Best way to ……..

[Southernspeed]

dry hay in humid, heavy dew conditions?
We’ve got the ever present warnings of daily thunderstorms ( but low percentage) and it’s going to be a real feel of over 100 most days this coming week but the dew doesn’t burn off until late morning at best. I’ve just cut ( sickle bar ) some pretty dense mixed grass. Should I let it just lay a day or two ( there’s some very thick areas, looks like bears laying in the field in places!), then start tedding or ted tomorrow then windrow Monday/ Tuesday or … just windrow tomorrow then turn the windrows in a day or so?
Think I covered all options !

 

[Hay Dude]

Welcome to the perplexing world of haying! Not as easy as it looks.
If the weather is unpredictable rain, timing becomes tricky. I would spread the hay out as much as possible when you cut or if you have a tedder, get it spread out. That way if it does rain, it’ll dry again quickly. If the windrows are narrow/tall, heavy rain will soak them and make them hard to spread apart to rescue. I always avoid raking too far ahead if rain is imminent (like that day), since it’s hard to blow-apart raked & soaked windrows. Rake a little, then bale a little. I would avoid raking the whole field, if pop up thunderstorms are in the area.

In your case, if it’s hot & sunny but humid, ted right away then by the 3rd day, you should be able to rake & bale. Do the twist test to determine when it’s time. Hay should break easily.

Don’t worry about a little dew. Dew makes for excellent feed hay so long as it isn’t TOO heavy along with excess humidity. In dry times, dew rolls right into the hay and makes it great!

Do you have a moisture probe? They make a good diagnostic tool. Make a dozen bales and probe them. That can help.

 

[Southernspeed]

Welcome to the perplexing world of haying! Not as easy as it looks.
If the weather is unpredictable rain, timing becomes tricky. I would spread the hay out as much as possible when you cut or if you have a tedder, get it spread out. That way if it does rain, it’ll dry again quickly. If the windrows are narrow/tall, heavy rain will soak them and make them hard to spread apart to rescue. I always avoid raking too far ahead if rain is imminent (like that day), since it’s hard to blow-apart raked & soaked windrows. Rake a little, then bale a little. I would avoid raking the whole field, if pop up thunderstorms are in the area.

In your case, if it’s hot & sunny but humid, ted right away then by the 3rd day, you should be able to rake & bale. Do the twist test to determine when it’s time. Hay should break easily.

Don’t worry about a little dew. Dew makes for excellent feed hay so long as it isn’t TOO heavy along with excess humidity. In dry times, dew rolls right into the hay and makes it great!

Do you have a moisture probe? They make a good diagnostic tool. Make a dozen bales and probe them. That can help.

Thanks for the info. I’ve done two cuts this year ( my first year) and been ridiculously lucky with the weather but these are new conditions for me.
Very heavy dew last night as expected so I’ll let it dry off and ted this afternoon.
I have the agritronix windrow tester which gives good backup to the twist test for a newbie like me!!

 

[Hay Dude]

The twist test, done properly in several areas of your field, is a tried & true way to be certain.
Remember, don’t wait too long. Once the green color is gone, it loses palatability.


Farming with excessive rain separates the men from the boys.

 

[Southernspeed]

Well, I tedded yesterday and was amazed how much the hay had dried. The thicker stand fields were still very green underneath but I thought that one more day like this ( sun, breeze and rf 104 degrees) and the thinner fields can bale.
Then the 10% chance of a storm at 3am turned into rain starting at 11pm last night, getting heavier and heavier ’til a storm hit at 3am then continued raining through 5.30am when it lightened up a bit. Still raining now and supposed to carry on until 11am.
Weather forecasters…… how do they get away with it!!! Getting paid for random guess work that my horse would do better!!
Looks like an afternoon/evening of tedding soggy hay for me

 

[Hay Dude]

Well, I tedded yesterday and was amazed how much the hay had dried. The thicker stand fields were still very green underneath but I thought that one more day like this ( sun, breeze and rf 104 degrees) and the thinner fields can bale.
Then the 10% chance of a storm at 3am turned into rain starting at 11pm last night, getting heavier and heavier ’til a storm hit at 3am then continued raining through 5.30am when it lightened up a bit. Still raining now and supposed to carry on until 11am.
Weather forecasters…… how do they get away with it!!! Getting paid for random guess work that my horse would do better!!
Looks like an afternoon/evening of tedding soggy hay for me

Yep, I have 45 acres down and planned on baling Tuesday, but now pretty heavy rains.

These weather forecasters are awful at their jobs. Sunday (yesterday) I looked at the forecast. Slight chance of a shower Monday at 2PM has turned into heavy rain at 6AM.

Can’t even get it right 12 hours in advance! Dopes!

 

[5030]

The joy of it is beyond comprehension.....lol The way you are going, you might be raking it into the headlands and letting it rot.