# Bale it green or get it rained on?



## paulson (Jun 16, 2010)

Fairly new to making hay, I have a 10 acre alfalfa field that I cut on Monday. It is 83 degrees today and windy, but I just went and checked it and it's still a little wet. I don't have a moisture meter, I just base that on how the stems respond when I bend them. Last year I waited until they just started to snap when bent, and then I baled. Hay lasted well through the winter with little to no mold problems. Forecast calls calls for rain late tonight and tomorrow.

My question...Is it generally better to bale the hay a little "tough" or take the chance of it getting rained on? I use a square baler, and am told it allows the hay to be baled a little earlier.


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## Hayking (Jan 17, 2010)

it depoeds how much rain you get on it and how long after it was ct when it rains on it. i would say being down since monday i woulld bale it if you think you are going to get a lot of rain thats just my opionion dont take it to the bank that it would be the right thing to do lol


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## jpritchett (Sep 22, 2009)

When i was 16 I was baling for a neighbor. His dad showed me how they used to check there alfalfa back in the old days. What he did was took a stem of alfalfa and took his thumb nail and scraped the stem. If you scrape the wax off the stem easily then it is too green to bale. But if the wax does not come off the stem easily then it is ready to bale. I have always checked my alfalfa that way when i dont have a tester. It is really accurate.

Another way to check if it is to green is to go to your windrow and bend down and grab the windrow and flip it over. Then feel the alfalfa at the center of the windrow. Its always greenest and wetter at the center.


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## enos (Dec 6, 2009)

Better off getting it washed than heat up and go moldy from baling to tough. Still going to get sweet piss all for it, least it won't burn the barn down.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

What enos said, unless you're absolutely certain it was jsut a little tough, better to get it washed than burn a barn down.

You can use this method if you don't have a hay tester, http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/publications/ID-172.htm, its time consuming though.

I'm betting at this rate, we have at least one hay fire in the county before the end of the month.


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## markltorrey (Jun 29, 2010)

I had a similar circumstance in my Coastal Bermuda ... But decided to bale mine early because of a change in the forecast ... and regretted it. I have 177 bales stacked at the edge of my hay field, and not in my barn, because they were baled to early. And to make matters worse, the rain didn't come until the end of the next day. If I had waited, taking the chance that it *MIGHT* get rained on, and then have to allow extra drying time ... I would have been able to bale on my "*original*" day and still have been able to get it off the field before the rain finally started.

Do NOT bale early. Barn fires will cost you a heck of a lot more than few hundred lost bales ...


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

We had an old farmer back home who had 3 sons and a hay loft with three sections. He'd always bale his 1st crop hay wet into small squares. He then would have his boys stack all the bales in the east end of the barn, within 2 days he would have them restack them in the center section. And you guess it, he would have them restack them in the west end within 2 days of them being in the center.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

markltorrey said:


> Do NOT bale early. Barn fires will cost you a heck of a lot more than few hundred lost bales ...


I'm usually pretty careful, but in the fall I usually have every nook and cranny filled with hay to get through the winter. I have a hay provision in my farm policy. If I have a fire it pays for the shed as well as the hay in it.


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## enos (Dec 6, 2009)

UpNorth said:


> We had an old farmer back home who had 3 sons and a hay loft with three sections. He'd always bale his 1st crop hay wet into small squares. He then would have his boys stack all the bales in the east end of the barn, within 2 days he would have them restack them in the center section. And you guess it, he would have them restack them in the west end within 2 days of them being in the center.


Soo... Ahhhh....when was the last time he talked to them after they moved out? And people wonder why their kids don't want to take over the farm. Seems alot easier to let the sun dry it than the sons dry it.


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## markltorrey (Jun 29, 2010)

good point about the fire coverage ... I think I'll checking into the specifics of our coverage, and see about making changes. It's good to do that once in a while anyway.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Not sure how its worded, but our insurance also covers if something should happen to our hoop buildings and the hay stored in em gets soaked. To be honest, I've had less problems with the hoop buildings than I've had with the pole barns.


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