Hay's DONE - yeah!!!

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

We're finished with first cutting. We put it all up as baleage, inline wrapped. 55 acres hayfields, and about 8 acres pasture. Bales were all about 56" x 4' (usually 4 x 4's but computer was messing up with size). Hope I don't have trouble this winter picking them up :shock:
Started cutting on Saturday at 1PM - put up 196 by 9PM that night. Started up again on Wed 10am and put up 200 bales that day. Yesterday, finished up with 194. Total 490. This was the most 1st cutting we ever got. Hay was headed out but not in bloom yet, so highest yield with great quality.
I load the wrapper (use a skidsteer) - man was I dragging butt last night.
We don't own any hay equipment. Hire a neighbor/friend - been doing our hay for maybe 18 years. Just him & a 16 year old boy & ME!! (Hubby also helped - did about 1/3 to 1/2 of the mowing with friends haybine).
Great job DONE!!!

 

[Muratic]

Folks around here have troubles with mice getting into the wrap between the bales and spoiling the hay. Do you set the line on concrete? How do you contain the mud around the line.

I'm not a fan of this process, just because I see the problems the neighbors have. Course, half of them are amish and hard headed.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Not sure what you mean by "between the bales". This is "inline" wrapped - not tubed. If mice or anything makes a hole - there is slight spoilage just at the actual hole.
This is a "cool" cure process - no air. Bales are made really tight, and wrap is stretched tight around the bales so they do not "breath".
We use the same area (for 18+ years) - no concrete (boy do I wish!!!) Lines are about 2 feet apart, heading uphill. Most of the hay is fed with ground frozen & snow covered. When it is thawed (in spring) I may get some ruts (only have 2-wheel drive tractor, so gotta be real careful) but I try to take off furthest side during frozen ground & leave the closest ones for mud season.
In NY, either you put up haylage or baleage if you want to get it cut & put up early - without being "washed" several times. Takes at least 3 days of drying weather to put up dry bales and we are hard pressed to get 3 days IN A ROW. Don't get me wrong, there are some dry small bales getting made, but more hay will get rained on than not.
With the baleage, I don't care if it is cloudy or raining, we still put it up - unless it's downpouring & can't get the equipment over the fields. I have wrapped many bales with a raincoat on !!!

 

[milkmaid]

Congrats on getting that hay in. I got the last of my first crop in last night - all dry hay, small bales - and I wouldn't mind having the rain back now. :lol: Otherwise I have to go lay out those sprinkler pipes and I can't say as I enjoy that too much.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

What a great feeling - knowing hay is DONE

 

[Saltydawg]

I've still got 2 fields left to do...bout 30 acres.

I do small square bales though.

Would have had it done already if the weather would cooperate........grrrrr.

 

[rkm]

We seem to be getting nowhere with our hay. Can't get those three days of dry weather. Rained here today, calling for heavyrain tomorrow and a chance of rain for next five days. It would be a good year to make balage like Jeanne, but we are not geared up for it. But the hay is getting old so we are going to stop putting our toes in the water and dive in. :shock:

 

[hayray]

[So thats' how you got your first cutting done already. I am baling all dry here and having a hard time at it. Only have the first hundred acres done and that has been a battle so far, have 200 hundred more to go.

 

[Saltydawg]

We seem to be getting nowhere with our hay. Can't get those three days of dry weather. Rained here today, calling for heavyrain tomorrow and a chance of rain for next five days. It would be a good year to make balage like Jeanne, but we are not geared up for it. But the hay is getting old so we are going to stop putting our toes in the water and dive in. :shock:

Same situation here.

I have some oats that are ready to come down and the hayfields i have left should have been cut last week,,,,friggin weather won't make up it's mind.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

rkm - we don't own ANY hay equipment. Hire it all done. For the amount of hay we put up, does not pencil out to own our own. All first cutting put up wet - try to put up 2nd cutting dry - big bales. We buy around 300-400 small square bales (wagon loads out of fields) for our show cattle that are in the barn and for our cows for the short time period that they are in the barn during calving. That way we can pick good hay that hasn't gotten rained on.
Got 3 INCHES yesterday & last night :shock: not raining at the moment, but calling for heavy rain again this afternoon. Now, rain doesn't stop up from haying (baleage) but this much might make some serious ruts in the fields :shock:
Actually, we should have enough for our winter feed now - without 2nd cutting (if we get any - haven't gotten any last two years because of dry weather - grazed what little grew).

