[calico190xt]

I had someone give me 4 acres of hay that hadn't been cut yet and it got a 1/2 inch of rain. Normally, I would wait for it to dry and then round bale and depending upon how it looked, either sold as cow hay or burn it. Due to input costs, I don't want to round bale it and move it. Could I rake it and rotary mow it? Could I rotary mow it without being raked? I can't leave it there as is because it is too thick and will kill the grass. Just seeing what others might do in this situation. Thanks.

 

[danwi]

If you leave it even if you shred it you would lower the quality of the next crop. If you can get it dry and round bale it off the field would be best. Unless with the current weather you can't get it dry.

 

[calico190xt]

Thanks for the response. I have rain coming on Thursday and not sure it will be dry by then. If it goes until Thursday and I can't get it, I am looking at 4 out of 5 days of rain after that. If it sits in that field for 10 days rain soaked, it will be a brown mess that I am not sure cows will eat. This is first cutting on this field and not something I was planning on doing. They let it get away from them and it has weeds too.

I am not sure I will get another crop off of it since it is 8/1. I thought about rotary mowing and then waiting a week or so and rotary mowing again to break it up even more. I do have 90 degrees coming for next 2 days so who knows. I can probably have it next year so would want to protect next years crop.

 

[calico190xt]

I also looked at my humidity levels and they don't look good. Tues Daytime 73%,Tues Nighttime 90%, Wed Daytime 69%, Wed Nighttime 83%. There is wind coming on Wednesday that might help. Still looks tough on drying.

 

[ttazzman]

If it were me i would double rotary mow it as you describe maybe triple mow it........especially if you don't expect another cutting this year....if there is a chance of another cutting you need to get it off the field

 

[disenchanted]

If you have a wrapper, use it. You've already cut it, you're willing to rake it and then rotary cut it twice, so you're already prepared to burn the diesel to rake and bale it. All you're out is cost of plastic and a little more equipment depreciation, you can easily cover that in selling wrapped feed quality hay versus mulch or nothing at all.

 

[HayMike]

Mow it, you won't even see it next year.

 

[calico190xt]

My round baler is not a silage special and it will get clogged on damp hay. I bought the wrapper for dry hay and no barn space. If this was not long in the tooth first cutting hay, I might try wrapping. I just hate to see someone open the wrap and see crappy hay.

 

[endrow]

We work hard to rent and we pay rent for extra hay ground. Someone gave it to you free to make?.Is it hay or just a weed patch. Half inch of rain is not the end of the world and , No rain until Thursday. It won't get dry unless you try!

 

[calico190xt]

Reporting back on this. We ended up getting it baled and may be sold. It had a little green underneath. Hay was never really dry despite having 2 days of 90 degrees after rain. The humidity was about 85% both days. First day had no wind. We had to flip it several hours after being raked before we could bale it too. Lots of previous ground moisture contributed to the wetness, I believe. 90 degrees and sunny really surprised me that it had trouble drying. Very thick since it was first cutting in August probably changed the scenario too. It made 12 4x5 bales. Did have some weeds but grass did choke them out and no thistles. On to more third cutting hopefully in 4 days when the rain stops. Thanks for the input guys.