Drying heavy alfalfa / clover mix

[powerscol]

Monday I cut 12 acres of heavy alfalfa and very heavy red clover mixed with a bit of grass. This is the second cutting. I have never seen this much alfalfa and especially the heavy red clover. In reading up I find it may take an extra 2 days to dry. I used my PZ170 to cut Monday and yesterday I ran the tedder through to spread everything out, Temps are high 80's low 90's with variable winds to 12MPH I was thinking of letting it lay for a day before windowing with my Kubota rotary rake.

Question - for my normal hay I do the rotating twist test and it it breaks at 4 to 6 revolutions I am good to go, However never having worked with the heavy red clover I am not sure what to do to check. I dont want to loose a lot of leaves so should I windrow now and let it sit another day or to or wait and windrow and bale later?

 

[atsah]

If the weather is on you're side why not kick it at least one more time?

 

[5030]

I'm against that because the drier the forage becomes the more chance you have of leaf loss. I'd let it lay an extra day (tedded) and then rake it in single windrows. Like you I really like the rotary. Nice fluffy windrows that can 'breathe'. I tend to use my Delmhorst to check moisture content. I have the pronged tester where you take a sample from a windrow, place it in a plastic pail and use the pronged probe to check RM. I find the Delmhorst a tool I cannot do without. I have moisture shoes in my balers as well and I can connect the Delmhorst to the shoes and get instant readouts from in the bale chamber. They ain't cheap but ruined hay because the RM is high is always a bust too.

One thing about clover, when it dries, it will turn dark.

 

[powerscol]

Update I baled Thursday afternoon with good results. Only one patch(two bales) were iffy. They will go on my cow feed pile outside the barn under a tarp. Thanks for the help.

 

[CalG]

Update I baled Thursday afternoon with good results. Only one patch(two bales) were iffy. They will go on my cow feed pile outside the barn under a tarp. Thanks for the help.

Careful they don't heat under that tarp.

 

[powerscol]

No worries - my tarp has enough holes it in I am not worried :thumbsup:

 

[RickB]

About the last thing I would do with hay that was baled tough is to tarp it no matter how many holes it had.

 

[jaxs]

I crimp alfalfa to reduce time laying on the ground. It save's leaves since stems drying quicker reduce's time that leaves dry.

 

[5030]

About the last thing I would do with hay that was baled tough is to tarp it no matter how many holes it had.

+1. Tarping hay invites spoilage. Holes or not. Why I round bale or store squares in the barn.

 

[powerscol]

Geese folks give me a break. Its cow hay. If it gets a bit of mold so what. All the good horse hay is in the barn on pallets.

This cow hay pile is under a tarp on pallets with good ventilation and yes for the first week I check for temperature spike and had none. These are bales I would not put in the barn. The pile consists of older bales, odd size bales, bales left in baler from last run, etc. Good for cows, covering plants, bale gardens, and composting as I have done in the past etc.

BTW - if you want to compost bales, soak with water and put under a black plastic tarp. They will start cooking in a few days, then remove tarp and keep damp. This needs to be done far away from buildings as they will start smoking at some point (a good thing), but if kept damp will not combust To speed this up, throw on some nitrogen fertilizer. Turn after 3 months, then every month after. but keep the pile damp and ariated. Makes excellent compost. Before use in garden, cover again with blast plastic tarp under full sun for a week to kill any seeds that might still be in it. I had 50 bales that got rained on (soaked) a few years back and an old timer showed me how to do it. Worked great.

 

[5030]

Mine is ALL cow hay FYI. I treat it just like I used to treat horse hay. Maybe I shouldn't say 'cow' hay, we don't milk. Just beef cattle and some bucking bulls. Bulls worth in the 20K range.

 

[CalG]

Geese folks give me a break. Its cow hay. If it gets a bit of mold so what. All the good horse hay is in the barn on pallets.

This cow hay pile is under a tarp on pallets with good ventilation and yes for the first week I check for temperature spike and had none. These are bales I would not put in the barn. The pile consists of older bales, odd size bales, bales left in baler from last run, etc. Good for cows, covering plants, bale gardens, and composting as I have done in the past etc.

BTW - if you want to compost bales, soak with water and put under a black plastic tarp. They will start cooking in a few days, then remove tarp and keep damp. This needs to be done far away from buildings as they will start smoking at some point (a good thing), but if kept damp will not combust To speed this up, throw on some nitrogen fertilizer. Turn after 3 months, then every month after. but keep the pile damp and ariated. Makes excellent compost. Before use in garden, cover again with blast plastic tarp under full sun for a week to kill any seeds that might still be in it. I had 50 bales that got rained on (soaked) a few years back and an old timer showed me how to do it. Worked great.

While those bales are cooking, throw a couple tomato plants in the center along with a hand full of soil. Enjoy the "hot house"

 

[5030]

After reading all this, I would suggest you next 'investment' is a moisture tester. I have a Delmhorst which is expensive but there are others out there that aren't. Ag Tronics makes a few.

 

[aczlan]

After reading all this, I would suggest you next 'investment' is a moisture tester. I have a Delmhorst which is expensive but there are others out there that aren't. Ag Tronics makes a few.

They are not cheap (we have a Agtronics one that was $250ish and a Case/IH branded Agtronics one), but they are MUCH cheaper than a new barn or a new horse if one is putting up hay for horses...

Aaron Z

 

[RickB]

Almost all handheld units are either Agtronics or Delmhorst. Very much worth having.

 

[5030]

I think when I bought my Delmhorst about 15 years ago, it was about 350 bucks but I have all the accessories, bulk tester, 3 different probes and the in baler shoes that you can monitor in process RM with. Even have the nice case. Never put in the shoes, still in the box.

Have to relate a little story about hay and ignorant horsey people...

Few years back, hay was real hard to get so my boss (at the time, I'm retired now) sent me to a local hay auction with a tractor trailer (I drove for a private carrier and retired from that). I get to the auction and there is a bunch of green bales (both round and square). I was wanting to buy a load of rounds to feed his steers (and mine), nit really interested in small squares at all but I parked the truck, get a bidders number, go back to the cab and get my Delmhorst. I set the threshold alarm at 20%. if you have a Delmhorst, you already know the alarm is loud.

So, I set off looking at the hay and probing and that alarm is going off pretty regular and I'm attracting a crowd of buyers as well. They all want to know what I have in my hand and why it keeps beeping. Needless to say, the auctioneer was watching me as well. Gave the horsey people an education however and I didn't buy a lick because it was all wet garbage.

I expect cured and sweated out, for sale bales to be below 20%. if they aren't, I know they are dusty inside and I'm not in the market for dusty hay at a premium price or any price for that matter. I can feed cornstalks or wheat straw before I'd feed dusty hay to anything, beef cattle included and certainly not to a horse but people buy that crap every day and pay top buck for heavy green bales that are cooking away inside and getting moldy / dusty.

Been in this business a long time, I know good from bad and in reality, I'm color blind with hay. On small squares, I can tell by picking a bale up and putting my finger in the flakes if it's good ot garbage but my Delmhorst just clarifies my assumptions.

 

[powerscol]

I have a Delmhorst hand held and Used it a lot. That's how I knew which bales to separate out for the cow pile. Next year I hope to get my Agtronics installed on my baler. To know when to start baling I use the twist method then hand check a few bales to get going. I can visually tell and hear of things changing as I bale and know when to check - usually when the power requirement goes up - a bit more grunt.

So folks know it is up and no issues with heat or mold at this point, including the cow stack under the tarp.