Curing Hay

[Creamer]

Perhaps it was like bleu cheese to them.

Does that create the blue flame?

 

[zzvyb6]

A tedder is used to fluff the hay at my place. I set my mower to windrow the cut material. This leaves two bare areas at the side o the windrow to get sunlight and dry. Then I fluff it with the tedder to break up the windrow and spread it out over the two dry areas. Maybe more than once. My rule is that you should be able to hear the crispy hay at the baler pickup.

If this doesn't work for you and cows get the hay, use a proprionic acid applicator in the bale chamber to stop the mold. Cows love it. Horses don NOT. Hay will smell like vinegar with 'acid' on it.

 

[Texasmark]

Are you getting mold in all the bales or just the ones that come from a thicker part of the field? I know it's a pain but if so can you bale the thicker areas a day or two later.

I have two spots in my field where it grows thicker. So when I bale, that area seems to not get as dry. I usually have about 10 bales that really want to mold.
I decided, when I think it's time to bale, I wait one more day. This year it worked out good.

That's funny I usually get there too early and have the tobacco colored bales Jim mentioned. This time I took my time and ran the crimper over the stems and all. The leaf loss was about 10% guessing the pile of dust and leaf chips on the ground when I dumped the bale vs the bale size. Can't win for losing.

The mold is at the joints and is light gray. Does not rub off with your finger. In a few I had grey powder that could be wiped off with your thumb. Most all of them are tobacco colored in most of the bales.

 

[sammyd]

LOL, kill a bunch of goats...Never seen a goat person that would touch moldy hay.

 

[Texasmark]

Perhaps it was like bleu cheese to them.

Yepper, once you get it (BC) past your nose, great stuff.

 

[Phillip w]

We make squares, but the same applies to round bales. We have a baler mounted Agtronix BH-2 moisture meter that gives us "live" humidity readings of the hay being baled. Coupled with that, we have a baler mounted tank w/pump and nozzles to apply hay preservative - buffered propionic acid into the pick-up. Been using the moisture meter for several years now and this fall, first time, turned on the acid. Works like a champ - highly recommend it.

Our applicator is from Paul B Zimmerman and I think is labeled crop care. The preservative I buy from New Holland, though it's called crop saver, it is the stuff labeled for CAseIH, NH, MF and JD - it is made by Harvestec. Non- corrosive, very effective, easy to apply. Smells like dill pickle chips in the bales; harmless to animals. One of my hay customers fed it out and no issues whatever - though some folks hate this stuff. I'd rather loose a customer than a crop of hay.

That's how I deal with high humidity hay when there's no other choice but to bale it or loose the crop.

YMMV

My goodness, the way it sounds this haying has gotten high tech. I never realized it had come to this. I guess I need to get up with the times. I just go by the feel of the hay in the windrow. I use a swather and then later roll it over with a rake. As far as storage you can throw up a 40X120 pole barn to store big round bales in relatively reasonable. It does not need to be enclosed, just a roof over the hay. You kind of need a tractor with a front bale spear to stack the bales. My pole barn is 14 ft, so can stack 3 high. Also, can get a semi back in there and put equipment in there when I have the room. If you are doing square bales and you are worried about it molding, rock salt is pretty effective and inexpensive. You just salt each layer of hay as you stack it in the barn.

 

[leeave96]

My goodness, the way it sounds this haying has gotten high tech. I never realized it had come to this. I guess I need to get up with the times. I just go by the feel of the hay in the windrow. I use a swather and then later roll it over with a rake. As far as storage you can throw up a 40X120 pole barn to store big round bales in relatively reasonable. It does not need to be enclosed, just a roof over the hay. You kind of need a tractor with a front bale spear to stack the bales. My pole barn is 14 ft, so can stack 3 high. Also, can get a semi back in there and put equipment in there when I have the room. If you are doing square bales and you are worried about it molding, rock salt is pretty effective and inexpensive. You just salt each layer of hay as you stack it in the barn.

If I were making hay for our own animal consumption or for cows, I wouldn't mess with this stuff. Curing hay in our neck of the woods here in the mountains of VA often is difficult because of heavy dew and frequent afternoon thunderstorms or just rain, making the window for haying narrow. We sell all of our hay to the horse market in small square bales, so quality and appearance is important. The acid is a last resort to save a crop and this year in our late cuttings, we used it for the first time and was amazed with the results. The price for the moisture meter and applicator/preservative isn't very steep. The difference between cow and horse quality squares in selling price makes for an easy return on the investment,

 

[Phillip w]

Yeah I agree with you mind set if your sell the hay to people with horses. They are usually eccentric, picky and half the time I don't understand their logic.

 

[Texasmark]

Yeah I agree with you mind set if your sell the hay to people with horses. They are usually eccentric, picky and half the time I don't understand their logic.

My take is they buy for them to eat, not the horses. Have a new customer recently talking absolutely no Johnson Grass in any horse hay he buys from me and it has to be pure and green and smell good.

I asked him what his horses were eating that very minute in his "un"-improved pasture. I used to lease the place and knew the kind of junk including JG that grew there. He just looked at me dumbfounded.

 

[AKfish]

Fed lot's of sorghum-Sudan grass round bales to cows back in the day - South Dakota. We always called 'em "cane bales".

Since they were always fed to cows, didn't care if there was some mold. They could pick at it and eat what they wanted and sleep, **** and p!ss on whatever they wouldn't eat!

I've got a Harvest Tec system with buffered propionic acid, too. IMO - if you're working with short weather windows, high humidity, and more than 40 inches avg. annual precip - and concerned about mold - get a preservative system.

Or grow a different variety of hay... Bermuda grass, maybe.