# Baling alfalfa in a humid climate



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Alright fellas I seriously need some help on harvesting/baling alfalfa in a humid climate like the eastern half of the country. There is nearly no alfalfa grown here in the southeast and I think I'm starting to see why. With that being said I know in other parts of the eastern half of the country there is quite a bit of alfalfa grown......in my travels I have personally seen a lot of alfalfa in Pennsylvania and even more in Wisconsin......I know we have some fellas on here from these states and other similar areas that grow alfalfa. Now these areas might not be quite as hot or humid as we are here in the southeast but it is still in the humid region of the country with regular rainfall so I don't imagine the haying conditions and techniques would be that vastly different from here.

My question is what is your method of getting the hay dried out to bale and baled in a presentable package that still has green color, leaves, and won't spoil?

My method is to cut on day one, ted in the morning of day two, rake in the evening of day three with some dew moisture to save leaves, and bale in the morning or evening of day four with dew moisture to save leaves. This works pretty well if the weather cooperates but my window of baling is so small I can't get much baled. Even as humid as it is here the leaves get dry enough that they shatter and crumble if you don't handle the hay with some dew moisture but the dews get heavy enough that the hay gets too wet really fast. Seems that it is the worst of both worlds here.....too humid and it is hard to dry down but the leaves still get too dry to bale. You wouldn't think that the leaves would get too dry as high as the humidity is here but as soon as the sun burns the dew off in the morning they get crisp. How does everyone else manage this or is leaf shatter not an issue and you can bale pretty much all day?

I'm have just about had my fill of alfalfa and just about ready to quit growing it if I can't figure out a better method to handle this stuff that will allow me to have a longer and more productive baling window. I need all the help and advice I can get.

Hayden


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Is this pure alfalfa? How is your market for something like 70/30 alfalfa/grass? (If you have a grass available that works well with alfalfa. I know you aren't having luck with orchard) Are you using a preservative?


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

8350HiTech said:


> Is this pure alfalfa? How is your market for something like 70/30 alfalfa/grass? (If you have a grass available that works well with alfalfa. I know you aren't having luck with orchard) Are you using a preservative?


 Yes, pure alfalfa. I am using a preservative......dont think I would have hardly any hay in the barn without it it this year. I was planning on planting some grass into the alfalfa stands as I have been told that would make it easier to manage but I checked with my current alfalfa customers they were not at all interested in a mix. I might would still try a single field of a mix to see if I could add some other customers but with the troubles I am having keeping a stand of orchard I'm not sure what grass I would use. Honestly if it weren't for the fact I have a good market for pure alfalfa and I can get more cuttings than I can from any kind of grass I would just go completely away from alfalfa at this point.


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## danwi (Mar 6, 2015)

Most of the alfalfa in Wisconsin gets chopped for haylage for dairy farms Usually have better luck getting dry hay in july and august. We had a short window to make dry hay in early june then the weatherman said we had rain like 30 out of 50 days. Just had a chance to finish the last 20 acre of first crop for dry hay and started cutting second right away. When conditions are good usually mow on day one, wait one or two days and rake early the next day as the dew is going off and bale later that day


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

I know you've talked about getting a new(er) mower. You might gain some conditioning quality if you do. I'd also say you could possibly ted a second time on the third morning (or the first day after mowing plus the second morning) but I'm not sure that's going to help a whole lot with your stem moisture.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

8350HiTech said:


> I know you've talked about getting a new(er) mower. You might gain some conditioning quality if you do. I'd also say you could possibly ted a second time on the third morning (or the first day after mowing plus the second morning) but I'm not sure that's going to help a whole lot with your stem moisture.


 I have experimented with tedding more than once......didn't help much at all tedding right after mowing and tedding the morning of the third day has helped in some cases but I loose a lot more color.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

When are you cutting on day one?

I cut some Friday at 1pm, then stopped when the first field was done to take care of some other things. Started mowing again at 6pm, came home in the dark.

The stuff I mowed late Friday baled today and almost got too dry, the stuff I mowed earlier Friday I should of quit after the first round, still very damp underneath which just trapped more moisture in the windrow. It will bale tomorrow a full day after the stuff I mowed late in the day but was dry underneath.

