Hay got rained on. When to rake

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

Ok guy 1st hay making expeience. I got majority of 4ac. Tuesday with sickle bar. Got a light rain on it today. Should i let it lay for a day. Then,rake n bale next day? Being friday. Not real sure wat to do. Temps r to b mid 80s next 2 days no rain. Thanks guys

 

[aczlan]

Ok guy 1st hay making expeience. I got majority of 4ac. Tuesday with sickle bar. Got a light rain on it today. Should i let it lay for a day. Then,rake n bale next day? Being friday. Not real sure wat to do. Temps r to b mid 80s next 2 days no rain. Thanks guys

How wet did it get? If it was just a sprinkle, keep on as normal, otherwise, wait till the top dries off and rake it. Roll it over (top flipped to bottom) or spread it out and let it dry till it crackles and bale.

Aaron Z

 

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

Sprinkled off n on all day. An now its a stedy rain. Its all still layin. I have not raked it yet. Should i rake tomorrow then turn it over friday n bale?

 

[Cooldmax]

Sun, wind and humidity can play a big role in how fast it dries. It needs to feel dry and crispy to the touch then rake it to flip it over, let it dry until that side is dry and bale.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Sun, wind and humidity can play a big role in how fast it dries. It needs to feel dry and crispy to the touch then rake it to flip it over, let it dry until that side is dry and bale.

What he said.
It has to dry before you windrow it. The hay will be fine. Just be patient and wait.

 

[5030]

Here is the stickler and something to keep in mind. If it's cut and laying and it gets rained on and it gets hot and humid the following day, flip it right away or ted it out. Reason is, the forage will heat up with the moisture and will get rank underneath.

If my hay gets rained on, I'm out there as soon as the dew is off, the next say, blowing it out or flipping it, depending on how wet it is and the heat and RH.

I use an IR thermometer to check the temperature of the forage near the ground and if the temperature is more than 5 degrees above ambient, I get with the program right away.

I only bale very high quality alfalfa hay for contract customers and they want prime material and pay for it, so I'm real cognizant of what the forage is doing all the time.

It's babysitting for a fee, sort of.

you mix a little science with some common sense and a healthy respect for Mother Nature and usually you can come out smelling like a rose. I've never had to rake off a field to the ditch or burn rank forage.

 

[AKfish]

I wondered when "tedding" was gonna enter into the recommendations...! We had about 10 acres down this summer and it was just on the edge of being ready to bale - sitting in windrows.

And a full day of rain came - likely 1/2"-3/4"! :mur:

Next day blue skies and puffy clouds with a nice breeze..... YEEEEHAAAAA!

I was out there tedding as soon as it was on the 60 degree mark! Tedded it 3-4 times that day until it was as dry as I could get it and the ground surface was also as dry as possible.

Raked it into windrows.

Next day I tedded it once and let it sit for 3-4 hours in the sun. Raked and started baling. Nice green color and good smell! Some of the driest hay I've seen in Alaska!

Don't let your hay lie flat in the field with it being wet. As 5030 mentioned, the lower lying hay will "cook" just like a sauna in a hot-humid microclimate next to the ground. That's when it starts to turn very brown or in the worst case - black!

Up here, many guys will start tedding within an hour of cutting! Don't want to leave the high moisture, green material begin to heat up - especially near the bottom, next to the ground.

Next time you mow your field - use your moisture tester/thermometer - and check the down hay in the upper 1" and then check the lowest 1". You'll be surprised by the differences!

One other note - if I know the forecast is for showers or rain - I'll rake the field into windrows. Light fluffy windrows. Single pass - lot's of light windrows! The hay has a better chance to aerate and the rain will pass thru to the ground easier than building up on the hay.

AKfish

 

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

Now im just as confused. Some say let it dry completly n others say rake it as soon as weather clears. Its just timothy/orchard grass lil clover amongst a lil weeds. I realy would like to rake today when i get home from work then re rake tomorrow n let sit for a few hrs an then my neighbor will round bale it.

