Haying after a freeze??

horsebroke · Oct 13, 2008

I'm a city kid - new to the country. Started haying this year. Due to weather problems, I'm late in getting my 3rd cutting done. Now, we had a pretty good freeze last night (low was 21 degrees).

The question I have - can I go ahead and cut/bale? We're expecting a few more freezes this week - then it'll warm up for appx 10 days or so. So I have a short window available before next cold front/rain is expected..

Thanks for any advice.

scott_vt · Oct 13, 2008

horsebroke said:
I'm a city kid - new to the country. Started haying this year. Due to weather problems, I'm late in getting my 3rd cutting done. Now, we had a pretty good freeze last night (low was 21 degrees).

The question I have - can I go ahead and cut/bale? We're expecting a few more freezes this week - then it'll warm up for appx 10 days or so. So I have a short window available before next cold front/rain is expected..

Thanks for any advice.

Good Evenin Horsebroke,
I think your biggest concern is trying to get the hay dry before baling, and with what your describing it doesnt sound too good !

I have never helped anyone do any haying that late in the season, infact we did a second cut about almost a month ago and the bales weighed a ton compared to the first cut !

Good luck !

farmerjim · Oct 13, 2008

you can do it but it may take an extra day or so to dry and i would also consider feeding out the bales fresh if they feel damp or are heavy, and def don't stack them tight if they are. when i was working on a dairy as a teen, we did a few 3rd cuts of alafalfa in late oct, early nov. actually the bales came out great, as i re call. i believe the farmer said the frost/freeze helped w/ the dry down and also was good for keeping down leaf loss. it can be done good luck.

texasjohn · Oct 13, 2008

Here it would be a NO-NO...

If haying Johnson Grass or sorghum hay immediately after a frost/freeze it breaks down and bad, bad chemicals form.. called prussic acid poisoning... I disremember exactly but seems to me that this is actually cyanide that is formed ... can also happen to drought stressed hay that is rained on,then hayed immediately...

Point is, THE COWS DIE!!!

This is what the folks at Colorado State have to say about it.