All this was leaning bad, but not down, I got a clean cut without having to tip the discbvine forward, from the road you would have thought some of it was gonna be flat as a pancake.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

FarmerCline said:


> I have experimented with tedding more than once......didn't help much at all tedding right after mowing and tedding the morning of the third day has helped in some cases but I loose a lot more color.


Eventually you might have to decide that getting it baled right has to be the one and only priority. Color is nice when you can get it but you're not in Wyoming. If your customers expect western quality hay, maybe you're better off as a broker than a grower when it comes to alfalfa.


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

Every day is different, so no one method is guaranteed to work satisfactorily every time.

Many days if I bale under the sun the first hundred or so are too tough, the next hundred are about perfect and after that you have stems.

In the evening the process works in reverse, same numbers.

Every now and then you can rake evening before and get a cloudy mid afternoon and make decent numbers of nice hay.

This year it's a victory to have dry bales before the next rain

I think hitech has it right, do your best and have some western hay for those picky folks. Make sure the price is high enough to make yours look like a bargain.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

FarmerCline said:


> Yes, pure alfalfa. I am using a preservative......dont think I would have hardly any hay in the barn without it it this year. I was planning on planting some grass into the alfalfa stands as I have been told that would make it easier to manage but I checked with my current alfalfa customers they were not at all interested in a mix. I might would still try a single field of a mix to see if I could add some other customers but with the troubles I am having keeping a stand of orchard I'm not sure what grass I would use. Honestly if it weren't for the fact I have a good market for pure alfalfa and I can get more cuttings than I can from any kind of grass I would just go completely away from alfalfa at this point.


Some guys use Fescue in a mix with Alfalfa.Claim it grows better in the heat of summer compared to orchardgrass.Sounds like that could be more of a fit for your location.And I agree a little grass sure helps drying compared to straight alfalfa.Another thing if you Rd bale it,it sheds water better.

It's been super humid here the last week.I cut day into wide windrows.Day 4 in the morning with some dew I V raked 2 windrows together.Day 5 baled as dew was comeing off which wasn't until 2 PM and it was 15-16%.I should of started a hr or 2 earlier but was busy.


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## Uphayman (Oct 31, 2014)

Starting to rethink the fescue as a mix. While it handles drought amazingly well, very slow to dry compared to orchardgrass. Reseeds and will take over. We are switching back to bromes and orchard grass. Given some fertility it does yield. Realize I can almost see the North Pole from my operation.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

mlappin said:


> When are you cutting on day one?
> 
> I cut some Friday at 1pm, then stopped when the first field was done to take care of some other things. Started mowing again at 6pm, came home in the dark.
> The stuff I mowed late Friday baled today and almost got too dry, the stuff I mowed earlier Friday I should of quit after the first round, still very damp underneath which just trapped more moisture in the windrow. It will bale tomorrow a full day after the stuff I mowed late in the day but was dry underneath.
> All this was leaning bad, but not down, I got a clean cut without having to tip the discbvine forward, from the road you would have thought some of it was gonna be flat as a pancake.


 I usually start cutting in the afternoon after all the dew has completely burned off.....l started cutting yesterday around 1 and finished at 5. I figured out it doesn't do any good to start cutting earlier when it's still wet as the swath just holds all the moisture.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

8350HiTech said:


> Eventually you might have to decide that getting it baled right has to be the one and only priority. Color is nice when you can get it but you're not in Wyoming. If your customers expect western quality hay, maybe you're better off as a broker than a grower when it comes to alfalfa.


 I have came to that decision a few times when rain was pushing me and I end up with almost no color left at all unless I can bale it that same day. The trouble is I can't usually get it baled later that day because the leaves get too dry to rake in the afternoon and by the time I get it raked in the evening it is too wet to bale. So it ends up laying until the next day and ends up being mostly all bleached. My customers don't expect western quality hay that is green as a gourd but a bale with almost no color left is a hard sell. Going to get some alfalfa Tedded out right now.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

SVFHAY said:


> Every day is different, so no one method is guaranteed to work satisfactorily every time.
> Many days if I bale under the sun the first hundred or so are too tough, the next hundred are about perfect and after that you have stems.
> In the evening the process works in reverse, same numbers.
> Every now and then you can rake evening before and get a cloudy mid afternoon and make decent numbers of nice hay.
> ...


