Too all the hay gurus out their

[BryanM]

My question is how do you decide to cut, now I know that sounds dumb I know when your crop is mature but weather side of it. Do you look for 4 days with 0% chance of rain? which I can never find in northwest ohio. For example would you cut with 1st day 10% pop 2nd day 40% in evening from 6 too 9 pop then 3rd 20% 4th 10%.

When and how much do you gamble? weither its 3 acres or 33 acres. And what weather report do you go buy?

 

[slowzuki]

I check 3 different weather services and watch the radar. I look for 2 exceptional drying days or 3 decent days. I never cut if the pop is over 30% because our area that means 100%.

I'm more brave on the first day as rain on fresh cut hay doesn't seem to harm it at all, can't really get wetter. Day two or three though I'm really picky. Its humid here so I can't have overcast at all or it won't dry.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

It all depends. I cut today with a chance for sprinkles today and tomorrow and a 30% chance of rain Sunday night. I don't have too much option though as the longer the hay stands in the field the worst it is as it needs to be cut and should have been cut a week ago. I still have another 35 acres to go though.

 

[farmerjim]

i'm like slowzuki check the weather constantly and atleast 2 sources for my area usually the local guys and the noaa. i prefer to have atleast a 3 day or better stretch of good weather try for sunny days and a slight breeze, as if theres any humidity it takes a bit longer to dry. if its been wet/rainy ,like we have out here in the new england lately i would let it stand and dry out b4 i cut, because you will have major headaches if its still wet and you go try to cut depending on your eq., when i worked at a dairy we had high hp tractors and big mowers so they would easily cut wet layed down grass, but for my eq older tractors and a sickle mower forget it. personally i prefer to cut either early evening or mid morning, and thats what we also did at the dairy, seems that their forage analysis they had done gave them good results by cutting at those times, there are many articles about when to cut do a search and you will see whats out there. also if the weather is a bit iffy i'll cut a small chunk at a time and see how it pans out, that way atleast you if you have a break down or rain your not running like a chicken w/ out its head to get everything in b4 the next weather pattern. i'm in a holding position now as i write this been raining for the last few weeks, and we haven't cut anything yet like just about everyone else in my area. i'd say i'm about a week- 2 behind at this point everything is starting to head out, which will mean going balls to the wall if the weather clears mid week like they say, thankfully i work sun-wed if it does, and if need be take some extra days off.

 

[deereguy]

We look for 3 days or more of dry weather for grass/clover and 4+ days for alfalfa/clover/timothy hay. We cut 25 acres of the alfalfa mix on a Thursday afternoon, it sprinkled on it that night- no biggy. It was 12%-20% in the windrow, 30%+ baled on Sunday, decided to wait 1 more day. Monday morning we got 1/4" rain + hail (weather said 20% chance), tried to ted, rake, and bale late Monday but made things worse. So I opened up the bales, spread them out and rebaled two days later after it dried out. Long story short- it was REALLY nice hay when we cut it but rain as it was drying out did more harm than good but we weren't the only ones with hay down in that window of time. We cut 12 acres of Orchardgrass/clover and got it made in 2 days but we had 10%-20% humidity those few days. You just watch the weather closely and HOPE they are right and having a weather station on the farm helps. If it gets wet- you tried!! Would you rather sell a crop thats over mature (made late) or slighty rained on (but made on time)? We are in west central Ohio so I can feel for ya!!

Good Luck!!

 

[hudsonfarm]

Not that it means any thing but I live on the East coast at a beach area so we frequently we get what we call a chamber of commerce forcast or" it's going to be clear and sunny at the beach bring your wallet for the outlet malls." I go with Noaa weather they have a good website it's what pilots and wildland fire fighters use. But still you never can tell. here an east wind can be as bad as a rain I look for a long forcast nothing over 30 percent hance with a westerly flow for more than 4 days. This year has been real wet here but after the last 5 you won't hear me complain about rain. Some times you have to go or get off the pot.