1982vett":1c2jeqfw said:
Windrows rolled up like ropes bale better than fluffy, lumpy windrows. Hay should be dry before raking and raked only once. Weather sometimes has a way of making you do things differently.
Have no experience with alflafa which might be the exception because of leaf shatter.
That is one of the biggest misconceptions about making hay out there... "Hay should be dry before raking" WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!
Hay should be at 50% moisture when raked for the highest quality and to minimize sunbleaching and weathering. 50% moisture is basically when it's wilted flat. I'm near Houston and with our 95-100 degree days during most of the hay season here, with average conditions and average grass hay, if you cut in the early afternoon one day, it will be ready to rake 24 hours later. If the hay is light, the temps are pushing 100 or the grass is dry from drought, you can rake the next morning and be fine. I've had some unusual conditions of high heat and dry conditions where I cut at 8-11 am and raked at 6 pm the same day. Basically, if any of the stems are still sticking up from the windrow, or leaves sticking up, it's still above 50% moisture and should dry more before raking. If the leaves and tops of the stems are laying flat on the swath or ground, it's time to rake. The hay should still be a bright green color, but not glossy like fresh grass; you want that flat green wilted look. Raking at this moisture level preserves the most leaves and minimizes shattering, and moves the hay into the windrow where it will continue to dry down. It also puts the hay on top of the swath, which has had the most sun and drying exposure, into the middle of the windrow and exposes the underside of the swath and stems which have been shaded underneath to the outside of the windrow for more even drying, and prevents over exposing the tender leaves and upper part of the cut forage to excessive sun bleaching which destroys carotene and reduces the nutritional quality of the hay. The harder to dry stems are exposed on the outside of the windrow and get more sun and wind to speed drying. (At least this is true with a rolabar rake; wheel rakes tend to sweep the hay together in a more random manner). The purpose of raking is really to get the hay up into a windrow so it can continue to dry with the minimum amount of sun exposure possible. Wind drying the hay does no harm, but sun bleaching from UV rays breaks down carotene, many nutrients, and reduces quality. The best hay should have a good solid green color when it's baled; it should not look like gold wheat straw that has baked flat under the Great Plains sun for a couple months! Yet time and again, I see guys growing beautiful fertilized bermuda hay, or spotlessly clean bahia or other grass hay, who then cut it and let it burn to a crispy golden brown on the field for 4-5 days before they'll run the rake right ahead of the baler, by which time the damage is done! In our conditions, it takes about another 24 hours after raking before it's down around 12-14 percent moisture and ready for baling. We generally cut the first day, rake the second day, and bale the third day, and lemme tell you, once you see the result you'll never let it set and burn again. I can unroll a bale in January, reach down and pick up a handful of beautiful green grass hay, twist it and smell it, and it's as fresh as the day it was cut, beautiful and sweet smelling like cured tobacco. The cows just love it!
Hay is the highest quality it will ever be the moment you cut it... it's all downhill from there. The real trick, the art and the science, is minimizing that downhill part from the time it's cut until it's in the bale and the bale is in the barn or storage. (Quote from a book I have on haying) I would add also minimizing the loss from the time it's cut until it's in the cow's gut... OL JR
