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<blockquote data-quote="cowtrek" data-source="post: 276138" data-attributes="member: 2847"><p>I'll throw this in from an old haying book I have from the 60's, but it's just as true today as it was then and as it will always be: </p><p>Hay is the highest quality it will ever be the moment it's cut. Quality starts to deteriorate from the moment it's cut to the moment it's fed. It's minimizing that deterioration that makes the difference between 'feed' hay and bad hay. </p><p></p><p>You can have the best fertilized weed free perfect stand of bermudagrass (or alfalfa or whatever) at the perfect stage of growth, optimum protien, TDN, ADF, etc. and if you fumble the ball during haymaking end up with a product inferior to well-handled prairie hay. Once the cutting has begun it's a race to get it put up properly in the best way possible. How well you manage haymaking is just as important as having an excellent stand to cut to begin with. That said, the old computer saying "garbage in garbage out" still applies, as you can't make hay that is any better than what you start with when you cut and if it's over mature, weedy, etc. that is going to limit how good it will be from the start, BUT you can take 'perfect' bermuda (or anything else) and screw it up so bad you've got cardboard in the end anyway. </p><p></p><p>I see a lot of guys (practically all) around here cut beautiful fertilized sprayed bermuda pastures and then leave it laying flat in the sun for up to a week, sometimes more, before they'll ever even rake it, let alone bale it. Most guys want to run the rake right ahead of the baler. This is wrong in our climate. Further north where the sun is not so intense and the drying conditions take longer it's better to leave it flat in the swath. But when it's in the high 90's and the sun heats you like a furnace, most hay won't take but 3 days to be ready for round baling. The book I have says that hay should be raked at 50% moisture-- that's about the equivalent of just wilted flat, but still bright green or JUST starting to turn from bright shiny green to the duller flat green. Usually this works out to cutting one day, raking the next day, and it's dried enough in the windrow to be ready for baling the third day. Put it in a windrow raked right so the stems are out and you protect most of your leaves from sunburn, which causes the carotene in the leaves to turn to Vitamin D which is worth a lot less to the cow nutritionally. Hay should be a good green color when it is properly baled. But I still see most of the guys cut bermuda and let it roast until it's as gold as wheat straw before they'll bale it. It's what I call 'cardboard hay'. Most guys will pay any price for it because 'it's fertilized bermuda' but it's been so mishandled I'd put my plain prairie hay up against it for quality. Just goes to show most guys don't really know what they're looking at or for when they buy hay. </p><p></p><p>Hay WILL continue to dry in the windrow, how much depends on local conditions. Farther north it will dry less in the windrow than it will in the swath, but here in this heat and with the burning heat of the sun, it will dry almost as quickly in the windrow as in the swath, but in the swath only the grass on top is getting the full sunburn effect; the hay inside and on bottom of the windrow is shaded and drying but will stay bright green. In the swath it will nearly ALL turn brown from sunburn before it's raked. That green color is the quickest way to spot 'good' hay. Yes, raking it into windrows a day early exposes you to the risk it'll get rained on, and yes I'd rather have it flat in the swath than in a windrow if it's going to get rained on, but the quality is far more at risk from sunburn than getting a rain or shower on it in the windrow. That's where watching the weather (not the weatherman necessarily), luck, and the Lord come into play in getting it cut and in the bale before it gets rained on. For the first time in about 2-3 years, I had some rained on this year in the windrow. It took me two more trips with the rake around the windrows with the rolabar rake, one to spread the windrow out and one to roll it back over again after it dried. Was the quality as good as if it hadn't been rained on; no of course not. But hay the neighbor cut the same day and left out there a week that was rained on CERTAINLY wasn't better! </p><p></p><p>Storage is another way that even 'perfect' hay put up under ideal conditions can turn to crap or suffer major losses. I see guys stacking round bales round side to round side like beer cans in a case and that's wrong too. Water runs down in between and rots the sides. Bales should ALWAYS be flat end to flat end and adjacent rows have at least a foot between for moisture and air movement. I put mine on pallets. Wish I had a barn but I don't. I'm thinking about double stacking and tarping too, but I'm not sure if it's worth it since I feed most of my hay out every year and only carry over 10 or 15 bales at most and feed those first the next fall. </p><p></p><p>Anyway, don't overlook how hay is handled after it's cut. That's at least as important as how it was handled