Making hay without a bailer

[tucker2]

I mow about 6 acres a year just to have a place for my grandsons to ride, play ect. I was thinking of haying it for my goats to eat during winter months. I don't have a bailer, just a bush hog with the back open and a old rake converted to 3pt, I do have a front end loader and was thinking of cutting it, letting it dry, raking it and using a loader to pile it up around a pole like old timers would do. Tarps
are cheap so my plans were to cover it and use it during winter months. Does this sound like something that would work or should I just let the grass lay in the field and buy a few round bales when needed.

 

[JasG]

I mow about 6 acres a year just to have a place for my grandsons to ride, play ect. I was thinking of haying it for my goats to eat during winter months. I don't have a bailer, just a bush hog with the back open and a old rake converted to 3pt, I do have a front end loader and was thinking of cutting it, letting it dry, raking it and using a loader to pile it up around a pole like old timers would do. Tarps
are cheap so my plans were to cover it and use it during winter months. Does this sound like something that would work or should I just let the grass lay in the field and buy a few round bales when needed.

The problem you may run into is mold. Moisture could come up from the ground and still rot and mold the hay. Around here back in the day they still put the hay in a barn. I know even in a shed a person I have helped had issues with bales unless he put it on pallets to allow some air between the ground and the bales. How much you would lose I have no idea.

 

[DT86]

It would be cheap to try. Just look into how they did it in the good old days. I'd try searching "how to build a haystack" or something similar.

People made hay long before hay balers came to be.

In the worse case you burn a few extra gallons of fuel, it doesn't work like you wanted and then end up buying extra hay.

 

[Sonny580]

Go for it as a test!---make the stack as even as you can,---put it on high ground for good drainage making sure the top will run water off and not stand on it!---by nature there will be a certain amount of spoilage but most goats are not that picky in the winter! thanks; sonny580

 

[vtsnowedin]

There is a good thread here about how to make a traditional hay stack. Worth the time to read it. Some pallets on the bottom and a tarp over the top will save a lot of waste from mold and rot. The brush hog is your weak link as it shreds the grass and makes it hard to rake up into a tumble that can be pitched with a fork. A sickle bar or other mower designed for making hay will work better but you certainly could do it with what you have and the goats won't mind some fuzzy hay.

 

[stuckmotor]

Here's the link to the thread vtsnowedin mentioned. You'll probably find the youtube video of the fel haysweep, interesting. I linked to it in the thread.

 

[tucker2]

Thanks, I didn't know there was anything like haysweeping, now after watching several videos on youtube, this looks like the perfect answer for my hay making adventure.

 

[stuckmotor]

Thanks, I didn't know there was anything like haysweeping, now after watching several videos on youtube, this looks like the perfect answer for my hay making adventure.

Glad you liked the video.

 

[arlen4720]

The bush hog will chop the hay up too much. Can you find a sickle mower?

 

[tucker2]

No, I was told bush hog made models where one side was removable, this was for cutting hay. I plan to cut out one side of a old cutter I have.

 

[stuckmotor]

No, I was told bush hog made models where one side was removable, this was for cutting hay. I plan to cut out one side of a old cutter I have.

Someone, maybe Bushog, called the removable side a 'hay door'. The theory is, that being knocked around under the deck crushes the crop giving a result similar to a conditioner, and makes it dry faster. In my experience the mower threw the hay out the side before chopping it up too fine.
I've used a 5' Woods Cadet with a hay door to cut hay and was well satisfied with the job it did in springy, pasture grasses. I wasn't satisfied with the way it cut long stemmed crops like Sudan Grass or Millet because the tractor tires bent and broke the stems and the mower would't pick them back up, or cut them, causing me to lose hay.

 

[flusher]

Someone, maybe Bushog, called the removable side a 'hay door'. The theory is, that being knocked around under the deck crushes the crop giving a result similar to a conditioner, and makes it dry faster. In my experience the mower threw the hay out the side before chopping it up too fine.
I've used a 5' Woods Cadet with a hay door to cut hay and was well satisfied with the job it did in springy, pasture grasses. I wasn't satisfied with the way it cut long stemmed crops like Sudan Grass or Millet because the tractor tires bent and broke the stems and the mower would't pick them back up, or cut them, causing me to lose hay.

