 7 bales / acre. There were a few savage good hay days there.
We had a dust devil or a fairy wind yesterday too. I missed it myself but several neighbours witnessed it. Took hay up onto the roofs
of nearby houses and back gardens! They all tell me it was quite the spectacle.

_Brian · 01-07-2021 3:38pm

See hay being rowed there. Decent crop too.

Was cut Monday and never turned once, just rowed it from the flat.

We’ve had fog heavy enough last two mornings to need wipers to clear the window of the van.

Bleating Lamb · 01-07-2021 4:31pm

Mitchells33 wrote: »

Sold rounds for €30 a bale out of the field in Waterford. €3.50 for squares

It takes a very good round bale to equate to 10 small square bales.At €30 euro in the field it’s ok for local farmers with a short draw but if it’s hay being sent on a lorry to likes of the NW now or in Springtime after storage in a shed it would be dear enough fodder landing in the yard when haulage costs are added.

01-07-2021 4:38pm

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

It takes a very good round bale to equate to 10 small square bales.At €30 euro in the field it’s ok for local farmers with a short draw but if it’s hay being sent on a lorry to likes of the NW now or in Springtime after storage in a shed it would be dear enough fodder landing in the yard when haulage costs are added.

There will be a lot of hay hanging around in sheds for a long time at those prices out of the field.

01-07-2021 6:23pm

Baled today.

Cut last Saturday.

Looks very very dry.

Could it go in the shed tomorrow?

ABlur · 01-07-2021 6:54pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Baled today.

Cut last Saturday.

Looks very very dry.

Could it go in the shed tomorrow?

Is it in round bales? Unless you can space them out on pallets in a shed I'd be wary of stacking it tightly in a shed yet. If it's small squares bang em in straight away!

Aravo · 01-07-2021 7:17pm

Aravo wrote: »

Hoping to bale here tomorrow afternoon. Turning daily.
One field is grand, the other got an extra turn yesterday and will get same again today as the grass is a lot newer as was reseeded 2 yrs ago, the grass in this field is a lot greener and more sap in it.

Weather has been a bit hit and miss with cloud blocking out the sunshine for long periods some days.

Baled this evening. 62 bales. Cut Saturday.
Let us all give thanks to the humble haybob.

Aravo · 01-07-2021 7:20pm

_Brian wrote: »

See hay being rowed there. Decent crop too.

Was cut Monday and never turned once, just rowed it from the flat.

We’ve had fog heavy enough last two mornings to need wipers to clear the window of the van.

Must be wrapped. Can't see it as hay.

weatherbyfoxer · 01-07-2021 7:54pm

another big day on the rake today in South kildare here,few spots doing 10 bales to the acre of stemmy bone dry stuff,only dodgey field was 4 acre field of my own that was too green for hay,will lash some plastic on the bales in the morning and feed it to the sheep next spring..country will be a wash with hay for sale and still GLAS meadows to be cut

bogman_bass · 01-07-2021 7:55pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

There will be a lot of hay hanging around in sheds for a long time at those prices out of the field.

I dunno. There was no good hay made last year. (Plenty of bad stuff attempted in the first week of August)
Lads will be anxious for a few bales in the shed this year.

01-07-2021 8:00pm

bogman_bass wrote: »

I dunno. There was no good hay made last year. (Plenty of bad stuff attempted in the first week of August)
Lads will be anxious for a few bales in the shed this year.

No good hay? I bought the best hay I've ever bought, possibly the best hay I've ever seen or smelled last year from an Offaly man. I didn't notice much bad hay about tbh, and we've often been a dumping ground for it but people are a lot more picky with trucks with partial loads heading back east.

Dinzee Conlee · 01-07-2021 8:05pm

bogman_bass wrote: »

I dunno. There was no good hay made last year. (Plenty of bad stuff attempted in the first week of August)
Lads will be anxious for a few bales in the shed this year.

I thought there was a lot of super hay made May 2020?
I bought some bales, and it was fantastic stuff - was sorry I didn’t buy more...

_Brian · 01-07-2021 8:12pm

Aravo wrote: »

Must be wrapped. Can't see it as hay.

Yea.
Was wrapped.

Jez it’s gone awful far for wrapping.

bogman_bass · 01-07-2021 8:20pm

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

I thought there was a lot of super hay made May 2020?
I bought some bales, and it was fantastic stuff - was sorry I didn’t buy more...

It round here there wasn’t. Don’t know too many chancing hay the second or third. week of May. Fair play to anybody that did.

dh1985 · 01-07-2021 8:26pm

bogman_bass wrote: »

It round here there wasn’t. Don’t know too many chancing hay the second or third. week of May. Fair play to anybody that did.

Bought some here at the end of may last year from our contractor. Class stuff. Still green but bone dry. Was feeding for a while to cows before calving until I got weary that there was too much feeding in it and changed back to silage. Fed some weanlings on it instead and they done more over winter that they would have normally on average silage.

01-07-2021 8:28pm

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

I thought there was a lot of super hay made May 2020?
I bought some bales, and it was fantastic stuff - was sorry I didn’t buy more...