 Sounds similar to here.....the alfalfa goes from too wet to too dry in what seems like a matter of minutes. What I have trouble determining is how dry is too dry? I'm thinking that I am stopping too soon or starting too late and I should bale a little drier than I am but then again when I have tried doing that the bales look really stemmy and I hate losing that many leaves. How do you manage this?

I should also mention that most of my fields are very undulating terrain with shady edges so the dew does not fall or burn off very evenly which presents another challenge. I have a lot better luck baling in the evening as the dew is falling than I do in the morning as it is burning off. Some spots of the field might hold moisture a few hours longer while other spots have already dried crispy.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

We might, or might not have to deal with humidity in this part of the world. We don't use a tedder, and I really wonder how useful they are in most alfalfa situations vs a wide thin swath and raking on the day of baling. Preservative has saved us countless times. I am more worried about losing leaves during the raking process than during baling, but that is with a big square baler. One thing I would ask is do you have RR alfalfa? There seems to be a correlation between RR and slow dry down.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

8350HiTech said:


> Eventually you might have to decide that getting it baled right has to be the one and only priority. Color is nice when you can get it but you're not in Wyoming. If your customers expect western quality hay, maybe you're better off as a broker than a grower when it comes to alfalfa.


I better not move east and try and grow alfalfa or I guess I'll be extra frustrated. Or move there and want to buy alfalfa. Although I've seen some alfalfa a friend baled up in Indiana and it looked as good as anything I've ever baled.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

Hayden, you are not alone. Unfortunately I don't have any secrets to share to make things go easier. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as well for insight and info from the more seasoned producers. The struggle is real with alfalfa, and I would probably stop producing it as well if it wasn't necessary in my production diversification.

Not sure how our humidity compares, but I have noticed that alfalfa dry down seems to stall out much quicker with humidity than it does with my grass hay. I've only been at this 3 years on my own. Before that I was just muscle in the barn in the evenings when the wagons were full.

This year has been the most challenging for me to get alfalfa dry. I had been laying my swaths wide and thin to get the most sun exposure as soon as possible. However, the hay I was running down was often much less dry than the rest of the swath. I changed back to windrows today, just narrow enough that the tractor didn't run anything down. Immediately after pulling out of the field with the mower, I went in with the tedder. Will see how that works out this time. If every day wasn't just a little bit different, it would be easier to nail down a process that works.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

FarmerCline, you wouldn't mind giving me a relevant zip code for your area? I would like to look up your forecast just to see how it compares to ours.


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

FarmerCline said:


> Sounds similar to here.....the alfalfa goes from too wet to too dry in what seems like a matter of minutes. What I have trouble determining is how dry is too dry? I'm thinking that I am stopping too soon or starting too late and I should bale a little drier than I am but then again when I have tried doing that the bales look really stemmy and I hate losing that many leaves. How do you manage this?
> 
> I should also mention that most of my fields are very undulating terrain with shady edges so the dew does not fall or burn off very evenly which presents another challenge. I have a lot better luck baling in the evening as the dew is falling than I do in the morning as it is burning off. Some spots of the field might hold moisture a few hours longer while other spots have already dried crispy.


The one method that seems to fit the best here is to rake at the very best time and bale when you can. I would like to produce perfect hay, but the reality is I have to be commercially viable.

Tomorrow I have 2nd cut to bale. Some pure alfalfa, some alfalfa orchard mix, some pure orchard and some weedy grass. It has all been tedded at least once. I expect moderate fog until 8ish and moderate to heavy dew that won't burn off till at least 10. Very slight chance t-storms, greater the following day. So about 10:15 we will be running 2 rakes on the alfalfa and get it on row as quickly as possible. Then park the single rake while the double moves on to the mix, the pure grass and finally the cow feed. I will start on the pure alfalfa and bale with preservative when I can, maybe 12:30. I will stick with it until the mix or pure grass is dry enough to go and leave the alfalfa if I am not done. If every thing else is done and under roof, I may return to it and bale it too dry if the sky is threatening or try to catch it with the dew.


