Where does it go?

[cfpinz]

Alright, this blows my mind. You have two identical hay fields, A and B, right next to each other. Same acreage, same forage, same soil, same fertilizer, etc... Farmer Bob cuts fields A and B on Monday morning, comes back and tedds them that evening. Rakes and bales field A on Tuesday evening, runs out of daylight before he can do B. Rains Wednesday and Thursday. Tedds field B on Friday and rakes/bales on Saturday. Field B yields significantly lower than A, where did the volume go? :?:

cfpinz

 

[hayray]

Alright, this blows my mind. You have two identical hay fields, A and B, right next to each other. Same acreage, same forage, same soil, same fertilizer, etc... Farmer Bob cuts fields A and B on Monday morning, comes back and tedds them that evening. Rakes and bales field A on Tuesday evening, runs out of daylight before he can do B. Rains Wednesday and Thursday. Tedds field B on Friday and rakes/bales on Saturday. Field B yields significantly lower than A, where did the volume go? :?:

cfpinz

For every day the hay sits in the field you loose a few percentage points of biomass through respiration and decomposition, that is why the dairy guys who put up hay as quick as they can, you don't want it to sit too long. Then once wilted hay gets rained on you loose a lot more percentage of the plant. Tedding looses an easy 10% of the hay, and then tedding wilted and rained on hay you might as well bump that up way over that. At that point the subsequent baling of field B would probably cause another 5 - 10% loss from leaf shatter because at that point the leaves are real fragile. So it is a good question that is easily explained and there are plenty of extension bulletins available on this subject. Bad raking can loose a good 10% also so you should be carefull with that.

Ray

 

[msscamp]

You have two identical hay fields, A and B, right next to each other. ...........same soil, same fertilizer, etc...
cfpinz

Due to microclimates, hay fields are rarely identical to each other. That can make all the difference in the world, even with the same forage, same fertilizer, etc.

 

[cfpinz]

hayray - Thanks. Very good explanation. Makes sense.

msscamp - You mean we're not living in a perfect world?

cfpinz

 

[sidney411]

Bad raking can loose a good 10% also so you should be carefull with that.

Can you please explain this. We just started baling our own hay last year and I sure don't want to be losing 10% because I'm raking it wrong :shock:

 

[farmerjohn]

Bad raking can loose a good 10% also so you should be carefull with that.

Can you please explain this. We just started baling our own hay last year and I sure don't want to be losing 10% because I'm raking it wrong :shock:

If you are baling alfalfa or some other legume, you can have baling loses. You can rake it when their is a slight dew on it, which helps. also rake it in the same direction that you cut it.
With grass hay, don't worry about it. Your only loss is what you either miss raking or the baler doesn't pick up.

 

[hayray]

Bad raking can loose a good 10% also so you should be carefull with that.

Can you please explain this. We just started baling our own hay last year and I sure don't want to be losing 10% because I'm raking it wrong :shock:

Things you should do to minimize leaf loss is to not rake hay when it is too dry, start in the morning when the dew is coming off. Also try not to move the hay any further than you need to, meaning only flip with the rake, not roll the windrow completely. Also the speed at which the rake hits the swath will determine how much shatter you have, this is controlled by ground speed of the rake and also the speed at which the rake is spinning or rotating independent of ground speed. Hope this helps.

 

[dcara]

Due to microclimates, hay fields are rarely identical to each other. That can make all the difference in the world, even with the same forage, same fertilizer, etc.

Msscamp
Can you refer me to the research, papers, articles, etc. where you heard/read of this microclimate thing please.

 

[Hasbeen]

Due to microclimates, hay fields are rarely identical to each other. That can make all the difference in the world, even with the same forage, same fertilizer, etc.

Msscamp
Can you refer me to the research, papers, articles, etc. where you heard/read of this microclimate thing please.

Try this: http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/artic ... imates.htm

I've always found these interesting. Ever be walking along, usually in the afternoon or evening, and walk into a cool pocket of air sometimes no more than 4-5 steps across?

 

[dcara]

I guess I'd never thought of it from a horticultural aspect as detailed in the reference you posted. Certainly bushes grow better on one side of my house than the other due to their different environments (ie. Sun in the morning vs. sun in the afternoon). This may be a matter of semantics but my understanding of “climate” was that it was the annual average of atmospheric conditions such as temperature, humidity, rainfall etc.. Environments are the combination of climate and other factors such as terrain, type of soil, shade, other competing plants, trees, buildings, streams, drainage, etc. Hence I think microenvironment would be a more accurate term than microclimate. Either way I'm sure thats a detail that the University forage test stations have to pay attention to when they are comparing production of different forages acerages. Thanks for the reference.