Dummies Guide To Making Hay

[TrickyT]

Can anyone advise on making hay for 'dummies'?

I have been helping out my brother in law in making hay over the last couple of year. Neither of us are 'farmers'. I have put a few posts about it previously regarding the baler and kit etc.

So we have a bit more acreage to this year any maybe a bit more next, but don't think we have been doing it properly. We are making small bales, probably 1200 at the moment.

It has taken a while to ensure that the PTO speed for the baler and the forward speed of baler is correct to eliminate 'banana bales'

The kit we have is the following

• JD3050
• 1.65m Drum mower
• MF390
• New Holland 276 Super Baler
• Hay Bob
• MF35
• TEF-20

So these are the questions I have.

• After cutting with the drum mower, should you then carry out tedding with the hay bob, or leave it do dry for a day? We spread it the same day it was cut.

• How many times should you carry out tedding on the hay? We did every other day. Has this been damaging the crop?

• When making a windrow, should you combine several of them together if the crop is quite light, or just put a maximum of 2 together. In a previous post about combining windrows someone said that the hay would be reduced to chaff as we have been combining too many together. Which makes a sense as the bales were very dusty. Which also relates back to the question above.

• We have a 6 bale sled, does dragging the bales around cause much damage to them? Would just make loading onto a trailer a bit quicker as you would only have to stop for a set of 6 bales rather than individual ones.

• How heavy should a 'small bale' weigh? We have be doing them currently that you could 'comfortably' pick one up. But have had them that they are really heavy and difficult to pick up. Remember being told by the 'older generation' that they would use a pitch fork to lift one up into the hay loft!

• Headlands first, headlands last? I know this is a full topic on its own! We did one field, headland first, which meant that the hay bob had to wait before it could do the up and downs. This then mean that the bales had to be removed off the headland before it could be rowed up and baled as they were in the way. The second field was done headland last, but the windrows seemed a bit flat as they had been driven over by both the hay bob and baler before they got rowed up.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards

Trevor

 

[JCfarmer]

How tricky are you Trev?
Most of us are a bit weary on here and me included.
Headlands first or silage them.

 

[Dry Rot]

• After cutting with the drum mower, should you then carry out tedding with the hay bob, or leave it do dry for a day? We spread it the same day it was cut.
• Some will leave it until the whole crop is dry and then ted to ring the damp bits to the surface so that can dry. Tedding directly after cutting seems a bit extreme. Wait until the top is dry at least. Thing about what you are attempting to achieve rather than doing jobs to "rules".

• How many times should you carry out tedding on the hay? We did every other day. Has this been damaging the crop?
• Deoends how much tedding is required to dry the crop. You should do each opeation with a view to what you are intending to achieve.

• When making a windrow, should you combine several of them together if the crop is quite light, or just put a maximum of 2 together. In a previous post about combining windrows someone said that the hay would be reduced to chaff as we have been combining too many together. Which makes a sense as the bales were very dusty. Which also relates back to the question above.
• If you keep tedding it, yes, you will eventually reduce it to chaff. The purpose of tedding is to dry the crop. Why ted if it isn't drying?

• We have a 6 bale sled, does dragging the bales around cause much damage to them? Would just make loading onto a trailer a bit quicker as you would only have to stop for a set of 6 bales rather than individual ones.
• Pass. We can't see the bales to assess what damage, if any, is being done. You can...or should be able to!

• How heavy should a 'small bale' weigh? We have be doing them currently that you could 'comfortably' pick one up. But have had them that they are really heavy and difficult to pick up. Remember being told by the 'older generation' that they would use a pitch fork to lift one up into the hay loft!
• As tight as they need to be to be handled without falling apart. Yes, they were lifted with a pitch fork but there is a technique to it and very heavy bales can be lifted that way. I have never weighed a bale in my life and I'm old.

• Headlands first, headlands last? I know this is a full topic on its own! We did one field, headland first, which meant that the hay bob had to wait before it could do the up and downs. This then mean that the bales had to be removed off the headland before it could be rowed up and baled as they were in the way. The second field was done headland last, but the windrows seemed a bit flat as they had been driven over by both the hay bob and baler before they got rowed up.
• Personally, I start at the begining and go on until I've finished!
• The most important thing is to dry the crop so it can be baled and stored safely. Many on here will have their own ways of assessing whether the crop is fit to bale. Personally, I like to see the swathes rolling in a breeze (even though it make it a pain to bale!) but if you look closely, the nodes should be dry and not contain sap. Some twist a few wispes of hay and can tell from how the hay behaves. Some will use a moisture meter.

 

[teslacoils]

1)Mow.
2)Ted.
3)Pray.
4)Poke about a bit. Squeeze the "knuckle" or joints in the stems to see if any juice comes out. If so, go back to 2)
5)Wait the customary "extra day" for it to be "fully fit" while neighbours crack on bailing.
6)Pray like you've never prayed before / offer eldest son to Mammon. DO NOT WATCH WEATHER TONIGHT.
7)Wake. Ask wife to look outside. If rain, return to 2)
8)Realise you should have checked baler earlier.
9)Make bales of varying size.
10)Curse.
11)Put in shed before it rains.
12)Spend winter trying to sell it, one bale at a time.