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

Gearclash said:


> We might, or might not have to deal with humidity in this part of the world. We don't use a tedder, and I really wonder how useful they are in most alfalfa situations vs a wide thin swath and raking on the day of baling. Preservative has saved us countless times. I am more worried about losing leaves during the raking process than during baling, but that is with a big square baler. One thing I would ask is do you have RR alfalfa? There seems to be a correlation between RR and slow dry down.


Do you mean rr drys slower than conventional? I haven't noticed that but I harvest a little more mature than dairy hay.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Gearclash said:


> We might, or might not have to deal with humidity in this part of the world. We don't use a tedder, and I really wonder how useful they are in most alfalfa situations vs a wide thin swath and raking on the day of baling. Preservative has saved us countless times. I am more worried about losing leaves during the raking process than during baling, but that is with a big square baler. One thing I would ask is do you have RR alfalfa? There seems to be a correlation between RR and slow dry down.





Gearclash said:


> FarmerCline, you wouldn't mind giving me a relevant zip code for your area? I would like to look up your forecast just to see how it compares to ours.


 For me a Tedder is a necessity about 90-95% of the time if I want to get it dry. I have tried not using the Tedder on the alfalfa and unless we are in a drought or the ground is good and dry and we have a stretch of perfect weather the underneath of the swath never dries out and is still like fresh cut hay when you rake it.

I do have a single field of RR alfalfa and I have not noticed that it takes any longer to dry than non RR. Losing leaves with the rake is a concern for me as well and I usually rake with dew moisture to save the leaves.....it would be a disaster if I raked alfalfa during the afternoon here.....don't think there would be any leaves left. There just seems to be a lot of leaf loss during baling as well if I dont bale with some dew moisture.

Valdese NC 28690


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

One thing I have done when things get too dry during the day. At night when the hay is wet with dew rake several rows together. Make as heavy a windrow as possible. The heavy windrow will help trap moisture in it giving you a longer window the next day to bale before things get too dry.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

paoutdoorsman said:


> Hayden, you are not alone. Unfortunately I don't have any secrets to share to make things go easier. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as well for insight and info from the more seasoned producers. The struggle is real with alfalfa, and I would probably stop producing it as well if it wasn't necessary in my production diversification.
> 
> Not sure how our humidity compares, but I have noticed that alfalfa dry down seems to stall out much quicker with humidity than it does with my grass hay. I've only been at this 3 years on my own. Before that I was just muscle in the barn in the evenings when the wagons were full.
> 
> This year has been the most challenging for me to get alfalfa dry. I had been laying my swaths wide and thin to get the most sun exposure as soon as possible. However, the hay I was running down was often much less dry than the rest of the swath. I changed back to windrows today, just narrow enough that the tractor didn't run anything down. Immediately after pulling out of the field with the mower, I went in with the tedder. Will see how that works out this time. If every day wasn't just a little bit different, it would be easier to nail down a process that works.


 The advantage of grass here is the ability to keep it stirred up by tedding during the day or raking during the middle of the afternoon when it's almost ready but the bottom needs an hour or two of sun.....then bale as soon as its dry. With alfalfa if I did that I'm pretty certain there wouldn't be many leaves to speak of left so it takes longer to get it dry since it has to be handled with moisture to save the leaves. Also alfalfa seems to be more prone to wicking moisture out of the ground which slows the drying as well.

As difficult as it is to get dry my biggest challenge with alfalfa is once it is dry getting it raked and baled with enough moisture that the leaves don't shatter but not too much that it won't keep....such a narrow window here.

That looks like some nice alfalfa in your picture.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

hog987 said:


> One thing I have done when things get too dry during the day. At night when the hay is wet with dew rake several rows together. Make as heavy a windrow as possible. The heavy windrow will help trap moisture in it giving you a longer window the next day to bale before things get too dry.


