# Mowing down hay



## tcfarm (May 5, 2014)

It rained hard today and now some of the grass in my field is laying down. The grass was pretty tall cause I dumped a bunch of fertilizer on it so must of got too heavy with the grass being wet. Its supposed to rain a little bit tomorrow then it looks like we'll have dry weather with temps in the 70s for the next 7 or so days. Will the grass stand back up if it drys out and we get some warm weather? I use a sickle bar to cut hay so I think it might have a tough time cutting it if its laying over. Worst case scenario is I pay my neighbor to mow it with his disc mower but I really don't want to have to do that. So how will a sickle bar work for cutting hay thats laying down?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

In my experience, no it will not perform well on downed hay, or even damp hay that is standing.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Some of the hay will stand back up enough to get it mowed with a sickle....some probably will not.

Regards, Mike


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

How big of a field? A sickle should cut it but will be slow. Grass is not as bad as tall alfalfa when it goes down. Might have to adjust machine ti cut lower to pick up the hay as long as you dont have too many rocks.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

The co-op always wanted to fertilize my cousins fields first thing in the spring, a couple of years in a row of hay laying flat needed that practice right quick. I always fertilize right after 1st cutting, but have alfalfa/orchard grass so no added nitrogen and only adding p and K.


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## tcfarm (May 5, 2014)

hog987 said:


> How big of a field? A sickle should cut it but will be slow. Grass is not as bad as tall alfalfa when it goes down. Might have to adjust machine ti cut lower to pick up the hay as long as you dont have too many rocks.


Its my smallest field its only 3 acres. Its thick enough that we were planning on going slow anyway.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

I'd at least ask the neighbor what he'd charge. Between, extra time (fuel), hay left on the ground (loss of crop and annoying presence of green when eventually raking) and aggravation, you could easily be further ahead to have it mowed for you if a lot of it remains flat after the weather settles.


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## tcfarm (May 5, 2014)

I would be willing to have my neighbor mow it if needed. But I like to maximize my profit and not pay for something that i can do on my own. I'll just have to wait and see how it looks when it starts to warm up. Here's a pic i snapped this evening of how some of the grass looks.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Not completely flat. You might be alright also try a gear or two slower when mowing and adjust the bar a bit lower as suggested. Play around some you might be able to get it just right. I mowed some badly lodged timothy and timothy clover mix. It was blowed one way came back up some then blowed another direction then another... plus it was wet and rank when mowing. I just tilted the head all the way down for the setting of the shoes on the 499 and went a gear slower on the tractor and got it all picked up. Took some time and patience but got it done. Not sure about a bar mower though. Good sections and guards make a huge difference as well


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Is it all down in generally the same direction? If so cut in the opposite way its laying down if you can. This will allow you to pick up more of the hay with the cutter.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Is your mower a plain sickle bar or is it a sickle haybine? If it is a haybine I would say you would have a good chance of cutting it pretty nicely.....most all my hay looked like that last year and the reel on the haybine did a good job of lifting it as it cut it. The only trouble I had was going into the crop the way it was laid down.....the rollers would grab the grass before it got cut by the cutter bar and try to pull it out of the ground.

Something to think about if you do decide to hire your neighbor with the disc mower is a lot of disc mowers are set to cut really low and almost scalp the ground.....your orchard grass needs a 3 to 4 inch cutting height to allow the stand to persist and regrow well.


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## tcfarm (May 5, 2014)

Farmer cline, my mower is just a plain sickle bar.


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## Bags (Nov 17, 2013)

From your pictures you may be able to get a lot of it cut. Most of the time (with a sickle bar) if your not nuts straight against the down grass, the rock guards are gonna keep it away from the sections.

When I have downed hay (usually from those damn elk bedding in it at night) I cut the whole field and then go back to the spots that didn't get cut. It saves time, and the uncut hay is easy to see. Run the sickle against the lay of the grass for a good cut.

As stated above--- its probably better to spend a little more time to get it cut right than to have problems from cutting it too short.

Sometimes sh!t happens--- but its all part of farming. Good luck with your hay.


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