Scott, thanks for the welcome, and thanks to everyone who has responded.
My brother is up in West Charleston. He's got 55 acres to do. At first he was going to sell it to dairymen, but he can't get much for it unless he bales it. His plan now is to bale it up in squares and sell it to horse people.
What you say about a conditioner fits in with what his neighbors seem to have done in the past. It's hard for me to imagine that things are so wet there that a conditioner makes a big difference for grass hay, but my personal experience was in the Midwest back when cutting with a sickle bar was the norm. Dodging the rain was not too difficult either.
What happens if you condition the hay, and it gets rained on? Is the hay ruined then?