# First hay of 2015 is on the ground



## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Wife and son were going to wait until Friday and mow this Ryegrass before it headed out but I was looking at the updated weather early this morning and told them if they were going to drop it better be today and get it up Friday. So everyone scrambled and got cut and tedded about 4 hours later. I told them put into a fairly narrow swath and let the ground dry out a bit on top. The wind was very high here today, gusting to near 30, and the humidity was low hanging around 30-35%. Going to ted again at about 10 in the morning and maybe again late afternoon. Hay is running very low and there's none to be had around here. Pastures aren't coming in like they should because of the dry spell we had for about 4 weeks and unusually cool nights and then we got 4.2" of rain in 5 days last week. Then next week looks like a total washout.










The Deere did good today.










Smaller wet spot.










All cleaned up.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)




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## Thorim (Jan 19, 2015)

You know life is good when the beach boys are playing in the background and your working the first hay of the season


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Hope you get it up before the rain this weekend. I don't have anything ready to cut yet.....oats are knee deep and still jointing.....be a couple weeks yet. I have a friend that cut some wheat for hay Tuesday.....was still pretty short and just starting to boot but he needed the hay for his horses so he went ahead and cut. I'm supposed to bale it for him on Friday if it will just dry in time.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

A long ways from anything being ready here. Things are just thinking about turning green. We could use some moisture and the forcast says rain and snow the next few days. Hopefully we get sonething.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Giving me the itch to go mow now. Maybe I will mow my lawn this weekend to pretend. Looks like nice hay Grateful.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

FarmerCline said:


> Hope you get it up before the rain this weekend. I don't have anything ready to cut yet.....oats are knee deep and still jointing.....be a couple weeks yet. I have a friend that cut some wheat for hay Tuesday.....was still pretty short and just starting to boot but he needed the hay for his horses so he went ahead and cut. I'm supposed to bale it for him on Friday if it will just dry in time.


I'll be surprised if booted Wheat will ever dry enough to bale for horses. Those seed heads in the stems retain a lot of moisture. I let some booted wheat lay on the ground for 2 weeks after cutting with a Mo-Co and when I rd baled it it felt dry and rattled but was still wet inside the stems


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

FarmerCline said:


> Hope you get it up before the rain this weekend. I don't have anything ready to cut yet.....oats are knee deep and still jointing.....be a couple weeks yet. I have a friend that cut some wheat for hay Tuesday.....was still pretty short and just starting to boot but he needed the hay for his horses so he went ahead and cut. I'm supposed to bale it for him on Friday if it will just dry in time.


One way or another it's getting baled Friday. Sorta the same here, the cows need hay. Oats are about he same here, some of the thinner weaker looking stands are heading out already. The better stands are still looking nice with bluish/green color. We talked to several people this week, neighbor farmer and guys at the farm where we buy most of our seed and everyone seem to think grain is going to be short in this area this season. A combination of early hard freezes in early Nov. then a 3-4 week dry spell in Mar and early April along with temps. over 80˚ and then BAM we a 21˚ and 25˚ night in April and it nipped a lot of the Oats back, tips turned brown. Then last week we got 4.2" of rain the this Ryegrass really took off almost overnight. She's got one 6 acre field that's the cleanest she said she's ever seen and it's not heading out yet, going save it for the Combine, they only need about a good 6-8 acres to Combine for grinding Oats cattle feed.

The Sudan-Sorghum BMR seed (Southern States SS-220), corn seed (Dekalb 6508) this year, the Soybeans and the Brown Top Millet are all waiting in the sidelines ready to go in. She even bought 3 bags of German Millet to try. Last year they came up short on hay and "Knock on Wood" she hopes to avoid that this year. Buying hay sucks, seems for the most part there's nothing like you own hay.

These guys in VA have been using SS-220 for a while, she plans on planting heavy for a smaller stem, 50-60 lbs per acre along with about 50 units of chicken litter.

*An Inexpensive Forage Alternative*

http://www.southernstates.com/articles/low-cost-forage.aspx


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

Good luck with the hay, I woke up to 3 inches of snow!

That's a nice looking set of equipment, too.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

We are setting the 1st set of irrigation water today. 
Your fields look great. Ours are maybe 3 inches tall right now.


