How late is too late to cut and bale?

[Gary Fowler]

A guy that bales for my brother in law cut my small pasture and then decided not to bale it. The cut grass smothered out the grass and it took a year for it to come back. I helped it a little by mowing over the laydown hay to chop it up a bit but it was still very thick in spots. Lots of weeds came in the following year due to thin grass. I kept it all mowed with my lawnmower (set to highest position)all last year and it got rid of the weeds and helped the grass come back.
He cut it again this year and baled it up since it was really good hay at this point with no weeds.

If he doesn't cut it, I would wait for it to die down after a heavy frost then bush hog it to chop it up fine and spread it uniformly so it rots quickly and doesn't smother the roots.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Dry time would be my condern,if question able fail mower should do the trick.

I have never seen a flail mower around here. The farm supplies do not sell them, farmers do not have them.

 

[atsah]

Does the guy that cuts the hay use a disk mower or a mower conditioner?

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Does the guy that cuts the hay use a disk mower or a mower conditioner?

He has at least two disk mowers. That's all I have seen him use.

 

[atsah]

The disk mowers aren't very well suited for hay that is laying/matted down, they tend to make a mess of it, the mower conditioner picks the hay up before it cuts it and goes through the roller, does a much cleaner job..

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Aren't most conditioners these days disc mowers?

5 days is a lot, even without a tedder or conditioner. My dad made some last week in Ohio, in 3 days.

 

[atsah]

That I don't know, the 10ft JD we use has a cutter bar, old school probably but it cuts hay and leaves the field looking like a putting green..

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Aren't most conditioners these days disc mowers?

5 days is a lot, even without a tedder or conditioner. My dad made some last week in Ohio, in 3 days.

It's mostly bottom land. We get heavy dew almost every day by sundown, and doesn't dry until after noon many days. Much of the summer I cannot start lawn mowing until after 1:00 PM because of the dew laden grass.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The old ones were cutter bars, i believe new ones are disc cutters . from what ive seen, disc mowers perform better in down hay.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Dew is a problem this time of year, barely any drying time. Was surprised my dad put some in last week, with all the wet weather we have had.