Hay and rain

[Texas G@l]

After having rain to the west of us Sunday and rain to the east on Monday, we laid down hay yesterday morning. There was a 10% chance of pop up showers in the afternoon. About 4:45 I heard rumble of thunder and checked the radar. Sure enough, there was a small batch of rain headed our way. Talk about a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. :cry2: Here at the house, we had a brief heavy down pour of about 3/10 of an inch. After supper we drove over to hay meadow to look around. The good Lord was looking out for us yet again......barely sprinkle on the hay meadow!

 

[callmefence]

What would be the worst. Getting 3/10 on fresh cut hay, or missing 3/10 on thirsty country... :?: ;-)

 

[Dsth]

I feel the same way when I have hay down. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Hope you get your hay made when it is in good condition. I thought all hay in Texas gets made without any rain. silly me

 

[Rafter S]

What would be the worst. Getting 3/10 on fresh cut hay, or missing 3/10 on thirsty country... :?: ;-)

Yup. As my father said, if you get rain on hay you've got a good chance to make another cutting.

 

[Nesikep]

Around here I haven't gotten any of my first cut off without rain, which is very rare... and I'm a month late getting it off too trying to dodge it

 

[Stickney94]

My experience has been that getting rain on fresh cut or day after cutting results in far better outcomes than rain on hay that is just about cured. ymmv

 

[simme]

If the weather forecast shows a window of opportunity for hay making that is just a little too short, it is better to mow the day before the rain and accept some decrease in quality. As opposed to waiting and letting the grass get too mature. Worse case is more than a sprinkle on hay almost ready to be baled. Worst case is baling too wet trying to beat the rain and having the bales catch fire in the barn or under the tarp. Can happen several weeks after they were baled. One morning you will ask "What is that smell" and later that day the smoke appears. Discouraging when that happens. Making the decision of when to cut and when to bale can be stressful.

 

[TexasBred]

What would be the worst. Getting 3/10 on fresh cut hay, or missing 3/10 on thirsty country... :?: ;-)

Yup. As my father said, if you get rain on hay you've got a good chance to make another cutting.

Always heard getting hay rained on laying down that rained on standing up and going past maturity.
We got a good rain Tuesday (3 3/4 inches) which was a real July blessing. Some areas farther east got as much as 8-10 inches so I heard. Now that's a bit much at one time.

 

[Texasmark]

That's the reason for having a Tedder. If you never used one find someone who has and let them enlighten you on a little critter that is hay salvation......for me anyway. No way could I get a spring crop baled properly without it. I use a 3 pt with the lightest tractor in my corral and sometimes I may tedd 3 times a day. Unless you get a stalled front where it drizzles for several days, you can't tell it got rained on.

 

[Texas G@l]

Speaking of tedders, our friend brought his over this morning to run through the field we laid down on Wednesday . There's rough patches where the hogs have been rooting. He ended up bending the drive shaft when a pin came loose and the tongue dug in the ground before he could shut it all down. If
it's not one thing , it's at least a half dozen others. I told my husband no one was hurt , we'll get it baled at some point in time and the cows haven't got out after the city folks neighbor's contractor tore down some fence with his equipment and didn't tell us. I found chewed up fence Wednesday evening. Then the contractor finally "fixed" it late yesterday..... half be nice sort of fixed it. We'll have to rework the repair before turning cows back in that pasture. It's always something.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Around here I haven't gotten any of my first cut off without rain, which is very rare... and I'm a month late getting it off too trying to dodge it

I know this for sure. “Can’t bale it if you don’t cut it!” Sometimes you just gotta go with it

 

[Nesikep]

Around here I haven't gotten any of my first cut off without rain, which is very rare... and I'm a month late getting it off too trying to dodge it

I know this for sure. “Can’t bale it if you don’t cut it!” Sometimes you just gotta go with it

it does keep growing though, just the quality goes down a bit.. Oh well, I made 918 bales off 9 acres last night, selling it for $7.50 USD each.. not too shabby..

 

[Dave]

Lots of hay down in the valley right now. We haven't had any rain in two weeks. Right now it is 98 degrees with a light wind and the humidity is at 15%. Hay is drying out quick, so is everything else.

 

[Nesikep]

Now that I'm done my haying, it looks like we're going to get some good weather

 

[Texas G@l]

Hay was baled late yesterday afternoon AND I woke to a nice steady rain this morning!