 I actually did something similar a couple weeks ago by accident and it turned out fairly good. I was running behind because I had more hay on the ground than I could handle and I raked later in the evening than I should have and the hay was pretty wet. I normally would have let it lay until the evening of the next day to bale but the weather was pushing me so I baled it in the early afternoon of the next day trying to beat the evening thunderstorms. The outside of the windrow was crispy dry and the leaves were shattering but the inside of the windrow still had enough moisture than the leaves didn't shatter and the bales still had a lot of leaf. I considered myself lucky though because some places the windrows held too much moisture and some of the hay did heat up and carmelize. About 75% of it was okay so that beat getting it rained on......ended up missing the rain though.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

hog987 said:


> One thing I have done when things get too dry during the day. At night when the hay is wet with dew rake several rows together. Make as heavy a windrow as possible. The heavy windrow will help trap moisture in it giving you a longer window the next day to bale before things get too dry.


In humid climates usually a big raked windrow will take on more moisture over night than what it will lose the next day in my experience, especially if the ground under it is wet. FarmerCline is fighting what so many of us do, the leaves get too dry to rake or bale while the stems are way too wet.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

SVFHAY said:


> Do you mean rr drys slower than conventional? I haven't noticed that but I harvest a little more mature than dairy hay.


That is what I have read, and it seems we fight that with my brother's alfalfa. 3 cuttings a year turn into silage, so dry down is not high on the list of alfalfa traits, but tonnage is. I don't think it is the RR trait itself that slows the dry down but rather the variety that they put the trait in.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Gearclash said:


> In humid climates usually a big raked windrow will take on more moisture over night than what it will lose the next day in my experience, especially if the ground under it is wet. FarmerCline is fighting what so many of us do, the leaves get too dry to rake or bale while the stems are way too wet.


I have an uncle who rakes everything (grass or alfalfa) the night before and then hits the raked hay the next day with a fluffer tedder.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

8350HiTech said:


> I have an uncle who rakes everything (grass or alfalfa) the night before and then hits the raked hay the next day with a fluffer tedder.


Does the fluffer tedder hay stay in a windrow that can be baled?

Regards, Mike


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Vol said:


> Does the fluffer tedder hay stay in a windrow that can be baled?
> 
> Regards, Mike


Yes, quite nicely. It gets it off the ground and reintroduces some air to the windrow but it's fairly gentle if run at low rpms. For all the more they cost at this point, it's not a bad tool to have in the "bag".


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

8350HiTech said:


> Yes, quite nicely. It gets it off the ground and reintroduces some air to the windrow but it's fairly gentle if run at low rpms. For all the more they cost at this point, it's not a bad tool to have in the "bag".


What exactly are they? I am not familiar with that equipment in this part of the country.

Regards, Mike


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

The most common model I've seen around here is the Pequea 710 or 910. You can find a few youtube vids of them running.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

paoutdoorsman said:


> The most common model I've seen around here is the Pequea 710 or 910. You can find a few youtube vids of them running.


There were also similar models from H&S and by Zimmerman and another from Grimm. All basically the same concept. Mostly pto driven but there were a few ground drive. Realistically the better ones are a $1000 machine with something like an ugly Grimm down around a few hundred.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

We have a ground drive Grimm fluffer. Definitely has its place. They do tend to make the windrow a little wider than it originally was.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Wow....that is very affordable. I shall look further.

Regards, Mike


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I see Burkholder brothers in Lebanon PA has a nice looking used 7'....but not priced. Anyone live close?

Regards, Mike


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Vol said:


> I see Burkholder brothers in Lebanon PA has a nice looking used 7'....but not priced. Anyone live close?
> 
> Regards, Mike


Endrow is really close. They never list prices because they are courteous and want to make sure you're sitting down.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

8350HiTech said:


> Endrow is really close. They never list prices because they are courteous and want to make sure you're sitting down.


I see....well I can inquire about some others.

Regards, Mike


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

8350HiTech said:


> Yes, quite nicely. It gets it off the ground and reintroduces some air to the windrow but it's fairly gentle if run at low rpms. For all the more they cost at this point, it's not a bad tool to have in the "bag".


 My cousin has one. They can do a nice job on the right circumstances and alfalfa prep is one. Somewhere I think I saw a pic of a new Holland swather pushing three of them across a field.


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

Well, my alfalfa plans didn't quite work out today. Got it raked right and started the day with it but moisture levels were plenty high so I moved on to the orchard mixes. 1150 bales later the %20 chance of rain got me before I got back to the alfalfa.