Bush Hog made models 305 and 306 hogs that have a removable door on the left side of the mower for haying. There also was a windrowing attachment that mounted on the left side of the mower.

 

[3v0]

Or you can find an old side delivery rake.

 

[stuckmotor]

Bush Hog made models 305 and 306 hogs that have a removable door on the left side of the mower for haying. There also was a windrowing attachment that mounted on the left side of the mower.

I used to have an advertising brochure that showed one of the windrowing attachments. Have you ever seen one in operation? I haven't and was curious as to how well they worked.

 

[flusher]

I used to have an advertising brochure that showed one of the windrowing attachments. Have you ever seen one in operation? I haven't and was curious as to how well they worked.

Nope, but they're simple to fabricate. I assume that it works as well as a combo rake-tedder for windrowing.

 

[stuckmotor]

Nope, but they're simple to fabricate. I assume that it works as well as a combo rake-tedder for windrowing.

Do combo rake-tedders use a board of some kind to catch the hay, similar to the hay door on tubing?

 

[flusher]

Do combo rake-tedders use a board of some kind to catch the hay, similar to the hay door on tubing?

Yep. Google "tedder rake" to see the pictures.
I don't own one of those things. But from what I read they are just average at doing tedding and raking.

 

[econometrics]

Yeah, like others have suggested, I think you would get a better product if you used a sickle. I'm sure you can find a 3PT sickle used somewhere. Then just haysweep that stuff up! :thumbsup:

 

[rankrank1]

No, I was told bush hog made models where one side was removable, this was for cutting hay. I plan to cut out one side of a old cutter I have.

To the OP, Many of bales of hay have been cut with an old bush hog with either one side of it removed or sometimes simply with the back end raised slightly higher than the front. Really whatever it takes to get it to discharge most of the hay out cleanly without shredding it up. The great thing about using a bush hog is there is little to no maintenance to it. Also, it will "poor man" condition the hay to help it dry a bit quicker as compared to a plain ole sickle mower (which is a high maintenance cutter). All these claims that the hay will be inferior is total hogwash and take this from a guy who hayed for several years using a plain ole square back bush hog as his cutter. While I might agree with the claims of inferior hay using a bush hog in a pristine field of alfalfa as there would be some leaf loss, but frankly what idiot is going to cut a pristine field of expensive alfalfa hay with a bush hog? Frankly, if all you have is tough, stemmy, less than desirable grasses then I would argue that the bush hog will actually make a better quality hay by tenderizing those tough grasses a bit and make them more palatable to your goats or cows. (i.e. think along the lines of how humans tenderize a low quality round steak to make it more tender and appetizing). When I used a bush hog as my cutter, the animals ate every bit of that hay with almost zero waste.

There are only 2 Disadvantages to using a bush hog cutter in my opinion : First, you will suffer some yield loss expect 30% or so over using a true dedicated hay cutter. What I mean by that is that if your hay is yielding 1000 lbs per acre you will only get 700 lbs per acre using a bush hog. If your haying for money that yield loss can be significant, but for a guy planning to do what you are doing then it should not really matter. Even if baling for money you need to insure that the yield loss if you were able to gain it back pays for the added expense of using the more expensive dedicated hay cutter (easy to justify in high dollar hay, not so much in low dollar cheap hay). The second disadvantage to using the bush hog is that in a really tall stand of grass the tractor travel speed can be pretty slow. No big deal on slow travel speeds long as you have the time and a big enough weather drying window to get everything done.

I would recommend that you do plan on picking up an old inexpensive hay rake. I am talking something real cheap like a $100 John Deere 594 on steel wheels (I use a rake like this). You can use that rake for making windrows and then flippying the windrows for better drying properties. These rakes are very durable, can be bought cheap (basically scrap iron price), and do an excellent job of raking hay. It will make your job a whole bunch easier.

Loose hay was put up for centuries in barn lofts. Hay quality in a barn loft would be the same as if it were in a square bale - albeit harder to handle.

Loose hay has also been put up for centuries outside in a proper water shedding shock. As long as a proper shock is made so the shock sheds water and the hay does not mold then you are good to go...

 

[3v0]

John Deere 594
aka side delivery rake