Same as that, I'd have been happy to put a few artic loads in the shed had I been in a position to.

01-07-2021 8:57pm

ABlur wrote: »

Is it in round bales? Unless you can space them out on pallets in a shed I'd be wary of stacking it tightly in a shed yet. If it's small squares bang em in straight away!

Round bales

I was thinking of stacking them on the long side with a bit of a gap to avoid heating

mahoney_j · 01-07-2021 9:33pm

104 bales in the bank …real nice stufff (for hay) cut Monday .double wrapped it as won’t be going into a shed

kk.man · 01-07-2021 9:35pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Round bales

I was thinking of stacking them on the long side with a bit of a gap to avoid heating

What's the hurry bringing them in?.. Your field won't have grass for at least a month. I always leave mine out for a fortnight.

Mooooo · 01-07-2021 9:43pm

7.5 bales/ acre made, will bring em up 2moro. Plan is to use it to soak up cows a bit pre dry off hope to stack em in shed if I can but can have em outside it till before rain comes if need be. Contractor said twud be safe enough to stack it

minerleague · 01-07-2021 9:48pm

Baled here today, cut saturday and sunday, savage heat around here last few days, had to stop tedding after 2 times. Had booked contractor for thur when cutting but could have baled yesterday. Very light crop. Very easy save hay when weather is with you. Glas meadows next up, not sure would I sign up to measure like it again.

50HX · 01-07-2021 9:53pm

Got baled up this evening, small fella got sick yesterday evening and woke this morning to a damp grass everywhere, was raging I didn't do it last night

Eventually got a breeze by midday, gave one belt out again and twas more than ready at 6pm...phew

Some of it really nice stuff, last 2 acres were for bedding

Tileman · 01-07-2021 10:03pm

minerleague wrote: »

Baled here today, cut saturday and sunday, savage heat around here last few days, had to stop tedding after 2 times. Had booked contractor for thur when cutting but could have baled yesterday. Very light crop. Very easy save hay when weather is with you. Glas meadows next up, not sure would I sign up to measure like it again.

Yea I had 20 bales of 2 acres but now have 12 acres for Glas. I don’t know whether I would sign up to Glas meadow again. 3 out of 5 years the good weather came before 1st July. It’s hard enough to make hay in Ireland without misssing out one the real good week in the year to make quality fodder.

Albert Johnson · 01-07-2021 10:06pm

I finally have a contribution to the thread as I was starting to feel like the odd one out as I had no skin in the game. There's was a world of hay down all week locally and watching it going on reminded me that it was soon time to purchase a few small square bale's. I'd usually buy about 120 every second year or so just to have for convenience sake as needed.

At work today a good friend of mine remarked that he bought 400 squares off another friend of his yesterday evening. I causally said that I could do with buying 100 squares sooner as opposed to later. The conversation continued and I had the hay forgotten about in a few minutes after. If left to my own devices I might not buy anything for another month and it would keep getting put off.

After work I was changing a few cattle from the outfarm and had plans of clearing grass from under electric fencing for the evening. I got a phone call at 5.30 to say there was 100 bale's with my name on them currently being baled by the friend of my friend and to come and draw them ASAP as there wouldn't be enough shed space at the seller's place. I done 2 runs with the jeep and cattle trailer and the 100 bale's are safely in the shed. I hadn't intended on putting in as long a day but I've often had less successful day's and that's another job done for this year.

Sami23 · 01-07-2021 10:14pm

kk.man wrote: »

What's the hurry bringing them in?.. Your field won't have grass for at least a month. I always leave mine out for a fortnight.

A lot of rain forecast for the weekend so if can get them in surely be better than leaving them out to get wet and be soaking up from the ground also

Aravo · 01-07-2021 10:22pm

Tileman wrote: »

Yea I had 20 bales of 2 acres but now have 12 acres for Glas. I don’t know whether I would sign up to Glas meadow again. 3 out of 5 years the good weather came before 1st July. It’s hard enough to make hay in Ireland without misssing out one the real good week in the year to make quality fodder.

Glas areas cut here today. Was getting hay in other fields so am happy. If I only had Glas areas left and missed this week, I would be disappointed. That's the weather in Ireland. The way things are going there will likely be more glas type schemes.

Aravo · 01-07-2021 10:30pm

Sami23 wrote: »

A lot of rain forecast for the weekend so if can get them in surely be better than leaving them out to get wet and be soaking up from the ground also

I have bales gathered in a few lines with a foot or two between them. So air can circulate all around. Will give the bales a one quarter turn every 4-5 days. Then into shed in about a fortnight. You may get a dirty look on the outside but it's not deep into bale and is superficial.
Round bales straight in after being baled and stacked are likely to sweat.

Let the bales cool down naturally, some wet weather will be of little affect when they are outside.

The rest of the field can get slurry in the coming days.

01-07-2021 11:07pm

kk.man wrote: »

What's the hurry bringing them in?.. Your field won't have grass for at least a month. I always leave mine out for a fortnight.

Next week looks very wet

Aravo · 01-07-2021 11:12pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Next week looks very wet

Some rain may not be a bad thing. I must admit I am not complaining the way things are. Stock looks happy.