 

[rtimgray]

When its been relatively "grassy hay", i.e. not alfalfa or clover, and it didn't get too wet, we just let it lay until dry and then rake and bale. If it's thicker and got wetter, we still let it dry some (say 'til noon) and then raked it. Haven't had any trouble with mold or rot in the bales.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Good topic, I was going to ask this but was beaten to it. 2nd time for me to do my hay. Last time weather good, cut first day, tedder x2 second day-had some heavy clumps here and there. Rake and bale mid to later the third day. Not sure if that was over kill. Second day hay was brown and dry except for several thick clump areas so I waited for the third day. Heard war stories of hay bales caughting fire due to heat so I am cautious and make it a 3 day work think.

 

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

Checked the cut hay this even still very wet underneath. Guess i will let go till tomorrow n hopfully it will b redy ti rake when i get home n then bale later evening

 

[Bigfoot62]

Now im just as confused. Some say let it dry completly n others say rake it as soon as weather clears. Its just timothy/orchard grass lil clover amongst a lil weeds. I realy would like to rake today when i get home from work then re rake tomorrow n let sit for a few hrs an then my neighbor will round bale it.

4 acres is not much to rake. Since it's grass hay, I stick to my original advice, let it dry before you windrow it. If you have a tedder, that's different. But, you're saying rake, so I take that to mean a rake that will windrow the hay. Grass won't dry in a windrow. Leave it lay until it dries, then rake and bale.

I don't claim to be any kind of super-duper expert, but I've been doing this for years. Cut and baled (rolls) about 85-90 acres over the last two weeks. It was all grass hay, mostly bahaia and bermuda.
BTW, none of it's molded and my barn hasn't burned down.

 

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

Ok good deal thanks. If i rake it say 3 or 4ish tomorrow n allow 3 hrs in the windrow. Then have neighbor round bale it? Is that suffient time?

 

[5030]

The 4 best tools I have in my hay toolbox are:
1. My nose and fingers. I like to smell the forage prior to bailing and I want to 'feel' it. It needs to be crispy but green and that applies to gras as well as leafy legumes as well

2. My Delmhorst digital moisture tester with probes. I use a Delmhorst, I have for years. They aren't cheap but then hay is a business for me. I have a multi probe head, that is, I have a probe for checking small squares, a probe for large squares and rounds and most importantly, a 'bucket' probe.

A nice added feature of the Delmhorts is it's portable. Nothing better to make a liar out of a blowhard at a hay auction. I've been to a few and I've let the air out of a few sellers as well. You can really screw a seller down on price on average hay that the seller thinks is exceptional with a digital meter, especially one with a loud alarm for a pre set moisture threshold like the Delmhorst has.

The bucket probe has a coaxial cable the screws into the meter head and the business end has a flat plastic plate with pointed stainless pins and a spring loaded handle. You take a sample of the forage from the windrow, put it in a clean dry plastic bucket and compress the sample with the probe. The spring in the handle gives a consistent pressure. The probe reads the moisture in percent on the digital readout. You can sample various spots in the field and get a good idea of how dry it is.

3. My IR thermometer. I can tell exactly within a half degree the forage temperature in the layer under the top layer, next to the ground plus I can tell how much the bailed product is climbing in temperature after bailing and with some experience it's easy to guess the RM of a bale.

4. Onboard moisture sensors. I have onboard, continuous moisture sensing in all my bale chambers with a readout in the tractor. That readout is also coupled to a Harvestec automatic metering system to meter Greensaver via spray nozzles on the forage as it gets bailed, at my discretion. So long as the monitored moisture remains below 10%, the acid application stays off. Over 10, an alamr beeps and I switch on the Harvestec unit and allow it to begin monitoring moisture. If the moisture exceeds a pre set threshold, the Harvestec begins to pump Greensaver to the nozzles placed on the windguards of the bailers. The Greexsaver is then metered according to the pre-set thresholds in the Harvestec unit.

At first I had some reservations about proprionic acid application as it pertained to acceptance in feed by domesticated animals but I have a good frien who owns a large dairy operation and harvests his own forage. he's used acid appkication for years with no feed problem. So long as the acid is applied at the correct ratio (to RM content), the acid becomes a non issue.

I've also found that initial acid application in bailing clover over wheatstraw is a plus. Clover over wheatstraw is a very hard crop to round bale because it wants to fall apart when starting a bale. A little Greensaver when starting a bale causes the bale to form easier and stay in the bailing chamber.

