Help hay making

[Cindy horse livery]

Advice please!! We have around 10 acres that the grass has grown brilliantly! We have topped it twice already back in may and then again June before the tractor broke down.. we got it fixed but the grass was already waist high so we decided to make hay and purchased all of the mini baling equipment which has finally arrived. Problem I have is where we cut the last time there are track lines of old mouldy grass .

can I use the dethatcher to remove this so that we can make hay and will a dethatcher flatten the grass too much for the drum mover?

 

[davidroberts30]

Advice please!! We have around 10 acres that the grass has grown brilliantly! We have topped it twice already back in may and then again June before the tractor broke down.. we got it fixed but the grass was already waist high so we decided to make hay and purchased all of the mini baling equipment which has finally arrived. Problem I have is where we cut the last time there are track lines of old mouldy grass .

can I use the dethatcher to remove this so that we can make hay and will a dethatcher flatten the grass too much for the drum mover?

Anything you do now wont remove the grass without flattening what's there and if you try and cut it it will leave a messy stubble

 

[glasshouse]

Whats a dehatcher?

 

[Lofty1984]

A chain Harrow at an educated guess

 

[onthehoof]

Advice please!! We have around 10 acres that the grass has grown brilliantly! We have topped it twice already back in may and then again June before the tractor broke down.. we got it fixed but the grass was already waist high so we decided to make hay and purchased all of the mini baling equipment which has finally arrived. Problem I have is where we cut the last time there are track lines of old mouldy grass .

can I use the dethatcher to remove this so that we can make hay and will a dethatcher flatten the grass too much for the drum mover?

Sounds like you’re in a pickle, you really need to get rid of the dead stuff but you are going to have to run on the grass, if its fairly easy to do I would try, the drum mower should still cut ok albeit not as well as if it wasn’t run on, how much of the field is like this. Will your detatcher thing actually pick the grass up so you can take it away

 

[glasshouse]

Advice please!! We have around 10 acres that the grass has grown brilliantly! We have topped it twice already back in may and then again June before the tractor broke down.. we got it fixed but the grass was already waist high so we decided to make hay and purchased all of the mini baling equipment which has finally arrived. Problem I have is where we cut the last time there are track lines of old mouldy grass .

can I use the dethatcher to remove this so that we can make hay and will a dethatcher flatten the grass too much for the drum mover?

Dont worry, the old grass will disappear or dry out no prob

 

[Overby]

Chop the new stuff, chuck it all about a few times, the old stuff will soon be gone as the new dries. Any other way will flatten everything.

 

[Cindy horse livery]

Whats a dehatcher?

It’s a bit of kit that’s around 6ft wide and has two rows of tines

 

[Cindy horse livery]

Whats a dehatcher?

A 6 ft implement with two rows of tines

 

[Al R]

It’s a bit of kit that’s around 6ft wide and has two rows of tines

A 6 ft implement with two rows of tines

Like this?

 

[Cindy horse livery]

Thanks all, paid some kids to walk the 7 acres and get what they could by hand, let’s hope the drum mower will cope and the Tedder will spread it

 

[Cindy horse livery]

Like this?View attachment 978375

Yup that’s the one but mine has two rows

 

[Dry Rot]

Sheep. Write off hay making for this year. Experience is cheap whatever you pay for it.

 

[Al R]

Thanks all, paid some kids to walk the 7 acres and get what they could by hand, let’s hope the drum mower will cope and the Tedder will spread it

Any old grass in it I assume dry, off colour, possibly black and mouldy?
Neighbours here topped half an acre but the topper was useless, 4-5 weeks later I went in with the mower and scalped it with disc mower to tidy it up so that they could cut with the lawnmower again, the stuff the mower cut would’ve made lovely hay in under a day but the older grass their topper had cut had gone black and mouldy and was now spread through it all, they gathered it all up by hand and burnt the lot

 

[Cindy horse livery]

Any old grass in it I assume dry, off colour, possibly black and mouldy?
Neighbours here topped half an acre but the topper was useless, 4-5 weeks later I went in with the mower and scalped it with disc mower to tidy it up so that they could cut with the lawnmower again, the stuff the mower cut would’ve made lovely hay in under a day but the older grass their topper had cut had gone black and mouldy and was now spread through it all, they gathered it all up by hand and burnt the lot

Really hoping we have gotten the worst of it out

 

[bobk]

Bale it up , stack it and burn it .