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Hay

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    #392
    CloughCasey1
    Registered Users Posts: 2,741 ✭✭✭CloughCasey1


    Reggie. wrote: »
    Hold up........ rain forecasted for tuesday in the midlands. Let the panic begin

    And if the baler man is busy give this lad a shout

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2406640606105362&id=100002783397454


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    #393
    dodo mommy
    Registered Users Posts: 338 ✭✭dodo mommy


    What are lads and lady's paying to get small squares made?


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    #394
    Reggie.
    Registered Users Posts: 24,370 ✭✭✭✭Reggie.


    dodo mommy wrote: »
    What are lads and lady's paying to get small squares made?

    Usually 50c a bale


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    #395
    Sami23
    Registered Users Posts: 2,180 ✭✭✭Sami23


    dodo mommy wrote: »
    What are lads and lady's paying to get small squares made?

    50 cent


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    #396
    mengele
    Registered Users Posts: 871 ✭✭✭mengele


    Mowed for hay last Monday. It was green enough from fert still and hadnt seeded. Still a green tint in it today (although has only been turned 3 times). As tomorrow is day 7 if there any problems leaving it down for another 3 or 4 days bringing it up to 10 or 11 days?


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    #397
    Sami23
    Registered Users Posts: 2,180 ✭✭✭Sami23


    mengele wrote: »
    Mowed for hay last Monday. It was green enough from fert still and hadnt seeded. Still a green tint in it today (although has only been turned 3 times). As tomorrow is day 7 if there any problems leaving it down for another 3 or 4 days bringing it up to 10 or 11 days?

    What are u waiting for - bale it up tomorrow. Good day promised.
    And why was it only turned 3 times in this weather ?


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    #398
    DBK1
    Registered Users Posts: 2,142 ✭✭✭DBK1


    mengele wrote: »
    Mowed for hay last Monday. It was green enough from fert still and hadnt seeded. Still a green tint in it today (although has only been turned 3 times). As tomorrow is day 7 if there any problems leaving it down for another 3 or 4 days bringing it up to 10 or 11 days?
    Green hay is the best hay you can have so long as it’s green and dry. Don’t be thinking the grass has to turn yellow for it to be hay, it just has to be dry. If it’s cut 7 days in this weather and has been turned 3 times I can’t see how it couldn’t be fit to bale tomorrow. There’s good hay being made in 4 days in this weather.


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    #399
    mengele
    Registered Users Posts: 871 ✭✭✭mengele


    Sami23 wrote: »
    What are u waiting for - bale it up tomorrow. Good day promised.
    And why was it only turned 3 times in this weather ?

    im afraid of it heating when there is still green in it. I find turning it too much just makes bruss out of it.


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    #400
    DBK1
    Registered Users Posts: 2,142 ✭✭✭DBK1


    Sami23 wrote: »
    What are u waiting for - bale it up tomorrow. Good day promised.
    And why was it only turned 3 times in this weather ?
    You should be asking why was it turned so often in this weather and not why was it only turned 3 times. There’s nothing worse than looking at clowns driving up and down a field of hay all day wasting diesel in this weather when the hay will save itself if you just leave it alone and give it time. In periods of weather like this, unless it’s a very heavy crop, hay should not be turned any more than twice. Every time you put a haybob through hay you’re breaking up the grass and reducing the feed value. Just leave it alone and let the sun do the work.


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    #401
    tancoman
    Registered Users Posts: 47 ✭tancoman


    A fellow with a small baler would need 60 to 70 cents per bale.