Forage crops can be successfully brought in with no external aids and a bit of good luck but it helps to have the tools to make the job go easier.

 

[zzvyb6]

Here is what I have done (often sorry to say). Yes I have some different equipment.

After the sun comes out for a few hours, I rake the hay just a little bit (1/2 the normal width windrow. My NH55 rake is set up to a high angle so the hay is moved laterally and not roped or twisted. This opens up some bare ground that will itself dry very quickly.

When the bare ground is dry, I go back and slide the hay over onto it. The rake is set up to turn the hay row over onto its back (bottoms up). That gets dry hay onto dry ground and the bottom hay on top for drying. Then I set up the rake to fluff it upwards into a tall windrow onto the remaining dry ground patch. No double windrowng here (1 into 2 which I would do if it had not rained. Then wait for dry measurments. I also have the Delmhorst meter. Its very reliable.

I also have a Kuhn rake/tedder combo unit. You can switch from tedder to rake in a minute. As soon as the sun comes out I will use the tedder to broadcast it out into the field. This can knock the seeds and leaves off, though. This will dry very quickly. I just re-rake it and bale it when its crisp.

Another trick I do when its been soaked for a few days is run it back through the mower conditioner. The rolls will spin off a lot of water and dew. Seems to work when the mower is set to windrow as well as swath it straight out. In all cases, getting it off of the wet ground is the best solution. My customers don't even notice the slightly different color of the bleached hay. It still smells fresh and their horses gobble it up. (I know, turkeys gobble, but the horses are color blind: as long as it smells good they will eat it).

 

[5030]

Here is what I have done (often sorry to say). Yes I have some different equipment.

After the sun comes out for a few hours, I rake the hay just a little bit (1/2 the normal width windrow. My NH55 rake is set up to a high angle so the hay is moved laterally and not roped or twisted. This opens up some bare ground that will itself dry very quickly.

When the bare ground is dry, I go back and slide the hay over onto it. The rake is set up to turn the hay row over onto its back (bottoms up). That gets dry hay onto dry ground and the bottom hay on top for drying. Then I set up the rake to fluff it upwards into a tall windrow onto the remaining dry ground patch. No double windrowng here (1 into 2 which I would do if it had not rained. Then wait for dry measurments. I also have the Delmhorst meter. Its very reliable. And espensive but we won't tell how much.....:laughing:

I also have a Kuhn rake/tedder combo unit. You can switch from tedder to rake in a minute. As soon as the sun comes out I will use the tedder to broadcast it out into the field. This can knock the seeds and leaves off, though. This will dry very quickly. I just re-rake it and bale it when its crisp.

Another trick I do when its been soaked for a few days is run it back through the mower conditioner. The rolls will spin off a lot of water and dew. Seems to work when the mower is set to windrow as well as swath it straight out. In all cases, getting it off of the wet ground is the best solution. My customers don't even notice the slightly different color of the bleached hay. It still smells fresh and their horses gobble it up. (I know, turkeys gobble, but the horses are color blind: as long as it smells good they will eat it).

I've been telling my equine customers that for years...lol

I have an old International pull behine steel wheel crimper that I use (like you use your mower) ocassionally.

Haying is a game, but fun.

 

[Dill]

Kinda late to the thread here, but here's what I do. If we get a shower, usually a pop up thunderstorm in the summer. I ted the hay out as soon as the sun is going to be coming back out. If I know the storm is coming and have time before, I'll rake the field into windrows and a ted after the shower. If it gets too wet and looks like ****, I'll just round bale for my cows. While horses are color blind most customer's aren't and want green hay.
I even had chopped a couple fields back on the field after the hay got rained on for a week straight. I just don't have good enough mulch hay contacts to bother baling it up.

 

[whitmerlegacyfarm]

Got it baled today everyone. We got 6 round bales off it. I ended up starting to rake around 2. Then bot 3 hrs later i raked again n double up the rows. Was nice n dry n the horses seem to like it too. I guess it didnt go to bad for my experience with hay makin. I use a sickle bar n then a real old wheel driven rake. Work very well. N then my neigjbor round balef it. Thanks all for the help.