# To Bale or Not to Bale Oat Hay



## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

Cut my oat hay at boot stage so the seed head is inside of the oats. The oat hay is dry except for the seed head and the weather guy change the % of rain from 20% to now 60%. Do I bale without having the seeds dry and hope that the moisture gets picked up in the rest of the plant or let it get rained on and bale later in the week? Anybody ever try baling oat hay when the seeds weren't dry?


----------



## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Don't put it in the barn. Wheat hay is very popular with some dairies just to the south of me for dry cow hay. When baled in the boot stage, the area averages at least one barn fire per year. There is a lot of moisture in that seed head.


----------



## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

I put up oat hay here and when it is in the boot stage , it needs to dry and cure all the way down before bailing. It helps to run conditioner rolls tight . good luck !!


----------



## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

panhandle9400 said:


> I put up oat hay here and when it is in the boot stage , it needs to dry and cure all the way down before bailing. It helps to run conditioner rolls tight . good luck !!


Difference is location and humidity. How long have you been without rain in OK? We can never get more than a 3 day window here and then you have humidity with it, IA is probably the same. Yeah, oats or wheat either one will work fine if you have 5 days plus to let it cure, just not going to happen in the corn belt.


----------



## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Wife put 265 round bales of Oats hay this Spring, hers are conditioned and the seeds were in the milk stage to getting slightly firm. The heat and dry weather hit us hard and fast the Spring so it was all baled in a 3 day period. We leave the bales in the field for a minimum of 5 days. We checked several bales in each field and couldn't find any over 15% and 101 degrees. We tried to bale at 30-40% relative humidity. You're sorta in the spot she was in, they were calling for big rain during the middle of that week so she did something we never do, baled a 1/3 of it on Sunday, come Tues. she was done but it didn't rain either. She also combined about 5 acres, with the old IH 82 Combine, and got 55 bushels/acre for ground feed.


----------



## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

Well, the decision has been made. I ended up waiting and the oats are being rained on right now. It was sold in the field and was to be hauled from the field to the buyers sheds. Rather than chance burning down his buildings I chose to let it get rained on and will discuss a "rain discount" with the buyer once it gets baled.


----------

