# What to do with this hay?



## John 37A (Jun 14, 2015)

Hey all. This is my first post on here. It's also my first time to make hay by myself. My father-in-law usually bales after I cut and take for him.

Last Wednesday I mowed about 19 acres of hay down. Pretty thick mixed grass. I raked Friday and round baled about 14 acres of it before a pop-up thunderstorm put down a bunch of rain. Saturday evening it got another soaker and once again today. So I have around 4 acres of hay that's been rained on for three days in windrows. The forecast for this week shows 50-60% chance everyday.

I assume the quality of the hay is completely gone, so can I still bale it to get it off the field? I'm sure it will be wet if I do that. Is there a better method of get rid of it? The baler is a NH 853.

The field is one that I picked up last year and plan on keeping it for some time. I don't want to lose out on the time and money I have invested in the hay that is down right now, but I also don't want to harm the field in the future.

Thanks,
John


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

What do you have for rake and tedder?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

If your pretty sure the hay is getting poor now and only gonna get worse you could roll it up wet and dump it in a fence row if you're sure you're not gonna rut the field up baling it.

Can't remember the specs of a 853 but might not wanna make a full size bale either, they will be VERY heavy.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Get it as dry as possible and bale it, might be worth money come winter......


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

I agree with devildawg. Get it dry, bale it. Even with the rain you've had on it, it'd still make beef cow hay. It might not make horse hay but I don't think the quality will be as bad as you think.


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## John 37A (Jun 14, 2015)

Thanks for he replies. Hopefully I can get some dry weather. The rake is a NH Rolabar, can't remember the model though. I do not have a Tedder. The field itself drains well so rutting isn't a concern, just trying to get it made.


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## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

If you think it is a loss you can use a forage harvester and blow it across the field. Wind helps a bit, and have your flap all the way up and point slightly away from the next windrow.

I've also bush hogged downed hay that gets 4 -5 rains on it and with more rain coming decide it is better to be done with it and let the next cut come. Helps to have it tedded wide before doing this. (I just did this with 7 acres on Saturday). A bush hog, or even a finishing mower just slightly above the cut hay will suck it in and chop it up quite a bit. It is a slow job, but works.

Either method works, but you have to chop it fine.

Sometimes when you have that much rain and you don't think you'll get it dry it is better to just chop it and let the field produce it's next cut. You haven't lost any nutrients either. They'll all decompose back into the soil over the next year.

Just cut high and rake high on the next cut so you don't get any of the older hay into the mix.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

John 37A said:


> Thanks for he replies. Hopefully I can get some dry weather. The rake is a NH Rolabar, can't remember the model though. I do not have a Tedder. The field itself drains well so rutting isn't a concern, just trying to get it made.


Here's what you do... I've had this happen before, and it's aggravating as the devil, but hey, if it didn't happen to the best of us, it wouldn't be farming...

IF its dry enough to get into the field, and IF you want to preserve whatever quality remains as best you can to bale it up for "cow hay", then you'll need to flip it and TRY to get it to dry out and stay as dry as possible, even between rains, if possible.

To do that with a rolabar rake, you want to flip the windrows and spread them out as much as possible. To do that, you have to adjust your rake properly... Start by setting the front "up and down" slide adjustment as far UP as it will go, to make the "fluffiest" windrow possible (this tilts the basket up and back). Next, (assuming this to be a 56/256 or 258 LH delivery rake, not a 260 RH (or other make equivalent) crank the LH height adjustment crank all the way up-- you want the delivery end of the rake as high as it will go. Then adjust the RH (non-gearbox end that's more forward) down so the rake teeth are JUST SHY of the ground. Now, straddle your windrows and rake it out at six MPH (as fast as you can go without the rake "chattering" (overspeeding). Keep the windrow fairly close to the lead end of the basket-- like you'd normally rake hay on a second pass around the field (assuming you make a couple passes to roll up a bigger windrow). This will roll the hay over onto "dry" ground (it can get incredibly wet underneath a windrow in a heavy rain and start to rot the hay). The windrow will "spread out" as it goes to the gearbox end of the rake (which is cranked all the way up) and this will "poor-man's ted" the hay out some, allowing it more exposure to the air to dry, as well as rolling it over onto drier ground rather than leaving it set on the wet soil underneath the windrow that's been sheltered from whatever sun/wind you might have between storms. (Unless you've just had showers, the ground on either side of the windrow will likely be SOMEWHAT drier than the ground underneath the windrow that's sheltered from drying sun/wind). Going as fast as you can will make the rake "roll" the windrow faster, and help it to spread out as much as possible as it "whips" around/under the rake.