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## haygrl59 (May 19, 2014)

We're about 2 weeks away from our first cut of alfalfa here in the midwest, weather permitting of course. Grateful, looks like you all are getting the weather we started out with last spring. Hope you have a great season in spite of the challenging start.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

The green is like 1/2" tall here where the snow is melted off the fields.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Grateful11 said:


> One way or another it's getting baled Friday. Sorta the same here, the cows need hay.


Do you have a wrapper on stand-by?


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

I have rye wheat and oats to cut down here... I guess it'll die before they take the rain chances out so I can cut it. Hopefully I can get to it next week


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## qcfarms (Dec 14, 2014)

I have a wheat winter pea patch that I need to get in and cut. It's been to wet here in central OK as well. Looking like maybe next week I will be able to get in the field. I will have a small patch of alfalfa ready to go right after that. Time to get busy!


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Tx Jim said:


> Do you have a wrapper on stand-by?


We wish ;-) We've been looking at some but not sure about taking the bite into that territory.

This is a nice looking rig, very economical, for low volume wrapping. Long ways to pick one up though ;-)

http://burlington.craigslist.org/grq/4992174322.html


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I've mowed the grass here once this spring, its the only thing even close to needing mowing around here. Be at least a month or 5 weeks here yet.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Great pictures and videos!

Good coating of snow here as well. After a week in the sixties and seventies everything really took off have reed canary grass that is 6 inches tall or so and the other grasses are just coming to life. Finally was able to see rows on the winter wheat but now im sure everything is gonna be setback a bit now. Actually was excited we would be able to start grazing early but mother nature has other plans.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I have Orchard grass in many places that is waist high already.....dang....hate to see that this early....supposed to get in the upper 30's in the morning....gotta cover the 'mater plants. :angry:

Regards, Mike


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Couple of guys chopping cereal rye in SW tip of Indiana. My alfalfa is about 10-12". Plan on starting 1st week of May. Quickest way to start a barn fire is bale any cereal crop in the boot stage. IT NEVER CURES OUT!


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Wife and son had to run to town and saw a guy chopping what looked like Oats for silage.

The hay here could have been baled today but they didn't want to push it. Suppose to be full sun again tomorrow.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I'll still bet you the hay won't be dry enough to bale & store NEXT WEEK END.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Tx Jim said:


> I'll still bet you the hay won't be dry enough to bale & store NEXT WEEK END.


Why? It had virtually no stem. My wife has worked with hay her entire life and when she says it's ready, it's ready. This hay will start going to the herd as soon as it's baled, one bale a day.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Grateful, if you have good baling weather tomorrow, maybe you can post a pic or two of your bales....the sun has been extremely bright the last few days and breezy here so the drying conditions have been excellent here also. I wish I had some oat hay to bale.

Regards, Mike


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

My apologies as I got confused about what type of hay. I was thinking about FarmerCline's neighbors wheat that was cut in the boot stage. I'm sure your wife has the hay under control. Again I sorry for the confusion,Jim


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

I need to cut here. But they're talking rain Saturday and again Wednesday. I just hope I can get the rye cut and baled while it's still green.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

I am on my last loop with pivots and will shut down to let dry and then we will start on our 1st cutting of alfalfa in a week to 10 days. Triticale will come off in late may , wheat hay will come off in a couple of weeks. Everybody be safe out there ''Danger Stupid Kills'' .....................................


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## JeffMNY (Jan 5, 2014)

Looks really good. Nice equipment and a nice stand to mow. Things are just starting to get green here. Well they were until it turned white this morning. Seems like mowing hay is a long way off. Hope it turns out well for you.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

haybaler101 said:


> . Quickest way to start a barn fire is bale any cereal crop in the boot stage. IT NEVER CURES OUT!


Maybe in your part of the world everything cures out here. You always check head moisture that way you know it is ready to bale . We never start until it reaches 10 % headed . Boot stage is the best hay .


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Tx Jim said:


> My apologies as I got confused about what type of hay. I was thinking about FarmerCline's neighbors wheat that was cut in the boot stage. I'm sure your wife has the hay under control. Again I sorry for the confusion,Jim


No problem. No need to apologize.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Almost there:




























Oats are looking real good but gonna be a bit short.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

That will make some beautifully colored bales!

Regards, Mike


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Grateful11

Beautiful hay but do you don't think there aren't many stems as you previously stated?


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Nice to see one of us getting some hay done as it snows in my area. Gives me reassurance spring must eventually arrive to upstate NY


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Tx Jim said:


> Grateful11
> 
> Beautiful hay but do you don't think there aren't many stems as you previously stated?


