# Now I roll my own



## Bird Law (8 mo ago)

Hello everyone. Grew up farming row crops, wheat, and haygrazer. This will be my first year doing the harvesting part of the hay. I look forward to having some experienced people to answer questions I might have about some of these new machines and their use.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Welcome to HayTalk
I wish you good luck with your new to you hay making venture.


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## BisonMan (Apr 27, 2020)

Good luck! I'm on year 3 and still will have my mowing and large round baling done by my custom guy. I've taken the slow route and learned alot, but throwing yourself in there you'll have to learn quickly, which I think in the long run you'll be better off. Custom Costs are $$$, I've appreciated the help so far though as everything has gone well so far.

What type of equipment are you using? How many acres ?


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## Bird Law (8 mo ago)

I'm using a New holland H7450 cutter, some rolabar rakes in a center discharge configuration, and a deere 460M baler.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

If I understand you correctly you have both left & right hand throw rakes. As you probably already know that the key to easier rd baling is the correct windrow width for baler pickup width & even windrows. I think JD rd balers X67 & later models are very durable & very easy to operate


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## Bird Law (8 mo ago)

Yes sir. I have that much figured out. At this point I'm thinking about setting the cutter to put out a 4' windrow and then combining the windrows after they have had some drying time, letting them finish drying like that, and then baling. I have also thought about doing a wide swath and raking once. Any input on that would be greatly appreciated. 2 way split Sorghum/sudan haygrazer is what I will be working with.


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## Bird Law (8 mo ago)

Also, I would be doing 4' windrows out of the cutter to avoid driving on the crop. That's also the reason I went with a 4' baler. I didn't want to change the wheel spacing on the tractor.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I seldon ever bale much of anything except Bermuda & occasional field of Johnsongrass. I cut everything & lay it flat & hardly ever rake except right in front of baler. My neighbor planted a few acres of Sudan & asked if I'd bale it this yr. I guess I get to experiment.


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## the farmer 3 (Jul 12, 2021)

might work in texas not in new york


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

the farmer 3 said:


> might work in texas not in new york


Raking shortly before baling will definitely "work" in Texas most of the time. There's even some custom balers that have Vee rakes converted with pto shaft & hitches to pull rd balers attached to rakes simultaneously while baling.


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## the farmer 3 (Jul 12, 2021)

i also rake just before baling . 

I dont think it is possible to make dry hay from sudangrass in new york


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## Markpnw (Dec 27, 2019)

Bird Law said:


> I'm using a New holland H7450 cutter, some rolabar rakes in a center discharge configuration, and a deere 460M baler.


Nice equipment sure makes life easier!


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## Bird Law (8 mo ago)

the farmer 3 said:


> i also rake just before baling .
> 
> I dont think it is possible to make dry hay from sudangrass in new york


Sometimes I wonder how northern farmers live while I'm sweating in this microwave haha. You can have haygrazer dry in 2 days from windrows out of the cutter in TX when the sun is out and everything worked right.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Bird Law
I've never had Sudan/Haygrazer with low enough stem moisture % in 3 days that I would bale it hoping the hay in the bales wouldn't turn tobacco brown. Normally I don't even check moisture in Sudan prior to baling until four 90°F+ days have passed. When I 1st started baling Coastal Bermuda I could cut today then bale tomorrow & have moisture @ 15% but now it's cut 1 day, lay hay flat IE no narrow windrow & bale day after tomorrow for <16% moisture hay

In my many yrs involved in agriculture I've seen many Sudan rd bales removed from storage or being transported on roads that the flat sides of bales were dark brown to black in color. Heat that causes brown/black color removes some hay protein.


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## JOR Farm (Aug 27, 2019)

Here in bama I have had to leave sudangrass out for 5 days even tedded 3 times. From my experience it gets brown and ugly if inbaler moisture sensor is reading more than 15% I think moisture comes out of steams after bailing, also I store in a barn and never stack or let bales touch. Honestly I wouldn't fool with it if the cows didn't like it so much but they act like it's candy, even prefer it to peanut hay.


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## Bird Law (8 mo ago)

It doesn't happen all the time, but we have had years where it could be cut, sit in the sun for a day, flipped the next day, sit in the sun all day, and then baled the following day. Not if it wasn't cut with a conditioner though. This only happened with a custom guy that had good equipment. We have seen it cut with a sickle mower too and that took a long time.


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## JOR Farm (Aug 27, 2019)

I have always cut mine with a Kuhn flail conditioner my worst problem was never got to cut it small enough most of the time it was 10 ft tall by the time I got to cut it.


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