Hayden, I think you should keep growing alfalfa even though it is a pain to do properly. Not all years are like this one and on a dry year that will be the only hay crop making a decent yield. Plus the harvest schedule usually is out of synch with the grass so it spreads your workload out.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

8350HiTech said:


> They never list prices because they are courteous and want to make sure you're sitting down.


This cracked me up. My wife is wondering why I'm laughing at my laptop.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Vol said:


> I see....well I can inquire about some others.
> 
> Regards, Mike


See, definitely not expensive. Even at our local NH dealer less than a grand. 
https://harrisburg.craigslist.org/grq/d/pequea-910-fluffer-tedder/6245167219.html

Or private. 
https://chambersburg.craigslist.org/grd/d/pequea-910-bar-tedder/6231527991.html

Or less pretty. https://baltimore.craigslist.org/grd/d/pequea-710-hay-tedder/6220426655.html


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I did see several ads on Tractorhouse. It would be nice to find one a little closer if possible.

I like the idea of fluffing a alfalfa windrow the morning of baling after raking two windrows together the day before.

Regards, Mike


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

We have often raked the day before because it seems like in a humid climate you have to get it up off the ground to start that final drying process. We have a 710 Pequea that is an excellent fluffer. We used to rake with the V12 wheel rake day before and fluff early the day we want to bale. The 710s were really popular for Dairy Farmers they could mow on a windrow and run the fluffer and then the chopper and never rake stones into the windrow to dull the chopper knives. I live nearby Lebanon and yes they are pricey. Haven't look just lately but I know Wenger farm machinery just about always has p eaquea fluffer used sitting down there, again I can't say they do now


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

Fluffers are cheap enough to experiment with and not lose your shirt, but I am going to say that we have seen very little if any benefit to fluffing alfalfa. It didn't matter if it was before or after raking, there seemed to be no benefit to us. We have seen much better results in grass.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

FarmerCline, one thing that strikes me about your forecast is the lack of wind. Where we would see 5-10 mph at least most days, you have 1-5 mph.

This is the portion of the NWS forecast that I look at the most, just glance at everything else. I am watching the humidity forecast first of all, and also wind and sky cover. This is my forecast, the humidity for today really looks to get quite low for here considering the time of year. Look at the wind forecast though.


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## discbinedr (Mar 4, 2013)

FarmerCline, seeing as you're considering a new disc mower you might want to seriously consider a Deere with tri-lobe rolls. They're supposed to be the best thing for alfalfa.


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

Is your conditioner doing the job, i.e. crushing or crimping the hay to assist with stem dry down? I set my Hesston rollers close such that a side of plastic from a 5qt oil jug would barely fit between the peak and valley of the rollers. I actually set the rollers down on it and backed off the roller spacing until I could barely slide it out. Knowing the rollers were timed, tight, but not touching. Next is the roller tension. My rollers are really crimping vs crushing.









I can set mine such that it will break the stems in half to a goodly extent. Are your rollers set close, timed and mashing the hay to the extent possible? There are a lot of various types of rollers on the market, but New Holland rubber rollers have been successfully been making alfalfa for a long time. My Hesston steel on rubber rollers do a fantastic job of crimping stems and giving me a terrific dry down. If there is a cheap 1110, 1120 or CaseIH 8320 or 8330, again with steel on rubber rollers - you might give it a try. If you were up here, I'd let you try mine.

Next thing I'd consider after conditioning is using the sun to its fullest potential. Cut about 9-10 am, just as the dew starts evaporating, lay the alfalfa out wide from the mower conditioner and after it has set for about 4 hrs and started to wilt, ted it to further spread it out and bust up any mold making clumps. Let the alfalfa get a full day of sun like this.

Next day, early, while there is dew, ted again - gently to refluff the hay and mix it up and let it get a full day of sun.

Third day, rake a fluffy windrow before noon, let the alfalfa bake for several hours and then bale like crazy late afternoon - pouring on the hay preservative as your baler mounted moisture meter requires.

Again, think the key is great conditioning, tedding as the alfalfa wilts, further spreading/mixing the alfalfa with the dew (and still green alfalfa) to preserve the leaves, late morning fluffy raking and then baling late afternoon with preservative.

Absent being in the western climate areas, I don't know how you could get any better than this.