 

[Saltydawg]

So we finally get a break from the rain up here and I think I'm gonna get the last of the first cutting finished.
Bout 3/4 through the field of oats i get a rear flat tire .

A gash in the sidewall about 4 inches long so there's no patching it.

I hobbled it back to the garage using tanks of air. Tire man came out and of course didn't have any 18.4-30's in stock so had to order one.

Should be up and running again tomorrow.

2 days lost time and can't wait to get the bill for the tire :roll: .

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Salty - sorry about that.
Couldn't believe the weather man actually predicted 5 full days of NO RAIN - and it's been dry the past 4 or 5 days. :shock: That's quite a feat for NY
For those not in our area, my farm got 4.5 inches in 3 days last week - but areas East of us had major severe flooding. Washed out a huge hole in a highway and two truckers (coming from opposite directions) fell in & were killed. Heard on radio yesterday that they found the one that had been missing and also just found the trailer - 2 miles down the river.
I realize there are areas that get more rain in one downpour, but here in the land of "big hills" and valleys & lots of WATER (creeks, rivers, lakes) - flooding happens real easy & quick.
One of our Simmental members that is hosting our picnic/meeting has a herd of Elk. He saw his bull Elks float away! Luckily they survived & RETURNED home on their own, in the exact same location that they floated away. Amazing.

 

[rkm]

Jeanne, we had 7 inches of rain here but we just lost some fences have lot of junk and logs to remove from one pasture. A lot of folks lost everything. One neighbor lost his entire crop, [200 acres of corn and 100 acres of soy beans, plus his round bales floated down the river.] Old timers said they never seen it flood this bad.

 

[BoumaticWonders]

how are people liking the inline wrapping? How does it work when you open a tube do you have to feed all of the bales out right away or they start to rot? Or I would think if they are already ensiled they just need to be covered. I've always wondered if you had to feed them out right away after opening.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

rkm - you must be east of us - saw lots of damage last weekend when we went to Cherry Valley for our meeting. Crop fields wiped clean.
BW - in-line wrapped bales do not "breath" when you "open" them. Actually, we don't cap the ends. If I have any dry bales, we put one one in front of the wet ones and/or last on the line. If you don't do anything, the first & last bale will turn pretty much to "mush". The cure process is called "a cold cure". If put up properly, the bales do not have any oxygen - so they don't heat at all. After 30 days, you can open the line & feed. During the hot summer, the end bale that is exposed, may get bad if left unused for a long time, but the rest keep "forever".
This is different than the "tube" lines. The newer versions of the tubes are better than they used to be. It used to be, if a mouse ate a hole in the tube, the whole "bag" breathed and spoiled all of them. Now, I think they are much tighter - which wouldn't allow the row to "breath" thru a hole.
With the In-Line, they are each WRAPPED on the round edge and each bale is pushed up so tight against the next one, there isn't any air between them.
Hope the made sense.
We've been having ours put up this way for about 18 years. They will keep into the next year, if left over.

 

[milkmaid]

So Jeanne, what's the difference between in-line and tube lines? not quite sure I understand.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Tube lines - a large "bag" or tube made out of plastic is pulled over a line of wet bales. It's one big bag.
In Line -

There are rolls of plastic on the large reel, that goes around & around the bales - while a ram is pushing the wrapper forward, making the wraps about 4 inches apart. So when you're done, you have about 5 layers of plasic wrap over each part of the bale. Well, over the round outside - not the flat ends. The ends are pushed tight against each other - no air allowed.
The wrapped bales are stationary, the wrapper is pushing itself uphill. Hard to picture - but in the picture, the wrapper's back end is a ramp down to the ground. As the bales are wrapped & pushed they gradually end up on the ground.
I'm not making much sense. As the wet bale is being pushed by a hydrolic ram, it forces the wrapper to roll up hill and the bales are wrapped & deposited on the ground in one big line.
The picture is me in my tractor loading bales, but normally, I load them with a skidsteer - much easier and faster to operate!!! and much easier on my "clutch" leg.