before it was cut. JMHO OL JR <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="cowtrek, post: 276138, member: 2847"] I'll throw this in from an old haying book I have from the 60's, but it's just as true today as it was then and as it will always be: Hay is the highest quality it will ever be the moment it's cut. Quality starts to deteriorate from the moment it's cut to the moment it's fed. It's minimizing that deterioration that makes the difference between 'feed' hay and bad hay. You can have the best fertilized weed free perfect stand of bermudagrass (or alfalfa or whatever) at the perfect stage of growth, optimum protien, TDN, ADF, etc. and if you fumble the ball during haymaking end up with a product inferior to well-handled prairie hay. Once the cutting has begun it's a race to get it put up properly in the best way possible. How well you manage haymaking is just as important as having an excellent stand to cut to begin with. That said, the old computer saying "garbage in garbage out" still applies, as you can't make hay that is any better than what you start with when you cut and if it's over mature, weedy, etc. that is going to limit how good it will be from the start, BUT you can take 'perfect' bermuda (or anything else) and screw it up so bad you've got cardboard in the end anyway. I see a lot of guys (practically all) around here cut beautiful fertilized sprayed bermuda pastures and then leave it laying flat in the sun for up to a week, sometimes more, before they'll ever even rake it, let alone bale it. Most guys want to run the rake right ahead of the baler. This is wrong in our climate. Further north where the sun is not so intense and the drying conditions take longer it's better to leave it flat in the swath. But when it's in the high 90's and the sun heats you like a furnace, most hay won't take but 3 days to be ready for round baling. The book I have says that hay should be raked at 50% moisture-- that's about the equivalent of just wilted flat, but still bright green or JUST starting to turn from bright shiny green to the duller flat green. Usually this works out to cutting one day, raking the next day, and it's dried enough in the windrow to be ready for baling the third day. Put it in a windrow raked right so the stems are out and you protect most of your leaves from sunburn, which causes the carotene in the leaves to turn to Vitamin D which is worth a lot less to the cow nutritionally. Hay should be a good green color when it is properly baled. But I still see most of the guys cut bermuda and let it roast until it's as gold as wheat straw before they'll bale it. It's what I call 'cardboard hay'. Most guys will pay any price for it because 'it's fertilized bermuda' but it's been so mishandled I'd put my plain prairie hay up against it for quality. Just goes to show most guys don't really know what they're looking at or for when they buy hay. Hay WILL continue to dry in the windrow, how much depends on local conditions. Farther north it will dry less in the windrow than it will in the swath, but here in this heat and with the burning heat of the sun, it will dry almost as quickly in the windrow as in the swath, but in the swath only the grass on top is getting the full sunburn effect; the hay inside and on bottom of the windrow is shaded and drying but will stay bright green. In the swath it will nearly ALL turn brown from sunburn before it's raked. That green color is the quickest way to spot 'good' hay. Yes, raking it into windrows a day early exposes you to the risk it'll get rained on, and yes I'd rather have it flat in the swath than in a windrow if it's going to get rained on, but the quality is far more at risk from sunburn than getting a rain or shower on it in the windrow. That's where watching the weather (not the weatherman necessarily), luck, and the Lord come into play in getting it cut and in the bale before it gets rained on. For the first time in about 2-3 years, I had some rained on this year in the windrow. It took me two more trips with the rake around the windrows with the rolabar rake, one to spread the windrow out and one to roll it back over again after it dried. Was the quality as good as if it hadn't been rained on; no of course not. But hay the neighbor cut the same day and left out there a week that was rained on CERTAINLY wasn't better! Storage is another way that even 'perfect' hay put up under ideal conditions can turn to crap or suffer major losses. I see guys stacking round bales round side to round side like beer cans in a case and that's wrong too. Water runs down in between and rots the sides. Bales should ALWAYS be flat end to flat end and adjacent rows have at least a foot between for moisture and air movement. I put mine on pallets. Wish I had a barn but I don't. I'm thinking about double stacking and tarping too, but I'm not sure if it's worth it since I feed most of my hay out every year and only carry over 10 or 15 bales at most and feed those first the next fall. Anyway, don't overlook how hay is handled after it's cut. That's at least as important as how it was handled before it was cut. JMHO OL JR :) [/QUOTE]
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