If it keeps raining, repeat as necessary between storms if the field is dry enough to allow you to run a tractor across it without rutting. If it gets that wet, don't rut the field-- let it lay and rot and just worry about it later. You DO want to roll it over as soon as you possibly can, though, to keep it from shading out the ground and killing everything growing under the spread-out windrow, so keep that in mind.

As soon as it's dry enough to bale, depending on what you're baling with, how wide the windrow spread out, etc. you can run bale it. If the windrow is spread too wide, just adjust your rake normally for raking and then roll it over once more into a tighter windrow for baling (probably necessary for round baling so you can form a decent shaped bale, as the spread windrow will be thicker on one side than the other... for square baling, if you can pick up the windrow, and it's not spread wider than the pickup of the baler, you can probably bale it "spread out"... it's up to you and your conditions.

IF it keeps raining and the hay is too far gone (basically rotted-- even p!ss-poor hay can serve as a "filler" for beef cows; just make sure you feed it up first and preferably with some good hay for the actual nutrition-- but feed the sorry stuff first or they'll get spoiled and won't eat the sorry stuff and squall for more "good stuff"-- BTDT... LOL You'll have to decide if you want to bale it and feed it as "filler" (or bedding) or if you want to just get rid of it on the field... Baling it will leave the field the cleanest; you can always give it away or whatever if you don't want it... If you don't want to spend the money, fuel, time, and waste twine baling it, you have a couple choices-- rake up what's left and burn the windrows (which is hard on the stuff growing underneath it and will kill some stuff, and just set back other stuff (usually grasses will pop right back up after a burn like that, but alfalfa-- probably kill it outright). The other choice is to run a bush-hog over it running as low and slow as you can possibly go to pulverize the stuff to "mulch" and spread it out over the ground. I mean CRAWL in as low a gear as you've got (basically) with the tractor with the bush-hog shredder running *almost* "in the dirt" and wide open on the throttle (PTO speed) to pulverize that stuff like a mulching mower... Might have to make a couple passes to really grind it up to bits... that SHOULD spread it out enough to let the hay "come on up through it" for the next cut-- and once it's got something growing up through it, it'll rot fairly quickly. IF it's still "too thick on the ground" after you've pulverized it with the rotary mower (bush-hog), then put your rake back on and set it like you would to "ted" it and rake a HALF-SWATH (half the width of the bush-hog) in both directions, AWAY from the center... IOW, center the non-gearbox end of the rake in the path of the shredder, and with the gearbox end of the rake all the way up, rake as fast as you can go again to spread the litter/chaff/mulch out as much as possible, then double back going to the other way to spread the other half in the other direction... this should DEFINITELY spread it thin enough, as a lot of it will go through the rake teeth after it's ground up finely... if too much is going through the rake teeth (between them), lower the gearbox end of the rake til it's spreading the mulch out the way you want it.

Give it a little time, and the crop should grow right up through it...

Next cutting, MOST of the mulch/chaff should be rotted down enough that the rake won't pick up much of it... most of it that DOES get picked up should "dribble out" during raking between the teeth of the rake, but SOME will always end up in the windrow, as it rides with the freshly cut hay. If you REALLY want to minimize the amount of picked up chaff/mulch, make this next cut a little higher (set your hay mower to leave a taller stubble than you usually would) and set your rake a smidgeon higher than you normally would-- this will allow the teeth of the rake to "float over" most of the chaff/mulch and give it another cutting period to thoroughly rot down and form humus on the soil surface.

Like I said, this has happened to me a few times over the years... just the breaks I guess-- you bale long enough, it happens to everybody. The main thing is keep it turned and spread out as much as possible to allow it to air dry as much as possible (even between rainy days), so long as you can get across the field without making ruts or a mess... and keep moving the windrow at least every few days if possible to prevent the stand from dying out underneath the windrow for lack of sun...

Best of luck and hope this helps!

OL JR


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

What JR said. Tip it and roll it up.


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## John 37A (Jun 14, 2015)

Thanks to everyone for the replies and good advice. I moved the bales today that I was able to bale before the rain started. The ground is definitely saturated and was ponded in several low spots. It has rained hard several times each day since Friday when I baled it. The forecast shows 80% rain for the next four days as well. I think I need to get the windrows moved and just get rid of them asap.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

After you get through this episode, the next thing on your list is to make contact with an outlet for spoiled hay. Even if you have to sell it at a heavy discount or even a loss, sometimes it is better than letting it rot on the field and create issues for the next cutting.

Some folks on here may be able to put you onto mushroom farms, which I think are more prevalent in the Northeastern part of the US. Another consideration would be to contact some of the erosion control companies who blow hay on bare dirt on various construction projects.

Of course, this is Exhibit A on why anyone who cultivates hay should have a dozen or so cattle on the back forty, lol.


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