Wet hay or mature hay?

[kenny thomas]

We have been getting rain at least every two days and sometimes it rains for several days in a row. Not enough to flood but enough so I can't put up hay. Several neighbors have been cutting and sometimes it is down more than a week before it gets rolled.
What are your thoughts on which is worse, hay that has been rained on a few times or mature hay.
By the way I will have a lot more when I get it rolled than I can possibly use. Not much of selling it either as most everyone will have extra.

 

[Caustic Burno]

We have been getting rain at least every two days and sometimes it rains for several days in a row. Not enough to flood but enough so I can't put up hay. Several neighbors have been cutting and sometimes it is down more than a week before it gets rolled.
What are your thoughts on which is worse, hay that has been rained on a few times or mature hay.
By the way I will have a lot more when I get it rolled than I can possibly use. Not much of selling it either as most everyone will have extra.

That is a way of life here. The main thing I have learned is not to rake it or tedder it until you roll the baler in the field.
Hay laying on the ground cut a few days getting rained on is not hurt, you will loose some protien that is easily solved.
Just don't get in a hurry and bale it wet as it will produce a white mold that can cause abortions.
I have had hay lay on the ground a couple of weeks before being dry enough to bale.

 

[cfpinz]

You can't bale it standing up.

I've rolled 300 rolls so far, not one of them has been baled without getting wet.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I personally would rather have mature hay then wet hay as would most of my customers

I also agree with CB don't run a tedder on it until you are sure you can get it baled without getting it wet if it is in the windrow it won't get as damaged as much as it will if it is spread out

 

[dun]

I personally would rather have mature hay then wet hay as would most of my customers

I also agree with CB don't run a tedder on it until you are sure you can get it baled without getting it wet if it is in the windrow it won't get as damaged as much as it will if it is spread out

And I'm just the opposite. I run the tedder over it so that the stuff on the bottom can get some air rather then trun to slime.

 

[plumber_greg]

I too, would rather have mature than rained on. Many times around here if its raining and we can't hay, the undergrowth is coming back, such as the clovers, and waiting can make some of the loss up. gs

 

[Angus Cowman]

I personally would rather have mature hay then wet hay as would most of my customers

I also agree with CB don't run a tedder on it until you are sure you can get it baled without getting it wet if it is in the windrow it won't get as damaged as much as it will if it is spread out

And I'm just the opposite. I run the tedder over it so that the stuff on the bottom can get some air rather then trun to slime.

I should also add that if it gets wet 2 or 3 times all you are really doing by baling it is just getting it off the field cause it sure doesn't have much value but filler

 

[Caustic Burno]

I agree on the filler part but I can make up the protien I still need the 30 pounds of hay to fill them up.
Every region has different grasses we are mainly Bahia here, the problem I have run into is it becomes brittle and breaks after drying out making it more difficult to bale. The less raking the better.

 

[TexasBred]

I personally would rather have mature hay then wet hay as would most of my customers

I also agree with CB don't run a tedder on it until you are sure you can get it baled without getting it wet if it is in the windrow it won't get as damaged as much as it will if it is spread out

And I'm just the opposite. I run the tedder over it so that the stuff on the bottom can get some air rather then trun to slime.

I should also add that if it gets wet 2 or 3 times all you are really doing by baling it is just getting it off the field cause it sure doesn't have much value but filler

The same applies to standing grass that has grown well past "prime". Every day it stands it becomes less and less digestible and you end up feeding trash. Try it both ways and test samples from each. The hay that was rained on may have lost a little protein but will probably still test higher than the other and will be much more digestible.

 

[1982vett]

Got me thinking about some I baled several years ago (couldn't have been lately :lol: ). I waited for drier weather to cut some bermuda. It went about 3-4 weeks past prime cutting time and was really coarse. AND it ended up getting rained on several times anyway. Cows really had to be hungry (hungrier than they should be) to eat it. They didn't particularly care for what I did get bailed before having to stop. Remains of the wet stuff are still in the gullies and washouts I stuck it in. Rarely ever had problems getting them to eat something that got wet and was cut at the correct time.

I don't know where it is, but at one time I had a chart that showed a "nutrient/digestibility loss curve" of both hay cut at the correct time and rained on, and hay that was left standing waiting for better weather before cutting. The longer out you had to go for "better hay weather" the more you lost to digestibility so at some point it would be better to have cut and gotten it wet. (course that is subject to how wet and for how long)

 

[TSR]

Got me thinking about some I baled several years ago (couldn't have been lately :lol: ). I waited for drier weather to cut some bermuda. It went about 3-4 weeks past prime cutting time and was really coarse. AND it ended up getting rained on several times anyway. Cows really had to be hungry (hungrier than they should be) to eat it. They didn't particularly care for what I did get bailed before having to stop. Remains of the wet stuff are still in the gullies and washouts I stuck it in. Rarely ever had problems getting them to eat something that got wet and was cut at the correct time.

I don't know where it is, but at one time I had a chart that showed a "nutrient/digestibility loss curve" of both hay cut at the correct time and rained on, and hay that was left standing waiting for better weather before cutting. The longer out you had to go for "better hay weather" the more you lost to digestibility so at some point it would be better to have cut and gotten it wet. (course that is subject to how wet and for how long)

And of course the quicker you get it cut the quicker the second cutting arrives. With alfalfa one year I lost a cutting because I was waiting for better weather to arrive.

