Hay making 2020
- Thread starter Mark C
- Start date
carpenter1
Member
- Location
- devon
What forcast does everyone use?
The weather to good to early
The weather to good to early
- Location
- East yorks
No the are both crap
- Location
- Ceredigion
That area he farms seems to miss the wet weather . He does a massive amount of hay . Not so much this year as the dry weather as hit him hard
BBC lunch time forcast and Countryfiles for the week ahead. Bloody internet weather is fine if you look at it once a day but it changes every hour and drives you nuts
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
Yes my plans to cut on hold too...
Greythundercloudys
Member
More bits lying flooded this morning, very windy and now heavy thundery shower and it's not even warm, that this week more or less written off as ground is now wet. At least lv my sheep clipped. Just have to wait till it drys up. Like everyone else up here.
- Location
- Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
There might not be as much sun as I’d like for hay making, but the wind is a huge bonus!
Making fast!
Making fast!
- Location
- Hockley Essex
Only cut Sunday afternoon! 30mph wind soon draws the moisture out!
- Location
- Mendips Somerset
gavs weather vids (youtube) guys an absolute star and gives a run down of all the models most days so you can get a consensus .Most of the others base theirs on one model and why they arnt so accurate
- Location
- South Molton
Forecast I saw from Met office said some tropical storm is coming in later in week and the computer has sh!t its pants , or did he say the computer models aren't sure. One or the other.
- Location
- Near Colchester
Giving up on my bit on the forecast, wrapping today.
Grassman
Member
- Location
- Derbyshire
Weatherweb and BBC TV forecast usually.
- Location
- Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
Few....we made it!
Cut my hay on Saturday. The forecast first thing looked Ok until Thursday, but changed during the day to say it would rain Tuesday night. Then on Sunday it changed again to say fine until Friday. Tedded it all on Sunday even through there wasn’t a lot of sun, but the wind was doing a brilliant job of drying the hay out.
Then the forecast changed again yesterday, saying it would rain by 7 o’clock this evening (Tuesday) so we round baled half of the hay yesterday so as to reduce conventional baling time today. It was dry but very green. However dry enough that it will not need wrapping other than a few bales under headland hedgerows and trees.
My round baler is new to us (ex demo), so it flew through the hay and I managed to cart it all by the end of the day.
My conventional baler is oldish, but I had given it a good service. Nonetheless, it was bound to be much slower than the round baler.
Woke up this morning to almost no dew and sunny. Checked the forecast, which again said it will by dry until 7pm, but only a few miles North it would be raining by 3pm.
So we set off at 9.30, rowing up and baling. It was all going well.
I have had a haircut booked for today and I wasn’t going to miss it! Fortunately somebody could take over rowing up for me at 10.30, so I came home and changed. Just before I set off, I checked the forecast again.
Alarmingly, rain was now predicted within the next hour! So I rang the baler driver and told him to crack on until it stopped him, then switch to rounds, which we could wrap, if we had to.
I hadn’t got 2 miles down the road before it started spitting and by the time I got to the hairdresser, it was definitely raining.
But boy, did I need a hair cut!
When I came outside, there were puddles on the road and it was still raining. But when I got home it hadn’t rained!
The baler was still going, the forecast was still rain imminently and I needed to get it carted asap.
It didn’t actually start raining here till 5pm.
Got it all in bar the last 96 bales. But even they will be fine as they are on a trailer in the shed.
Few......!
Next job: Harvest
Cut my hay on Saturday. The forecast first thing looked Ok until Thursday, but changed during the day to say it would rain Tuesday night. Then on Sunday it changed again to say fine until Friday. Tedded it all on Sunday even through there wasn’t a lot of sun, but the wind was doing a brilliant job of drying the hay out.
Then the forecast changed again yesterday, saying it would rain by 7 o’clock this evening (Tuesday) so we round baled half of the hay yesterday so as to reduce conventional baling time today. It was dry but very green. However dry enough that it will not need wrapping other than a few bales under headland hedgerows and trees.
My round baler is new to us (ex demo), so it flew through the hay and I managed to cart it all by the end of the day.
My conventional baler is oldish, but I had given it a good service. Nonetheless, it was bound to be much slower than the round baler.
Woke up this morning to almost no dew and sunny. Checked the forecast, which again said it will by dry until 7pm, but only a few miles North it would be raining by 3pm.
So we set off at 9.30, rowing up and baling. It was all going well.
I have had a haircut booked for today and I wasn’t going to miss it! Fortunately somebody could take over rowing up for me at 10.30, so I came home and changed. Just before I set off, I checked the forecast again.
Alarmingly, rain was now predicted within the next hour! So I rang the baler driver and told him to crack on until it stopped him, then switch to rounds, which we could wrap, if we had to.
I hadn’t got 2 miles down the road before it started spitting and by the time I got to the hairdresser, it was definitely raining.
But boy, did I need a hair cut!
When I came outside, there were puddles on the road and it was still raining. But when I got home it hadn’t rained!
The baler was still going, the forecast was still rain imminently and I needed to get it carted asap.
It didn’t actually start raining here till 5pm.
Got it all in bar the last 96 bales. But even they will be fine as they are on a trailer in the shed.
Few......!
Next job: Harvest
- Location
- Cheltenham
Lucky escape! Was raining north of Glos for most of the day
Mark C
Member
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Cut some saturday, left in the row all day Sunday, turned twice yesterday,went to test it at 5.30 pm yesterday and it was 12%, baled till 9.30pm and got the rest done by lunchtime today. Is much better hay than the roasted stuff made earlier in the month.
Mark C
Member
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Attachments
BDBed
Member
- Location
- Melton Mowbray
I had 6 customers wanted to mow over the weekend and yesterday. All cancelled bar two. Both mowed on Sunday. One said he had a field he’d like to try this morning but baler and bandit got rained off before it even reached the field. The other I did with the fusion. Tipped the last bale off the wrapper as the heavens opened. Hay making for me so far seems to be phone calls to book work in and then phone calls to cancel or get it wrapped. 
On a plus I did help a neighbour out with some rowing up yesterday to make sure he got his done.
On a plus I did help a neighbour out with some rowing up yesterday to make sure he got his done.
- Location
- Near Colchester
My bit was mown last Monday, thick ryegrass, no hope of it drying anytime soon with the forecast. Had to get someone else in to rake (thanks @KJR) due to an annoying appointment
Baler dude came along, 175 bales from 10 acres, never seen grass like it, new ley, grazed until mid May although the ewes were having trouble finding their lambs by the time we moved them. I guess we should reseed more often, this had been wheat for 3 years before this.
Then my wrapper broke - sensor trouble I think, @KJR to the rescue again, all wrapped by dark and the rain started.
I now have no grass on the ground, Woo Hoo, still only 120 acres to cut...
Baler dude came along, 175 bales from 10 acres, never seen grass like it, new ley, grazed until mid May although the ewes were having trouble finding their lambs by the time we moved them. I guess we should reseed more often, this had been wheat for 3 years before this.
Then my wrapper broke - sensor trouble I think, @KJR to the rescue again, all wrapped by dark and the rain started.
I now have no grass on the ground, Woo Hoo, still only 120 acres to cut...
Attachments
- Location
- West Kent
Am I reading that right that you are testing the moisture of unbaled hay?