# Cause of Color Loss



## KRT (Jun 15, 2019)

I baled Timothy last week, and was cut probably a week later than I wanted to so it had lost a little glow, completely headed out but still green no brown dryness at all, cut it Teddered it two days in a row bein so tall and thick and went to rake it the day I figured it was ready, decided it wasn’t, came back the next day and baled it all at 12% average. Took a day longer to dry than I normally wait but the color just wasn’t great on it, had lost a lot of that light green color I’m used to. So I guess my question is is this more of a maturity problem or the 90 somthin degree heat, or maybe I should have went with my gut and baled it the day before. What do y’all think?


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## Ox76 (Oct 22, 2018)

All I know is the greenest hay I ever baled in my life was dried with no sun at all but with some wind. I think the sun has more to do with bleaching the color out of the hay like it does everything else. I'm sure there's science behind it but I'm not smart enough to elaborate on that.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Ultraviolets.....that’s what causes the color to leave, and adds color to you if you stay out in it long enuf.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Definitely the sun and the dew and tedding the second time. When it gets hot(90+), I try not to ted my hay over one time in first or subsequent cuttings. In second cutting if I have the right conditions of sun and a good breeze, I let it dry in the windrow the normal time and then the day of baling I will ted it out the morning of baling. It finishes drying really quickly(a couple of hours) and makes for nice color.

Regards, Mike


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Humidity bleaches the color out of hay quicker than anything


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

endrow said:


> Humidity bleaches the color out of hay quicker than anything


Yessir. Humidity, and the overnight dew that comes with it is by far the worst for fading hay.


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## mstuck21 (Oct 4, 2019)

I think specific to Timothy the extra day of dry of dry time didn’t help. I understand if it’s too wet or seems to wet it’s better to hold off. I’ll take dry hay over a little color loss any day but when Timothy losses color i think it resembles straw bales and is kind of off putting.


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## Modirt (Nov 3, 2019)

Most likely sunlight and maybe moisture.

A local farmer cut a field of brome on some land adjacent to me two days ago. Was at least a month late......so stems and seed heads had all turned a golden brown. Started cutting around 1 PM......JD MOCO of some type......raked 24 hours later and started baling at 6:30 PM. Large round bales. I checked moisture..... it measured 10% to 12% average. Because leaves were still a bit green when cut, overall look of hay was a light green.......looked halfway decent even if it has the same feed value as a paper feed sack.

I would attribute green color to having been left in a windrow, then raked into large windrows to cure in heat and wind. Very little of it exposed to direct sunlight.

Double tedder treatment did you in.


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## Farmineer95 (Aug 11, 2014)

2nd it that dew bleaches it. I'm not smart enough to explain it but I recall that we want it to dry down fast right away and avoid any re-wetting as respiration continues in the plant after cutting. Respiration reduces the quality.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Sun bleaching--try not to tedder if you don't have to. The top will shade the underneath from the sun.

Ralph


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

In MY area, the heavier the dew that's expose to sunlight, the more bleaching. Similar to how much more you get burnt outside while on a boat (or other apparatus) on the water. Perhaps magnification/refection of sunshine of some sort?

Larry


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## Hay diddle diddle (Nov 17, 2017)

I'm going to agree with the dew side of it. I "hay" for up to 6 months of the year. Start and end can be very damp at night. Along with the fact it takes longer to cure as the days are longer and cooler. Hay on bottom of windrow is also protected from heavy dew if its thick enough. Mid summer with temps of 100+ and extreme UV hay will fade a little on top but no where near what it does with dew or a light shower. Winds and no dew, makes for nice colour.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Larry hit on what I think is the “happy point” with me and Bermuda Grass....we have some purty heavy dews at times, high humidity for most of the day, baling window is usually 1-7pm now, depending on dew point. But I’ll give you a scenario that I deal with regularly....the grass is about 18-20% needs a bit of time, I’ll leave it exposed just as long as possible (after ted) and quickly rake into twin rows (because I can) before dew falls and leave in smaller windrows until the dew burns off the next day.....about 11 or so I merge the two smaller twin windrows together and let sit until ready to bale....mind you this is with a rotary rake so windrows are fluffy allowing for air circulation. If I didn’t rake into twins, the next morning the grass would have to sit exposed with moisture (magnifying the effects) for a good 5 hours and anytime the hay has moisture of any kind, and sunlight, the hay has a definite color change (for the worse). So I try to limit the exposer to dew...particularly for the next mornings drying conditions. There have been times when the grass needed more drying the next day and I would Ted back out and then double windrow back and bale....so I think the combination of moisture and sunlight has the worst effect on hay, which is why we strive to not get wet, but even without rainfall, precept by am dews and am sunlight can spell trouble for the horsey crowd.....btw, cow hay has no such approach. Just get it dry and windrow and bale....just as fast as possible.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I failed but I should mention, the reason I obviously don't rake the next morning with dew on the grass, because there's dew on a lot of the the grass because it was left so exposed....
If I had my druthers, and I seldom do....I would trade higher humidity for that big ball of fire anytime....If I can deal with the time it will take to dry-down. If not, bring on the fire....haymaking is very dynamic


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