Before I forget, I feel my steel on rubber rollers really do a number on crimping stems. While surely some leaf brushing goes on with the mass of hay going through the rollers, I have to believe these non-crushing rollers do not condition the leaf like other crushing type rollers and with that, perhaps even up the dry time somewhat between the stem and leaf. They may even allow a 4th day of drying might be possible without leaf loss. This crimping profile works and is why I like steel on steel rollers too. They are much the same profile as my Hesston rollers.

I don't grow alfalfa, Just throwing out some thoughts.

YMMV - good luck.

Bill


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Just now getting a chance to get back to this thread. It's been an extremely busy week getting this alfalfa baled and I had a lot of other things to get caught up on before I go out of town for a few days next week.

The good news is I got all the alfalfa I cut baled and in the barn in good shape without it getting wet. Baled Tuesday, Wednesday, and finished up the last little bit Thursday. Tuesday went well and I was able to get the hay put up just right that evening.

I decided to experiment and wait to rake the hay that was to bale Wednesday that morning(4th day) instead of the evening of the third day as I have been doing. Lately the windrows I rake the previous day have been picking up and holding so much moisture from sitting all night that I have been having to flip them over the next morning with a rake to get them dry enough to bale anyway. Wednesday was a different day though and the sun decided not to show itself......the hay I raked still had a little stem moisture and needed just a couple hours of us to finish drying. By mid afternoon the top had dried some and I saw that the sun was not going to come out so I decided to tip the windows over to see if what was on the bottom would dry enough to bale that evening. Got it dry enough that I felt comfortable baling most of it with preservative. I think if the sun had come out that I would not have had to flip the windrows and I'm stating to think raking in the morning of the day I'm going to bale might be better than raking the previous evening.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

All in all this week went well as the weather was pretty cooperative and no unforecasted rains. This is the first alfalfa that I have baled all year that wasn't either overmature, rained on, or baled too wet and spoiled to try to beat an unforecasted rain.

I'm still finding my biggest frustration and trouble with alfalfa is getting it raked and baled between too wet and the leaves all crumbling and falling off......just makes it hard to get much done in a day and a lot of sitting around waiting.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

discbinedr said:


> FarmerCline, seeing as you're considering a new disc mower you might want to seriously consider a Deere with tri-lobe rolls. They're supposed to be the best thing for alfalfa.


 I had considered the tri lobe rolls but just about fell over when I heard the price.....9k option. I have heard the they are supposed to be great in alfalfa but also heard that they wouldn't feed very well in grasses.....not sure if this is correct.....just what I heard. If I go with a Deere I was leaning towards the v10 stel rolls which look almost identical to the MF/Heston steel rolls. I have also thought about just getting a set of rolls from B&D.....not sure if they would be any better or worse for alfalfa dry down than the steel rolls? Right now though a new mower conditioner Is on hold until I can sell my current haybine.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

SVFHAY said:


> Hayden, I think you should keep growing alfalfa even though it is a pain to do properly. Not all years are like this one and on a dry year that will be the only hay crop making a decent yield. Plus the harvest schedule usually is out of synch with the grass so it spreads your workload out.


 I was thinking about this more today while I was on the road and had a lot of time to think. I do think I will continue to grow some alfalfa but I'm for sure going to cut back on how many fields I have. When I had just a couple of my better laying fields in alfalfa I did not have as much of a headache trying to get it all put up right. All of these 2-3 acre patches just are just too time consuming and a pain to grow alfalfa in.

What I do love about alfalfa, which is why I will still continue to try to grow some, is the fact that it grows better than anything else throughout the entire summer and will continue to produce after grasses have already went dormant. Only thing that might approach the yield and number of cuttings of alfalfa here would be Bermuda grass.

I'm might plant a field of Bermuda but I also want to try some more cool season grasses and maybe some alfalfa/grass mix as well. I'm wanting to plant a number of different grasses to try to spread out the harvest window rather than having nearly all of the acreage in one thing like I do now with alfalfa. Also it will be nice to have a longer baling widow with the grasses and not have to worry so much about leaf loss which should lower my stress level and make haying less of a nightmare and more enjoyable again and allow me to be more productive.


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