11 replies to this topic

[hillbilly hay]

Trying to figure out what weather site to trust. I know ever forecast is a guess. I've been using weatherbug and weather sites. Does anybody use any others? just trying to figure out when to cut and make a decent crop between rains. How long does a stand of alfalfa timothy take to dry in 70 degree weather

[UpNorth]

What's your humidity, I'm guessing pretty high if your trying in betweent the rains. Also where are you located.

[hillbilly hay]

I'm in west central ohio humity is high. One site says rain thursday then 10 percent chance til next wednesday while the other site says same for thurs but 30% starting monday and tuesday then 50% plus after. I'd like to cut it before the timothy is twice as tall as the alfalfa. I'm just not sure. I know i'll cut a little higher to keep it off the ground.I just don't know, i'll prob just check the forecast late thursday night and make a decision.

[UpNorth]

Making this decision is always a role of the dice. I'd look at as many forecasts that are available locally on the tv and then a couple on line and see what the average forecasts between everything is. Also your gut instinct shouldn't be ignore as you are there.

That timothy should help the alfalfa dry down faster than if it was all alfalfa

If you're taking it off as silage a 1 1/2 to 2 day dry window with temps in the 70's and the humidity low should give you a good shot.

If you're taking it off as hay you'll probably need closer to 3-4 days with 70's and low humidity.

Keep in mind you'll need to tedd, rake or merge this once for the silage and probably twice for the hay. I'd do it early in the morning to keep the leaf loss down.

I think you should send a message to Hay Wilson in TX http://www.haytalk.c...y-wilson-in-tx/. He'd give a good opinion on this.

From the sounds of it I'd try to cut as soon as the fields have dried out from the Thursday rain (don't want to rut the fields up) and hope the weather holds.

Like I said this is always a gamble in the spring and I hope you'er able to get it off without it getting rained on.

How many acres are you cutting?

How wide do you lay down your windrows or swaths?

Do you have conditioners on your mower?

Edited by UpNorth, 12 May 2010 - 02:24 PM.

[HayTech1]

National and Local Weather Forecast, Hurricane, Radar and Report
Seems to be the most accurate for me.

[Greasy30]

AccuWeather.com

[UpNorth]

Check out this post below. There's a similar discussion there.

http://www.haytalk.c...y-cutting-1781/

[hillbilly hay]

Upnorth this a 10 acre field. I do run 9ft mower/conditioner and the swaths are about 8.5ft. Thanks to everyone for the help.

[Blue Duck]

Most of the time I trust the local weather on TV as much as anyone and I also use wunderground.com.
I saw a good quote in a farm magazine by Patrick Young
"The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it"

[Mike120]

Welcome to Weather Underground : Weather Underground I like their model maps. Pretty much all of the forecasts I see/hear apply to Houston and not to the area NW of there. The model maps show what they base the forecasts on and I can make my own based on what I see for my area.

[UpNorth]

That should dry pretty quick. Laying the swath at least 75% of cutting width will improve the drying and you're at 94%. If you also have conditioners as well it will dry faster.

[hillbilly hay]

My gut said wait so i did waiting til wednesday with rain coming in monday and early tuesday. If the forecast holds should be good to bale friday or saturday. Thanks again