105mm rain in May
8mm in June.

01-07-2021 11:16pm

Aravo wrote: »

Some rain may not be a bad thing. I must admit I am not complaining the way things are. Stock looks happy.

105mm rain in May
8mm in June.

No we need rain now, I might put them in lose ish and stack them proper next week

Cleaning a load of crap out of the way earlier from netting to plastic to fencing gear

Dinzee Conlee · 02-07-2021 6:30am

I don’t understand why lads leave round bales of hay out? We only ever made small squares and that was a good while ago now.

But I would have though if it was fit to be baled surely it’s fit to be drawn in?
Or is it that the hay should really have gotten another day before being put into a round bale?

Or is it just cos the round bale is safer in the rain, that lads dont take the chance of heating in the shed, and leave them out regardless of whether they could be drawn in or not?

Bleating Lamb · 02-07-2021 7:04am

minerleague wrote: »

Baled here today, cut saturday and sunday, savage heat around here last few days, had to stop tedding after 2 times. Had booked contractor for thur when cutting but could have baled yesterday. Very light crop. Very easy save hay when weather is with you. Glas meadows next up, not sure would I sign up to measure like it again.

The advent of ‘farming by the Calendar’ was a dark day for the farming community across Europe.Even in a country as small as Ireland you can find little microclimates that mean that some areas receive an excess of rain during the year and other areas can and often do experience relative drought conditions most Summers.
Based in the NW myself on average land so know all about the yearly struggles to get Silage made.Several neighbours are in the meadows measure under Glas and it was understandably frustrating for them seeing neighbours getting a lot of Silage and hay saved this week.

I have always felt that our Govt and farming unions were not and are not forceful enough to try and lessen the advent of ‘Calendar farming’ as it is not practical or good for nature to farm in this way across a lot of areas Ireland and across the E.U.
Here in Leitrim you quite literally have to make hay while the sun shines and farmers with Glas meadows which are ready to cut are looking at a weeks rain next week.It is also important to farm in unison with Nature and I am well aware that the protection of the Corncrake is a reason touted for not allowing for cutting of Glas meadows till July 1st whereas the reality quite literally on the ground is that one most corncrakes around here have fledged at this stage anyway.It is also a reality on the ground that any hay meadow ready for cutting last week had already headed out well so plenty of seed dispersal has taken place already to ensure the continued viability of different grass species.

Dinzee Conlee · 02-07-2021 7:51am

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

The advent of ‘farming by the Calendar’ was a dark day for the farming community across Europe.Even in a country as small as Ireland you can find little microclimates that mean that some areas receive an excess of rain during the year and other areas can and often do experience relative drought conditions most Summers.
Based in the NW myself on average land so know all about the yearly struggles to get Silage made.Several neighbours are in the meadows measure under Glas and it was understandably frustrating for them seeing neighbours getting a lot of Silage and hay saved this week.

I have always felt that our Govt and farming unions were not and are not forceful enough to try and lessen the advent of ‘Calendar farming’ as it is not practical or good for nature to farm in this way across a lot of areas Ireland and across the E.U.
Here in Leitrim you quite literally have to make hay while the sun shines and farmers with Glas meadows which are ready to cut are looking at a weeks rain next week.It is also important to farm in unison with Nature and I am well aware that the protection of the Corncrake is a reason touted for not allowing for cutting of Glas meadows till July 1st whereas the reality quite literally on the ground is that one most corncrakes around here have fledged at this stage anyway.It is also a reality on the ground that any hay meadow ready for cutting last week had already headed out well so plenty of seed dispersal has taken place already to ensure the continued viability of different grass species.

What’s the solution though bleating?

Not having a go, but you need a system that’s workable and too many different dates isn’t great either.
No dates, and lads will cut whenever they feel like regardless...

Or should everything be results driven now, like the new scheme?
You get inspected and the planner tells you a score - and that’s what you get paid. If everyone has to get inspected, the planners will be busy so you might get inspected just after cutting your hedges/hay/topping - so you might get a bad score...

No system is perfect.

But, for the lads that had to wait til July 1st, they had an extra few hundred in their bank account compared to the lads that didn’t, 5 years in a row. Lot to be said for that too, when every year isn’t a hay year, you still have your GLAS money...

Mooooo · 02-07-2021 8:14am

Misty drizzle here now, dunno if it'll burn off

Mad about baa baas · 02-07-2021 8:19am

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

I don’t understand why lads leave round bales of hay out? We only ever made small squares and that was a good while ago now.

But I would have though if it was fit to be baled surely it’s fit to be drawn in?
Or is it that the hay should really have gotten another day before being put into a round bale?

Or is it just cos the round bale is safer in the rain, that lads dont take the chance of heating in the shed, and leave them out regardless of whether they could be drawn in or not?

I worked in france one summer on a stud farm. Round bales made the week before I arrived..every Thursday evening we were sent out to roll the bales..were.still out when I left after 3 months. 9inches of.grass around them.. I never.got an explanation only that's the way we do.it here

Hay 2021

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