Damp Hay - How?

[scott_vt]

Good Evenin Chet,
Im not sure anyone touched on this point yet, so I will. How did you stack the bales on the bottom of the pile in the barn ? I would suggest stacking the bottom bales on there sides rather than the twine side down, this may help !

BTW I notice your using a sickle mower rather than a haybine, the haybine will crimp the hay enabling a faster dry time !

 

[Brent.Roberts]

we're pretty much at the same stage as you. Started haying about 4 years ago. Hired locals to cut and bale for us. After 3 years of that and burning more hay than we saved for selling we bought our own gear.
Some comments
1) get a moisture meter. you will be amazed at what it says versus what you thought it would say. You need to test from the fastest growing areas of the field ie the wetest. You need to grab a handful from the wetest part of the windrow and wrap it around the tip of the meter where it senses and twist it so it makes good contact with the tips.

After baling, use the meter to probe into the bales in several places. If a bale has a wet spot, set it aside.

2) leaving bales in the fields overnight is not good. If you really need to do that
you should stook them ... that is stand them on end a few feet apart and lean them on each other to minimize contact with the ground.

3) last year I learned to love the acid treatment stuff. My daughter has her own horse farm where she trains horses and riders for eventing. She like many others, did not like the idea of putting proprionic acid in the hay. Horses make proprioninc acid in their gut !!!! When we finally delivered some of our 3rd cut to her, she said it was the best hay she ever had and saved it for the pregnant mares. Using it will allow you to bale wetter. This has two big advantages. First you get more flexibility in the days you select to bale. You can harvest with a shorter window of dry weather. Secondly, when you bale with more moisture, you keep a HUGE amount of additional leaves on. When you see clouds of dust behind the baler, that is the best, most nutritious part of the crop, turning to dust and staying in the field. Just for the fun of it, next time, take an average sample of some of the cut as soon as it is cut and set it aside in a safe protected place to let it dry without being disturbed. Do your drying and baling, then compare what is in a bale with what you set aside.

Hope this helps

 

[chetlenox]

Scott: I have always stacked all the bales wire-side-down for stability. It's probably worth giving it a shot to do the bottom layer on it's side though. The bottom bales were the dampest (is that a word?), with the outside surface that contacts the wood the dampest of the damp. Yeah, we run a sickle bar.

Brent: Yep, the moisture meter is on order. I got an email that it shipped on Friday, so while I probably missed my chance for my 2nd cutting (we are baling tomorrow), it will be here in time for my 3rd. Of course, it will probably be 105 degrees and the hay will cure in 30 minutes for my 3rd cutting in July...

I like the idea of standing them on end leaning against each other. Seems like it has to really minimize the amount of water through contact through the ground, since the contact area is so much smaller.

I think your experiment is a good idea. I probably don't want too actually perform it though, I'll see how much I'm losing! I think I mentioned before that the baler is the last piece of equipment I need, and it's schedule for purchase this winter. One thing I'm looking forward to is that it will give me the flexibility to try some things out that I can't really ask my buddy who helps out. I've already got master plans to try some experiments where I can bale a few bales earlier and later than the bulk of the field, and see how the timing effects the bale quality (both the drying thing as well as the crude protein content and TDN). Based on your feedback, it sounds like I need to include some experimentation with the Propionic acid.

I'm guessing some of these techniques aren't as known around here because, in general, Texas is hot and dry and getting the hay in without getting rained on is less than an issue than up north (in fact, my Texas neighbors are probably reading these posts and saying: "Comon man, how tough can it be, it's been 95 degrees and dry as a bone for weeks!"). But your comment about how you could potentially bale earlier and get higher leaf content (ie, higher protein) has got me interested. I took a short course at the local Farm Show last winter on horse nutrition (I don't actually own a horse, but I was trying to understand my customer) and they really emphasized the importance of the protein content and digestable nutrient (TDN) numbers in the hay. The numbers they showed on how much of a difference hay protein content makes in the amount of supplemental grain feeding that you should do (in addition to the hay) was pretty dramatic. Now honestly, how many of my customers care that much... not sure. But I know this is the key to customers happily paying $7, 8, and 9/bale rather than $4/bale. Plus it's just fun to see the quality improve.