 

[Dave]

A lot of the old timers around here never tried to make hay before the 4th of July. That is because of our dependable rain. they made some terrible over ripe hay. Now, most people here have bought a wrapper and gone to making haylage out of the first cutting. So the solution is buy a wrapper and make haylage. It is great feed. The cows love it. Don't worry about the cost of a wrapper, it is only money.

 

[Angus Cowman]

The same applies to standing grass that has grown well past "prime". Every day it stands it becomes less and less digestible and you end up feeding trash. Try it both ways and test samples from each. The hay that was rained on may have lost a little protein but will probably still test higher than the other and will be much more digestible.

With fescue as long as you are getting rain it will still be growing some! yes it won't be as good as hay that was cut early but it will still be better than hay that got wet and tedded 3 or 4 times
as of right now the seeds are just starting to start to let go on the fescue and OG here and the clover still has about 70% of its bloom

 

[novaman]

I'm getting into this predicament myself. Alfalfa should be laying on the ground right now but they are talking rain through the weekend. I love the rain as everything looks awesome around here. Not every year I can say that. However, I need to get some quality hay up. I need every advantage I can get and over mature hay sure ain't going to make milk. Same thing happened last year but I managed 145 RFV with 19% protein despite being fairly bloomed and rained on a bit in the windrow. I'm hoping to get it down as soon as this rain passes and get the second cut going. Starting the think Dave may be right with the whole wrapper thing. I just usually never have this problem. I live in a semi-arid climate for cripes sake!

 

[TexasBred]

I'm getting into this predicament myself. Alfalfa should be laying on the ground right now but they are talking rain through the weekend. I love the rain as everything looks awesome around here. Not every year I can say that. However, I need to get some quality hay up. I need every advantage I can get and over mature hay sure ain't going to make milk. Same thing happened last year but I managed 145 RFV with 19% protein despite being fairly bloomed and rained on a bit in the windrow. I'm hoping to get it down as soon as this rain passes and get the second cut going. Starting the think Dave may be right with the whole wrapper thing. I just usually never have this problem. I live in a semi-arid climate for cripes sake!

Sorry hay is sorry hay whether baled or baled, wrapped and ensiled....they just eat the balage a little better because of the high moisture. Do some reading on cellulose and hemicelluose. That's what grass begins developing as it goes farther past prime cutting stage. The more cell and hemicell...the less digestible the hay. They'll eat it, fill up very quickly, digest what is digestible very slowly and lose weight in the process. Not totally unlike comparing wheat hay cut and baled at the proper time and wheat straw baled after combining.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I'm getting into this predicament myself. Alfalfa should be laying on the ground right now but they are talking rain through the weekend. I love the rain as everything looks awesome around here. Not every year I can say that. However, I need to get some quality hay up. I need every advantage I can get and over mature hay sure ain't going to make milk. Same thing happened last year but I managed 145 RFV with 19% protein despite being fairly bloomed and rained on a bit in the windrow. I'm hoping to get it down as soon as this rain passes and get the second cut going. Starting the think Dave may be right with the whole wrapper thing. I just usually never have this problem. I live in a semi-arid climate for cripes sake!

Sorry hay is sorry hay whether baled or baled, wrapped and ensiled....they just eat the balage a little better because of the high moisture. Do some reading on cellulose and hemicelluose. That's what grass begins developing as it goes farther past prime cutting stage. The more cell and hemicell...the less digestible the hay. They'll eat it, fill up very quickly, digest what is digestible very slowly and lose weight in the process. Not totally unlike comparing wheat hay cut and baled at the proper time and wheat straw baled after combining.

correct
but I think what Nova was trying to say is if you wrap it it doesn't matter on the weather because you can cut and bale it when the hay is ready and not have to wait on the weather and let the hay get too mature
atleast that is what I took out of what he was saying as I have considered doing the same thing and getting a wrapper

 

[kenny thomas]

I have not gotten any hay wet in 6 years so I probably am not going to start now. Heck if it keeps raining I may not need any anyway. Just graze all winter.
People here are already wanting to buy extra cows to eat the extra grass and hay next winter.
Giving rain here for the next 7 days.

 

[1982vett]

I have not gotten any hay wet in 6 years so I probably am not going to start now. Heck if it keeps raining I may not need any anyway. Just graze all winter.
People here are already wanting to buy extra cows to eat the extra grass and hay next winter.
Giving rain here for the next 7 days.

:P Probably pretty good way to get it to stop raining.

 

[kenny thomas]

You are right vett, it sure is hard to match the cow numbers to the grass when one year there is a drought and the next it rains every day. Good thing I like going to the market and every cow I own has a sale price if someone wants to buy it.
Looks like you Texans are getting plenty of rain now also.

 

[novaman]

correct
but I think what Nova was trying to say is if you wrap it it doesn't matter on the weather because you can cut and bale it when the hay is ready and not have to wait on the weather and let the hay get too mature
atleast that is what I took out of what he was saying as I have considered doing the same thing and getting a wrapper

Yes that is what I was getting at. I have been considering chopping the afalfa and piling it much like corn silage. Talked to a few producers who have done this in the past and haven't found much positive in it. The other option (besides dry hay) is wrapping the alfalfa. It sounds to be a better option as the crop isn't so finely chopped and provides better effective fiber. Now I just need to find a wrapper and some money lying around :D .