There were definitely stems just stems not like we're used to with Oats and Soybeans, very small compared to those.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

It probably could have stood to have another days drying time but we just didn't have that option. Ended up with 27 bales a little under 4' in diameter.

One thing I noticed is we're getting some loose loops of twine on the bales, the twine is tight but just have some random odd loops hanging down tucked under tight rounds of twine, kinda weird. You can see a few in this bale. Any ideas?


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Do you have lots of iron in your soil is that why its red?. Not used to red soil. Brown or yellow or grey and if your lucky black.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Loose twine on the bale indicates low twine tension while applying twine on the bale. At least that's what causes that problem on a JD rd baler.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

hog987 said:


> Do you have lots of iron in your soil is that why its red?. Not used to red soil. Brown or yellow or grey and if your lucky black.


This explains it better than I can.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultisol

I remember back in the day farmers around here talked about liking this red clay, they claimed it retained moisture better than sandy soils like where I grew up. I had an Uncle that died at a fairly young age and he had a small tobacco allotment at one time and he was visiting here probably close to 30 years ago and the first he noticed was the farm ran through what he said was a strip of very desirable red clay that ran from southern VA, through the Piedmont of NC and into SC. My uncle claimed the best of it ran almost parallel to I-85.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

hog987 said:


> Do you have lots of iron in your soil is that why its red?. Not used to red soil. Brown or yellow or grey and if your lucky black.


Red clay soil is typical of many areas of the Southeast....it is call "ultisol"....it is a weathered soil that has a lot of minerals leached out except primarily iron oxide which gives the resulting color. We do not necessarily have a lot of iron. This soil is common in high humid and sub-tropical areas....it is also found in South America and Africa. Georgia is renowned for its red clay as it is considered a outstanding pottery clay.

Regards, Mike


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Tx Jim said:


> Loose twine on the bale indicates low twine tension while applying twine on the bale. At least that's what causes that problem on a JD rd baler.


It's a JD 448. I checked the twine tension last Fall by actually attaching portable fish scale to it and adjusted the twine until it was right with JD's specs. I may try to add a little more tension but just pulling on by hand it seems awfully tight through the guides as it is. I'd like to get it straightened out. No hay here is sold so it's not a big deal but I think the bales would look a little better and I'm wondering if it's those loops that might be occasionally getting caught up in the pickup reel. Thanks.

The awesome folks here helped me with figuring out why twine was running off the right side of the bales last year. This is a great place with a wealth of knowledge.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Depending on number of bales the baler has baled the tension clips can acquire a groove worn in them by the twine severely affecting twine tension. Also I've witnessed dry hay chaff/sand between clip & holder hold twine clip away from twine. Another thing that will affect twine tension is how tight the bale is rolled. Problems with twine application on the bales is just "one of the reasons" I changed over to using netwrap.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

One day I'm going to get them talked into a JD 459 SS with netwrap. I think once they try netwrap they won't go back to twine. The prices on the JD balers just seem to rise at an unbelievable rate each year.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

No use to tell me as from '87 to '15 I've bought 5 new JD rd balers. The 467,468 & 469 balers are very good. Edge to edge Ambraco netwrap costs me about a dollar per bale. I charge $1 extra per bale for twine to offset the extra time,fuel & extra wear on equipment for putting twine on a bale.


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## TJH (Mar 23, 2014)

I'll say one thing Greateful, you all post some nice pic and vids. Way better than most manufactures. I do like looking and watching.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

TJH said:


> I'll say one thing Greateful, you all post some nice pic and vids. Way better than most manufactures. I do like looking and watching.


Thanks. Glad you enjoy them. My wife and son bought me a fairly cheap Quadcopter for Christmas. She said if I ever learn fly the darn thing she'll get me a good one for good aerial video and photography.


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## tmac196 (Aug 26, 2014)

Greatful,

Thanks for such an entertaining post. Just what I needed as I am watching my new hay field just begin to sprout. Our existing fields are about 4-5 weeks behind yours in the growing cycle.

I do covet those Krone hay tools. They are exceptional pieces of machinery.

Your photos are always first rate, I am looking forward to the drone videos now.

Your photo of the H7220 discbine was taken after you finished mowing? If so, you must have powerwashed and waxed it, too.

tmac196


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