 

[Werzle]

Can anyone advise on making hay for 'dummies'?

I have been helping out my brother in law in making hay over the last couple of year. Neither of us are 'farmers'. I have put a few posts about it previously regarding the baler and kit etc.

So we have a bit more acreage to this year any maybe a bit more next, but don't think we have been doing it properly. We are making small bales, probably 1200 at the moment.

It has taken a while to ensure that the PTO speed for the baler and the forward speed of baler is correct to eliminate 'banana bales'

The kit we have is the following

• JD3050
• 1.65m Drum mower
• MF390
• New Holland 276 Super Baler
• Hay Bob
• MF35
• TEF-20

So these are the questions I have.

• After cutting with the drum mower, should you then carry out tedding with the hay bob, or leave it do dry for a day? We spread it the same day it was cut.

• How many times should you carry out tedding on the hay? We did every other day. Has this been damaging the crop?

• When making a windrow, should you combine several of them together if the crop is quite light, or just put a maximum of 2 together. In a previous post about combining windrows someone said that the hay would be reduced to chaff as we have been combining too many together. Which makes a sense as the bales were very dusty. Which also relates back to the question above.

• We have a 6 bale sled, does dragging the bales around cause much damage to them? Would just make loading onto a trailer a bit quicker as you would only have to stop for a set of 6 bales rather than individual ones.

• How heavy should a 'small bale' weigh? We have be doing them currently that you could 'comfortably' pick one up. But have had them that they are really heavy and difficult to pick up. Remember being told by the 'older generation' that they would use a pitch fork to lift one up into the hay loft!

• Headlands first, headlands last? I know this is a full topic on its own! We did one field, headland first, which meant that the hay bob had to wait before it could do the up and downs. This then mean that the bales had to be removed off the headland before it could be rowed up and baled as they were in the way. The second field was done headland last, but the windrows seemed a bit flat as they had been driven over by both the hay bob and baler before they got rowed up.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards

Trevor

Usually leave the grass to wilt and get a silver sheen before tedding first time and then tedd once a day after that eg mow monday, tedd weds, thurs, etc. If the crop gets tedded to soon after mowing or too early in the morning before the dews burnt off you are defeating the object and making work.

If the weathers good and/or the crops old you shouldnt need to tedd it more than 2-3times at most. People these days seem to tedd hay to death where the old timers always let the weather do the work. It doesnt really matter if you tedd headlands first and travel on it or do middles first. When rowing up do headlands first and then when doing the middles just reverse back round to your next row rather than turn on rowed up swathes and risk catching them with the haybob.

I wouldnt bother trying to put more than two mower swathes together either.

Row nearest the hedge( back swathe) is usually baled last because its been shaded and is usually the least dry part of the hay/field. Back swathe bales will always be the heaviest too because the crops greener. Bales should be firm and solid but not backbreakers or banana shaped.

A good baler man drives around the field after hes finished baling up bits but nobody seems to bother these days.

 

[farmgineer]

Row up in the reverse of how you want to bale it, that way when you row the middle and trample on the headland, you pick all that back up off the floor ready for the Baler. The rotation of the crop on headlands should be such that the Baler is easy to use, the wrong way round and you’ll be hitting obstacles or running over the crop. Think about looking at it from above, clockwise or anti-clockwise, one way is easier but I can’t remember which from here... and you should have started with the mower planning for that direction.

 

[Goweresque]

There's no formula, because you're dealing with natural elements. What works in one situation (weather conditions, grass thickness/type, ground conditions) may be completely different in the same field the next year. Or in the next door field in a weeks time.

The one consistent rule is that hay is fit to bale when you can grab a small handful of stems and hold it between your two fists and make an action like pedalling a tiny bicycle and the stems rapidly break. If it takes more than 3-4 rotations to break its marginal, and if it doesn't break before say half a dozen rotations its definitely not fit. You will often see in unfit hay the stems become greener as you rotate them, as the dry exterior flakes off to reveal the still green (and therefore damp) inside.

This video shows you what I'm talking about, though I would take more stems to test than the guy is doing:

 

[Dry Rot]

There's no formula, because you're dealing with natural elements. What works in one situation (weather conditions, grass thickness/type, ground conditions) may be completely different in the same field the next year. Or in the next door field in a weeks time.

The one consistent rule is that hay is fit to bale when you can grab a small handful of stems and hold it between your two fists and make an action like pedalling a tiny bicycle and the stems rapidly break. If it takes more than 3-4 rotations to break its marginal, and if it doesn't break before say half a dozen rotations its definitely not fit. You will often see in unfit hay the stems become greener as you rotate them, as the dry exterior flakes off to reveal the still green (and therefore damp) inside.

This video shows you what I'm talking about, though I would take more stems to test than the guy is doing:

I have never done this to my satisfaction. I always look very closely at the nodes of the stem and perhaps press them with thumb nail to see if they still contain sap. Everyone has their own method and the right method is the one that works for you!