First Timer - when to do 'third cutting'?

[prof fate]

Been talking to the wife for years that we shold do haying..she finally agreed..after I mowed the pastures in mid July of course...

SO, looking at 10 acres or so of 'third cutting' - only advice I've been given is 'it takes longer to dry in the fall than summer'...

So, being in western PA, when (other than needing 3-4 dry sunny days in a row) is a good time to do the third cutting? Any particular indications in the hay/grass itself?

 

[boomer1025]

If the hay is ready to cut and the weather holds out for drying and getting it baled. Do it, never know this time of the year when the weather will turn wet or just stay cloudy for several days.

 

[5030]

Heck, I've run hay in the winter here in Michigan, all depends on dry time. I'm about to run last cut myself. I'll cut it with the discbine, crimp rolls at heavy tension, swath board down to lay a wide windrow or I might install the New Holland 'Wide / thin' kit on the swath board for an even wider windrow, depends on how thick the crop is. I carry the wide / think kit in the toolbox just in case.

After I cut and crimp it and lay it down wide, I'll wait a day and come back and ted it out, let it dry down for a couple days (checking the RM with my Delmhorst moisture meter). When it's about 20% or less, I'll rake it into windrows with my H&S rotary rake and round bale it. Rule of thumb for me is I only ted on last cut because in the fall, dew can be an issue. I also cut high (set the discbine to leave a substantial amount of stubble because I want the forage to sit on top of the stubble and get airflow under it). Bale it in rounds, 52" in diameter x 4 feet wide in twine (I can run net or twine but the cost per bale in twine is substantially less and the bales are all going inside anyway). Only have one customer (besides myself) and he picks the bales up in the field, all I do is load his trailers. He takes everything I make and has for years. He raises cattle and bucking bulls.

My round baler has continuous moisture readout in the cab (RM) so I always know what I'm baling though I can tell by how much dust / chaff is coming off the baler how dry the forage is. Basically all computerized control.

Like I said, I've ran hay in December before. All depends on the weather. Last time I did it, I had a dust of snow on the cut hay. Had to wait for that to vanish and an extra day before bailing but the hay was fine.

 

[joeu235]

Rule of thumb we use for when the grass is ready to cut is about 6 weeks between cuttings and when the grass is knee high. Fall cuttings can be a little different since there is a hard deadline on the horizon. Last year, it rained so much in the fall that the only week of dry weather was right after the first freeze. Since a freeze turns horse quality grass into goat hay, I was out at night with a 20 mph north wind and sub 40 temperatures cutting the grass before it froze later that night. It wasn't "premium" hay but the horse owners were happy to get it.

Are you making hay for yourself or others? Horse, cow, or goat hay? If its for yourself, you have have more room for error since its the animal owner who's more picky than the animal.

 

[Thomas]

Around these parts third cut done before good frost.

 

[prof fate]

Rule of thumb we use for when the grass is ready to cut is about 6 weeks between cuttings and when the grass is knee high. Fall cuttings can be a little different since there is a hard deadline on the horizon. Last year, it rained so much in the fall that the only week of dry weather was right after the first freeze. Since a freeze turns horse quality grass into goat hay, I was out at night with a 20 mph north wind and sub 40 temperatures cutting the grass before it froze later that night. It wasn't "premium" hay but the horse owners were happy to get it.

Are you making hay for yourself or others? Horse, cow, or goat hay? If its for yourself, you have have more room for error since its the animal owner who's more picky than the animal.

horse for myself. anything too crappy I can sell to goat or cow folks, or at auction.

Forecast is for 8 days of no rain and lower than normal humidity for here...so tomorrow I cut.

 

[joeu235]

horse for myself. anything too crappy I can sell to goat or cow folks, or at auction.

Forecast is for 8 days of no rain and lower than normal humidity for here...so tomorrow I cut.

Good Luck!!

 

[prof fate]

i got the tractor and mower ready, tested the rake..need to adjust it and the PTO shaft needs to be longer yet...but that's for friday morning.

 

[ddbackhoe]

its the animal owner who's more picky than the animal.

:thumbsup: :laughing: Alot of truth in that statement. I know quite a few horse owners (low budget trail horses) that wont allow their horse to graze off their property because it may make them sick

 

[prof fate]

fun fun...7 days of no rain. cooler temps, but that's a good thing, right?

OK..old ferguson rake, replaced all the tines and had maybe 10 become issues..bent and banging. got tired fo straightening htem so just removed them. it's settled down adn works now.

Issue...how low should I rake? I have it about an inch above the dirt - no dirt, but am pulling up green leaves from stuff that wasn't cut (cut to 4" or so). So the 'dry' hay has 'new' cuttings in it...not a lot, but they're there. An issue or not?

let it dry 24+ hours, seemed good, windowed it let it sit a day...didn't you know a stray sprinkle hits as I'm finishing..argh.

So I rolled the windrows..twice now...still too damp inside. This morning no dew (first time in a week) and gonna let it sit - rolled the rows last night, fluffed them up. Gotta work all day. supposed to be near 90 and sunny.

Tomorrow humidity returns and then 4 days of rain starting about 5pm. So I have a window from 9 am (too early i'm guessing) till 1..then back to work till 5. Crossing my fingers.

BALER....

I'm becoming a new holland expert, like it or not. er, knot. LOL.

Walked it thru by hand, seemed ok. Went to run some hay and broke the needles. The feed fingers also stalled at time...WTF?

Seems the knotter was all gummed up..thick grease. So the shaft wouldn't turn all the way, the slip clutch kicked in. the shear pin on the knotter is a grade 5 bolt...not good. Didn't check the flywheel pin, will tonight. Saw a video that showed a lockout that is supposed to stop the plunger breaking the flywheel shear pin BEFORE it the plunger takes out the needles..which BTW are $360 for the pair. I'm gonna weld up (first shot at welding cast irom) the old ones as a timing test/backup. Can't afford to break $360 needs (plus the 3 hours to go fetch them...or spend less and wait 10 days for delivery)

So it's all in time, all cleaned and lubed (again) and freed up. SEEMS to be working, but didn't have needles till 7pm last night to see if it truly works.

Having gone over most every inch of it, it does seem to be in very good mechanical shape.

OH, the knotter clutch was missing a spring...found one in my tool box...