Chet.

 

[Brent.Roberts]

I had picked up a bit of an idea about nutrition levels here and there, then one day I saw something about a dew stimulator or whatever. Chased it down and it was in fact a $ 30,000 machine, unknown in our parts, but likely used near you, that is a dew SIMULATOR. You actually fill it with water and drive it down the windrow and it injects a spray mist into the windrow to soften the leaves so they won't shatter and turn to dust going through the baler. Wait an hour and the leaves are soft. WOW I thought, there must be something to this. If people spend 30 grand to get the leaves soft ..... !!!! We grow alfalfa and timothy. Second and third cuts here are almost pure alfalfa. Agriculture Canada says 80% or more of the nutrition is in the alfalfa leaves. So you don't want to leave them in the dust cloud in the field.

Failing getting a dew simulator, talk with your baler buddy about timing the start of baling in the morning, a day after the crop is fully dried, but still as some softness in the leaves from the dew.

On the stooking idea, an outfit called Allied makes a rig that you drag around the field and it will make the stocks for you. Never seen one work but I have seen fields that were obviously done with one. They go for next to nothing at auctions around here, like $ 100 to $ 200.

 

[WTA]

I started reading this thread right before I had to go to the hesston dealer to pick up some parts for my new to me baler yesterday. It encouraged me to buy a baler mounted moisture meter while I was there. I love this thing. I baled what little I got last night about 9 PM and it was really nice being able to see the moisture content on each bale as it went through the baler without having to get out of the cab and stick the probe in them.

It was really hot here yesterday and my windrows were thin so ours dried in only about 24 hours this time. All of it was only 8-12 % moisture when I went out baling last night.

This time around I'm putting fertilizer out like I should have done last time and I know it won't dry so fast next time. My windrows will be dragging the bottom of my axles and it will probably take a week again but at least I'll be able to know what each and every bale is at.

 

[chetlenox]

Moisture gauge on the tractor showing the moisture content of each bale as it's baled... now that's cool. I haven't gotten my handheld unit yet, but your right, that sounds slick.

Yeah, it's been hot here as well. We are baling tomorrow and probably should be baling today. Our rows were pretty thin as well. I fertilized relatively heavy after 1st cut, but didn't get a whole lot of rain. About two inches in the last month. Unfortunately, my buddy is baling his field first today, then will have time for me tomorrow. I definitely am looking forward to the increased control that I'll have once I have a baler next year.

Chet.

 

[Brent.Roberts]

I think a moisture meter on the baler is a cool thing .... but not all by itself.

You're trucking along and it says 14% -- 16% --- 15% then 23%. Now watcha gonna do. Stop, go back with the meter and find the wet bale.

But, put a hay saver system on with the meter and it will adjust the acid spray to match the moisture. Now you're really rockin'

I only have a manually adjustable acid sprayer on my baler so far. But what it did for last year's last cut was amazing. I'll give it a couple more tries as is before I upgrade to the metering/self-adjusting system. What I did last year was take an educated guess at the moisture I'd get in a bale from using the hand held meter and set the acid spray according to the chart. Ran 3 or 4 bales and tested the bale moisture, adjusted the acid flow a bit and finished the field. The bales finished at about 18 to 21%. I was thrilled with the results. I could cut open a bale and pull out some of the individual alfalfa stems and they had virtually 100% of the leaves on them. Because I could bale wetter, the color stayed bright green all winter.
First cut coming in a couple weeks and it will have lots and lots of timothy. We'll have to re-adjust the learning curve again for this.

The real judgement was when my daugter took a bale to the pregnant mares. All the other horses went nuts when they smelled it. Like catnip.
She ended up moving them to the quarantine stalls for feeding.