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    #402
    lab man
    Registered Users Posts: 1,830 ✭✭✭lab man


    My father was getting 25 p a bale in the 70s 80s a farmer started doing a small bit charging 22 p it never went up past that even now at 50 cent tisnt worth taking the bale out as most guys only make 100 and round bale the rest


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    #403
    Sami23
    Registered Users Posts: 2,180 ✭✭✭Sami23


    DBK1 wrote: »
    You should be asking why was it turned so often in this weather and not why was it only turned 3 times. There’s nothing worse than looking at clowns driving up and down a field of hay all day wasting diesel in this weather when the hay will save itself if you just leave it alone and give it time. In periods of weather like this, unless it’s a very heavy crop, hay should not be turned any more than twice. Every time you put a haybob through hay you’re breaking up the grass and reducing the feed value. Just leave it alone and let the sun do the work.

    Personally I think it would need to be turned more than 2 times to get it all saved regardless of weather but everyone to their own


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    #404
    Lime Tree Farm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,644 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    The old farmers rule of feeling the hay is still practiced, if it's cold to feel it's not fit to bale, warm to feel then it's fit to bale. Hay baled at 20% moisture content or less is fit to gather and can be stored. The old farmers rule applies if it's fit to bale then it's fit for housing.

    Farmer's Journal, 2014


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    #405
    Bass Reeves
    Registered Users Posts: 18,210 ✭✭✭✭Bass Reeves


    Sami23 wrote: »
    Personally I think it would need to be turned more than 2 times to get it all saved regardless of weather but everyone to their own

    I have made hay a few times and do not own a haybob. I would leave it in rows for at least two days in weather like this.. I have left it in rows for four days in slightly broken hay weather. It saves in rows and if it gets a shower water runs off the grass.

    Cutting with a conditioner is worth 1-3 days. Hay cut with a conditioner in weather like this will be ready in five days. Break out the rows in day two or three in weather like this and turn it.1-2 days later and row it.

    On a light crop I got once on a hybrid I only broke out the rows on day two and rowed it it on day four and baled it on day five.

    I made silage last Friday it was cut 48 hours in the rows. If I had turned it out Saturday and rowed it later to I be baling it tomorrow. Mind you it was rowed up Friday morning. My grandfather had a tumbling jack and I remember him saving hay in rows with it.

    Slava Ukrainii



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    #406
    CloughCasey1
    Registered Users Posts: 2,741 ✭✭✭CloughCasey1


    mengele wrote: »
    im afraid of it heating when there is still green in it. I find turning it too much just makes bruss out of it.

    It will heat a bit anyway. Heating on its own sap is no problem. Heating while. wet from the elements or baling to late or early in day with dew on it is the problem. You burn it to a yellow crisp and it has no feeding value.


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    #407
    bogman_bass
    Registered Users Posts: 5,057 ✭✭✭bogman_bass


    Sami23 wrote: »
    Personally I think it would need to be turned more than 2 times to get it all saved regardless of weather but everyone to their own

    It needs to be turned as often as the crop and conditions need. Keep turning untill you don’t have any fresh grass coming up. You will probably get away with a turn less if using a tedder instead of a hay-bob.

    The thing is you don’t know if it’s fit untill you turn it so it will get one turn more than it really needs.

    It’s amazibg how a crop can look perfect and then you turn it and there are still lumps that are fresh.


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    #408
    GrasstoMilk
    Registered Users Posts: 3,852 ✭✭✭GrasstoMilk


    We would save hay in 4 days here.
    Cut with conditioner mower and turn for 2 days after and pick up the 4th day.
    It needs to be well made on the shank though.

    Personally no interest in it only purely for using it to dry off cows. No feed value in it for growing or milking stock or putting weight on dry cows


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    #409
    Bass Reeves
    Registered Users Posts: 18,210 ✭✭✭✭Bass Reeves


    GrasstoMilk wrote: »
    We would save hay in 4 days here.
    Cut with conditioner mower and turn for 2 days after and pick up the 4th day.
    It needs to be well made on the shank though.

