Mowing nightmare

[Twhite777]

Had lads in today to mow, only mow a couple fields at home, basically long story short they’ve made a hell of a mess mowing, deep cleat marks but not quite ruts everywhere, a complete mess up I should have never booked them but we didn’t make a mess last year and it was a very similar year in terms of weather and it was by no mean dry and there was no grass cover when we got fert on in may and that contractor had a bigger tractor and 4 bag spreader and didn’t make a mark, what the hell do I do? It’s full of soil and if I ted it out it’ll only make it worse for soil - I only have sheep.. if the mower travelled as badly as it did the field will be a complete scrow by the time it’s been baled and led out!! It’s permanent pasture at 1000 ft never been re seeded so I’m about to throw the towel in, what do I do??

 

[Sam Partridge]

were you there when they started? any known obvious wet spots or is it literally all over?

 

[Spud]

Get a light tractor on useful tyres with a wide tedder and spin it out. Let it dry. Row it up, let the ground dry. Mover the rows over onto said dried ground. Let the bit you've just exposed dry. Ted back out, so that as it dries the soil drops out of it. Bale it. Apply pateince and light weight kit to get the bales off.
And next time...walk the field before you book said contractor

 

[Twhite777]

were you there when they started? any known obvious wet spots or is it literally all over?

No I wasn’t, I was away at our rented land dosing lambs, I’m not blaming them because I shouldn’t have booked it, but grass was getting past it already and no other weather in sight, but I think they should have known better than to carry on, it’s more or less the whole field, only a run or two with mower that hasn’t made a mark.

 

[M-J-G]

Is it in rows?
If do the middles of the fields should be fine.
Can you just bale it from the mower rows and keep the headland bales separate?

 

[Boohoo]

If they haven't made ruts it can't be that bad. Don't know how it can be full of soil if they've only gone in the depth of the cleats.
Don't ted it, leave it to dry for as long as possible then rake it. If you have to, rake and bale the outsides before doing the centres.

Sounds like the normal for us the last few years

 

[Twhite777]

Is it in rows?
If do the middles of the fields should be fine.
Can you just bale it from the mower rows and keep the headland bales separate?

 

[Mark C]

I wouldn't touch it for a couple of dry days to let it dry out a bit. Then ted it each day

 

[Pan mixer]

One of the reasons I am not mowing at present is the dampness of the fields, permanent grass is never the same with ruts in it unless you reseed.

 

[gone up the hill]

That is a complete right off for feeding sheep unless you want large vet bills and losses for listeria.

Your best bet is to leave it a few days, ted it out a few days then bale up as very poor hay and use it for bedding.

 

[ridger]

Looks normal

 

[Boohoo]

Has anyone who is suggesting tedding got any experience of wet ground? Tedding is the last thing you do. The ground isn't going to dry if it's all covered in grass and the grass isn't going to dry if it's sitting on wet ground so all you're doing by tedding is increasing soil contamination and making a mess.

 

[ridger]

Never Ted anything here, better to get it into a row of some sort, the less tracks the better

 

[Boohoo]

Looks normal

An all too familiar sight. Have you noticed ground not drying out after it's cut? Usually a dry day makes a difference, a dry week isn't doing much at the moment. Have even heard stories of ground getting wetter after it's mown when it hasn't rained which is a new one on me.

 

[ridger]

An all too familiar sight. Have you noticed ground not drying out after it's cut? Usually a dry day makes a difference, a dry week isn't doing much at the moment. Have even heard stories of ground getting wetter after it's mown when it hasn't rained which is a new one on me.

I think the water table hasn't really gone down this year. But then on the potato side, that north wind has sucked out a lot of moisture from the drills so it's hard to win. Suppose the potatoes are on better land to start with though

 

[George Mitchell]

Has anyone who is suggesting tedding got any experience of wet ground? Tedding is the last thing you do. The ground isn't going to dry if it's all covered in grass and the grass isn't going to dry if it's sitting on wet ground so all you're doing by tedding is increasing soil contamination and making a mess.

Wouldnt have a tedder about the place, or a rake for that matter. Autoswather into a wide row, practically zero contamination, and a wider area between swathes to dry out

 

[Boohoo]

I think the water table hasn't really gone down this year. But then on the potato side, that north wind has sucked out a lot of moisture from the drills so it's hard to win. Suppose the potatoes are on better land to start with though

Don't spuds suck a lot more water out the ground than grass? I know the 2 drills I have at the back of the hedge are dry but the rest of the same field that's in grass is like putty and was only just dry enough to roll ruts in after a dry week.

 

[ridger]

Don't spuds suck a lot more water out the ground than grass? I know the 2 drills I have at the back of the hedge are dry but the rest of the same field that's in grass is like putty and was only just dry enough to roll ruts in after a dry week.

They would use more water when they are growing, but ours would be in drier ground to start with so they are fairly well dried out now , whereas the grass on the lower down ground next to the river has more water than it needs

 

[M-J-G]

Has anyone who is suggesting tedding got any experience of wet ground? Tedding is the last thing you do. The ground isn't going to dry if it's all covered in grass and the grass isn't going to dry if it's sitting on wet ground so all you're doing by tedding is increasing soil contamination and making a mess.

Not to mention that once you ted it you have to drive on top of it to do anything else with it.
Tedding would be crazy, as would raking.

 

[M-J-G]

I think the water table hasn't really gone down this year. But then on the potato side, that north wind has sucked out a lot of moisture from the drills so it's hard to win. Suppose the potatoes are on better land to start with though

Bare soil dries fast, particularly if it's windy because they drying occurs round the clock, whereas the sun only dries during daylight hours.