Hay making 2020

[glasshouse]

The man who Bales the hay should be made to stack it . By hand . I learnt baling straw to check Bales every half hour or so , winding the pressure down till around 4 then back of again till about 7 on good days ,then stop

Some bg baler drivers never leave the seat

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Knocked 5 acres off this morning , looked alright from the road , fudge all on it , bale it monday I expect .

Have you been on the drink

 

[bobk]

Have you been on the drink

31 degrees here , soon knock the water out of that

 

[Billboy1]

All this early hay will be too good for most horses I supply.

They soak it anyway ??‍

 

[som farmer]

we have cut 16 acres today, crap grass really, we had decided 3 years ago, not to have the ground again, but weather said otherwise ! grateful now, nothing has been in there since we cut it last june, definitely wont take much making, but what is very obvious, are the green tussocks of cocksfoot, that grass has kept going ! another 5 acres to cut tomorrow, that is pp as well, but we can cut that, as we like, but the cocksfoot again, is really green. Will fill another shed up.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Dad made hay all his life like most of his age . He knew to a few hours if hay was ready , I have not had a lot of experience myself but I did cheat a little. Kept the small baler parked in the field . Would try half a row . The Baler would tell you straight away if it was not fit to bale . And also the weight of the bale . I know a few big farmers who have baled a lot of hay for years . They will be baling hay now. They have the same knowledge as dad did.
Must come from experience and the determination to get it right

Biggest is bestest

Why does a big farmer always know better?

Must admit we should be hay making but busy transplanting caulie, loading grain, delivering straw & sheep shearing for the next few days. Will consider options then.

 

[DrWazzock]

The sheep are already eating this years hay in the field. Save us having to mow it. Fortunately enough in the shed from last year to see us through winter.
We might get some made later in the year once the lambs are mostly gone.
it’s dry enough when the hay bob rows it up like whipped up candy floss and the baler can make a nice bale even with a bit of pressure on the springs. We’d never start baling before 2 pm and never go later than 7.
that isn’t to say we haven’t made some sh!t over the years, normally because it’s going to rain next day and as usual it a day off being fit.

 

[bobk]

Baled 5 acre this afternoon , round baled it cos couldn't be arsed to put the big baler on , smashed it up a bit but lovely green hay , fire brigade informed

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Biggest is bestest

Why does a big farmer always know better?

Must admit we should be hay making but busy transplanting caulie, loading grain, delivering straw & sheep shearing for the next few days. Will consider options then.

I take it if someone is baling 30000 small bales and a lot of big ones they will have more experience than someone like me who only Bales a few acres, I may be wrong though . Just the two I'm referring to always seem to get it right. Cant be luck with that amount

 

[som farmer]

grew up with my old man rushing to get it baled, and his brother always saying, needs another day, or so, hope i'm somewhere between the two !

 

[Jon 3085]

First field done yesterday.

 

[cattleman123]

View attachment 883519First field done yesterday.

Watch they dont fall over when they sag...

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I would put pallets under them if you dont mind me saying

 

[Tim s]

I would put pallets under them if you dont mind me saying

And swap the top one for straw if you have it Sucks the sap right out the top

 

[Devil's advocate]

I take it if someone is baling 30000 small bales and a lot of big ones they will have more experience than someone like me who only Bales a few acres, I may be wrong though . Just the two I'm referring to always seem to get it right. Cant be luck with that amount

I just do 5k small bales plus 10k of straw.

But if you do little bales even on a small scale you learn how to make hay.

I'm a big fan of little bales, you can get off & feel them, stacking by hand gives options to leave any hevier bales outside or stick them where they get draught in the barn. A great training ground for large baler operators.

 

[steveR]

The man who Bales the hay should be made to stack it . By hand . I learnt baling straw to check Bales every half hour or so , winding the pressure down till around 4 then back of again till about 7 on good days ,then stop

Same approach can be made about stacking hay... You learn to do it right if yo

Baled 5 acre this afternoon , round baled it cos couldn't be arsed to put the big baler on , smashed it up a bit but lovely green hay , fire brigade informed

It'll be fine, just leave it on the field until the weekend to sweat out..

 

[Jon 3085]

I would put pallets under them if you dont mind me saying

All the pallets were in here,I had even bought plastic pallets to replace some 20 year old wood pallets.Bales are usually ok on the concrete though if the hay is well made .

 

[Dave645]

And swap the top one for straw if you have it Sucks the sap right out the top

That will work great, but a thin layer of hay or straw just spread over the top will mitigate the worst, as the worst happens at the very top, the point any warm air hits the colder external air and it condensates.
if it heats bad that condensate drips back down into the bale so well made hay a thin layer to cope with small heating problems I would only go to a full bale of straw if we knew it was going to heat bad because we pulled it in early to beat the weather.
Even then we normally let those bales stay in the field as long as possible to reduce those barn problems. Where a layer of hay or straw can then cope with what’s left.

 

[neilo]

Watch they dont fall over when they sag...

Watch out they don’t fall on the HSE man when he comes to investigate the picture of bales stacked on end.

 

[ploughman1963]

Watch out they don’t fall on the HSE man when he comes to investigate the picture of bales stacked on end.

Could that risk be eliminated by putting some ratchet straps up as restraints?