    Personally no interest in it only purely for using it to dry off cows. No feed value in it for growing or milking stock or putting weight on dry cows

    Everything is in hay's favour at present. Ground is bone dry worth a day. Grass is being cut bone dry worth another day. Last week was better weather as it was not as hot. If you cut last Tuesday you have been able to bale yesterday unless crop was growing over the winter. Too many lads have never made May hay before. it always withered late June hay. Green hay like you get at present off grass that is only flowering is as good as silage for drystock. If cows were not milking for 8+ weeks it would be more than grand for them. It would be no use if milking. Sucklers cows would put on condition on hay like this.

    Mind you hay could be very cheap to buy this year. there is a lot of full sheds around the place. I know a lad that is renting a shed that he has filled with hay last August. None of it sold, he was offered 18/bale out of the field and refused it. There the bone of 100 bales in the shed. What is it costing him to store it and how much for next winter as well at this stage.

    Slava Ukrainii



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    #410
    Bass Reeves
    Registered Users Posts: 18,210 ✭✭✭✭Bass Reeves


    bogman_bass wrote: »
    It needs to be turned as often as the crop and conditions need. Keep turning untill you don’t have any fresh grass coming up. You will probably get away with a turn less if using a tedder instead of a hay-bob.

    The thing is you don’t know if it’s fit untill you turn it so it will get one turn more than it really needs.

    It’s amazibg how a crop can look perfect and then you turn it and there are still lumps that are fresh.

    There is a different between fresh and green grass. But it is also possible to walk through a field with a fork and check it. It takes an hour but you know fast if it is saved. Even after you turn a few acres you know if it was saved. Too many lads beat the sh!te out of hay. Often it has hardly hit the ground and they are belting sh!t out of it as fast as the mower cuts it. As well lads not staying turning it in the row positions.. Lads turning it too soon after rain. If there is small hints of unsaved grass in it put it into rows and leave it for 24 hours before baling. That if you want hay if you want straw belt away

    Slava Ukrainii



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    #411
    Lime Tree Farm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,644 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    Bass Reeves wrote: »
    ........ Sucklers cows would put on condition on hay like this.....

    That's exactly what the Vet said one year at a difficult calving a cow that was fed hay saved in May. He said that Hay saved in May was no different to silage in feed value.


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    #412
    johnnyw20
    Registered Users Posts: 198 ✭✭johnnyw20


    Lads love complicating hay making especially in this weather. The secret is to only turn once a day in the early afternoon while the sun and drying is at its strongest. I’ve saved a lot of hay in the last week by doing the following

    Day 1 cut
    Day 2 turn
    Day 3 turn
    Day 4 turn
    Day 5 row up and bale a few hours later

    Straight into the shed then when I find the time


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    #413
    Dunedin
    Registered Users Posts: 2,231 ✭✭✭Dunedin


    johnnyw20 wrote: »
    Lads love complicating hay making especially in this weather. The secret is to only turn once a day in the early afternoon while the sun and drying is at its strongest. I’ve saved a lot of hay in the last week by doing the following

    Day 1 cut
    Day 2 turn
    Day 3 turn
    Day 4 turn
    Day 5 row up and bale a few hours later

    Straight into the shed then when I find the time

    Exact same motto here.

    Bottom line is the weather. In bad to middling weather hay is a nightmare. Remember years ago befor the days of wrapping, hay could be down 2-3 weeks in bad weather. It’d end up being baled but wouldn’t feed a cat.


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    #414
    Say my name
    Registered Users Posts: 11,142 ✭✭✭✭Say my name


    Have a feeling the secret to quality hay is Brix.

    The higher the Brix, the higher the sugars.

    People cutting grass with a Brix of 3 giving out about hay having no feeding while their neighbour cuts grass with a Brix of 15.

