[2pawsfarm]

I couldn’t catch a break on this last cutting and today was the nail in the coffin. I bought a new disc bine that wasn’t setup right and I cut some really thick grass / alfalfa mix with it. Even after checking the rolls they still were not crimping the hay right. I had 4 days to dry it down I figured no big deal. I ended up having the bale the hay 4 days after I cut it , it was really close with massive rain coming I decided I had to bale it , most the bales tested 23-26% some 15-17% not ideal but I figured with it stacked right it would dry down a bit.

Well today I decided I was going to take them out of the barn and sort them and let them dry in the sun. I got caught by a bad weather forecast literally right after I shut the tractor off removing them out of the barn it literally down poured out of the blue at least 1/2” for about 20 mins.

should I just be done with these or is there some brilliant idea to do with these ? Will they even dry ?

 

[MTB98]

Do you know someone who has some cows that would eat those in a few days time?
*Edit- sorry about your luck. I had a similar experience last year with baler problems and the hay was rained on in the field then when I finally got it baled and loaded up to go home it literally poured hurricane like rain for about 20 minutes. It was very disappointing to say the least.

 

[Edd in KY]

A lot of finicky horse people wash their hay to remove the dust...just before they feed it. One day old wet hay is probably OK....5 day old wet hay is mold city..bad news. Feed it to someone's cows ASAP.

 

[MTB98]

A lot of finicky horse people wash their hay to remove the dust...

Horse people are a different breed for sure.

 

[Gearclash]

“If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all."

Let the bales dry out again; they will dry out eventually. Best thing you can do is move the bales around. Moving bales helps disturb the heating that can happen.

 

[RockmartGA]

Depending on how dense the bales are, it may not be as bad as you think. Might want to open one of the bales and see how deep the water penetrated. Spread the bales apart and get some airflow on them. As a general rule of thumb, surface moisture is not as bad as plant moisture.

When I was baling hay, I was fortunate in that I knew an erosion control contractor who would buy "mulch" hay to blow on excavated ground. Sold at a heavy discount, but it got the hay out of my barn. Maintaining my reputation as a quality hay producer was worth the loss (to me).

At the end of the day, you may spend a lot of time trying to salvage the hay only to lose it. We all on HayTalk feel your pain....