    Article about Brix.

    https://www.nourishingdays.com/raw-milk-garden/


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    #415
    Lime Tree Farm
    Registered Users Posts: 2,644 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    here's another interesting one I read yesterday, on Brix.

    https://onpasture.com/2017/09/11/heres-why-we-dont-use-brix-to-measure-forage-quality/


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    #416
    Bass Reeves
    Registered Users Posts: 18,210 ✭✭✭✭Bass Reeves


    johnnyw20 wrote: »
    Lads love complicating hay making especially in this weather. The secret is to only turn once a day in the early afternoon while the sun and drying is at its strongest. I’ve saved a lot of hay in the last week by doing the following

    Day 1 cut
    Day 2 turn
    Day 3 turn
    Day 4 turn
    Day 5 row up and bale a few hours later

    Straight into the shed then when I find the time

    IMO you should let it in rows for two days and even three in slightly broken weather. This also gives the option of round baling it if weather breaks. If cut with a conditioner you might only need to turn it out once and row it to save it. I be on no hurry putting May hay into a shed. It needs time outside. Do not pack bales to much but no point in baling air either.

    It the same with all these lads turning silage out to dry. Leave it in the rows and when it is rowed for baling 6-8 hours pre baling it will dry if the weather is right. Too many lads cannot leave a job alone

    Slava Ukrainii



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    #417
    Say my name
    Registered Users Posts: 11,142 ✭✭✭✭Say my name


    Lime Tree Farm wrote: »
    here's another interesting one I read yesterday, on Brix.

    https://onpasture.com/2017/09/11/heres-why-we-dont-use-brix-to-measure-forage-quality/

    Quite a negative article.
    Still it shows the importance of not cutting first thing in the morning or with cloudy conditions.
    You'd get from it if you swing that article around why cattle kill out like lead feeding on pasture with high brix in droughty blazing hot Sun conditions.


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    #418
    johnnyw20
    Registered Users Posts: 198 ✭✭johnnyw20


    Bass Reeves wrote: »
    IMO you should let it in rows for two days and even three in slightly broken weather. This also gives the option of round baling it if weather breaks. If cut with a conditioner you might only need to turn it out once and row it to save it. I be on no hurry putting May hay into a shed. It needs time outside. Do not pack bales to much but no point in baling air either.

    It the same with all these lads turning silage out to dry. Leave it in the rows and when it is rowed for baling 6-8 hours pre baling it will dry if the weather is right. Too many lads cannot leave a job alone
    I’ve just an ordinary disk mover and find the grass lies very flat on the ground after cutting. I find that if I turn it the following day after cutting that it puts the cut ends of the grass facing upwards and off the ground and that it dries out the grass quicker


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    #419
    Castlekeeper
    Registered Users Posts: 1,691 ✭✭✭Castlekeeper


    johnnyw20 wrote: »
    I’ve just an ordinary disk mover and find the grass lies very flat on the ground after cutting. I find that if I turn it the following day after cutting that it puts the cut ends of the grass facing upwards and off the ground and that it dries out the grass quicker

    You're right, you'd gain a day in that circumstances. 2 turns and a row is enough unless your trying to save a silage crop. You'd want to turn it twice and save it quick in this weather, there's a lot of brittle burnt useless hay made.
    I'd say it'll be for nothing.


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    #420
    Western Pomise
    Registered Users Posts: 1,656 ✭✭✭Western Pomise


    So are round and square balers busy today making hay?....looking at forecast there is rain coming into the north west tomorrow and moving easterly tomorrow evening.


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    #421
    Robson99
    Registered Users Posts: 4,221 ✭✭✭Robson99


    Have made a decent amount of hay here down through the years.
    There is hay and there ****e.
    Lads cutting old meadow that has not been grazed since last October are only making the feed equivelant of straw.
    You need good ryegrass to make good hay same as silage.
    Weather saves hay and not machines.
    Weather like this is great. Cut dry and ground durty as a cork. I like to turn it the day after cutting with a disc mower then leave it alone for a day. 3 turns should be adequate. Ryegrass saved in 6 days. Leave it out for a couple of weeks once baled.
    Problem there is at times is lads using haybobs and leaving part of the rows behind them and then there are green damp bits being baled up.
    Haybobs were ok after 5'6" drum mowers. Hard work after a 7' or 8' disc mower


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