dum? axx farmers

with their minds running at 100mph and humping to the beat of a new holland square baler for untold hours
the technology imparted in the simple growing and gathering of some otherwise natural event is astounding.

I was just trying to google a page with a lot of farming terms to amaze myself at a second language

and this pops up

When harvesting hay or haylage we tend to think in terms of how long it takes to get the hay off the field. However, the first concern for quality hay/haylage should be how long it takes to lose the first 15-20% moisture. Forages have 75-80% moisture when cut; they will continue to respire sugars (break down and give off heat and carbon dioxide) at a high rate until the plant is dried to 60% moisture. If we want to save the energy of the starch and sugars for our cattle, we need to dry off the first 15-20% moisture as quickly as possible.

Most of the respiration takes place in the leaves. We should remember that conditioning is for drying the stems but has little impact on drying the leaves.

A wide swath has the biggest effect on rate of leaf drying. Leaves dry faster in a wide swath because:

More sunlight falling on the field is intercepted for drying. (A windrow intercepts only 25-30% of sunlight falling on the field while a wide swath intercepts 70-100% of sunlight.)
Light keeps the leaf stomates open longer, so moisture can leave through leaf openings. Since most of the forage in a windrow is in the dark, the leaf stomates close to seal the leaf surface.
Table 1 shows the losses that can occur due to making a windrow rather than a wide swath. Data indicate that starch and sugar loss can range from 2-8% of dry matter. If we assume a median starch/sugar loss of 4% of dry matter due to hay in a windrow compared to a wide swath, then the dry matter economic loss is $6.40/ton, according to current hay prices in the Midwest for large square bales.

WindrowCost-19wmmww

However, the respiratory losses of starch and sugar also increase the fiber content of the forage. If the forage was near 40% NDF (prime hay/haylage) when cut, then the 4% starch loss will increase fiber 3.4 units and lower the quality to Grade 1 hay (125-150 RFQ). Grade 1 hay is currently selling for $38/ton less than Prime hay. The value to dairy producers is about twice the price differential between hay grades.

Many farmers have switched to making wide swaths when mowing. A wide swath is the single most important factor affecting forage drying rate; it is more important than conditioning. Farmers who continue to put hay into windrows are increasing drying time and risk of rain damage. They are also currently losing about $44.40/ton due to yield and quality losses from increased respiration. Considering this dollar loss, most farmers could figure out a way to make wider swaths with their existing equipment; they should also look at wide swath mowers when replacing mowing equipment.

Mutt and Jeff, that is very nice but it doesn't take into account local conditions. If we could make better hay spreading it wide out of the mower and driving over the cut grass and pressing it down into the ground we would. Unfortunately it won't dry when pressed down into the moist ground so we put it into a narrow swath, then after around five hours ted it out.

Watched the weather forecast for a three day mostly sun with the fourth only 20% chance. Mowed with a rotary bush hog type mower with the side cut out that scatters the hay. Some sun the first, day second day cloudy with very little sun. third say sprinkles after heave dew in the morning. Raked in the after noon with no rain and mostly sun called for. Stayed cloudy all day with a light breeze and sprinkled around noon. Last evening the windrows were damp with no extra moisture in the alfalfa leaves and stems. Calling for mostly sun today and 78?F. If it happens I will bale this afternoon.

All your stats are just fine in ideal conditions. When you can teach us dumb farmers how to control the weather your stats might mean something. If your set up bagged high moisture hay is the way to go. My horses like haylagee better than dry hay.

In a perfect world......

Ben

not sure who wrote that but they are not where I am,, I cut with a 14' hydro-swing with conditioner, cut in the morning let set till next morning( later in the season this is done the same day) rake it two windrows into one 5' wide windrow and am baling by 2-5 pm depending on conditions I put up high grade hay and get a premium price for it as I have done for the last 40 plus years,, I do not put up as much as I used to but still put up 250 to 500 ton a year in 5x5 round bales,, glad I quit putting up small squares in huge numbers used to bale and stack 150,000-175,000 of those idiot cubes a year,, they used to use mowers here sure,, I can put up five times the hay by myself today that used to take five of us to do with mowers,, when you have done it as long and as much as people like me have then you earn the right to start calling names

Thanks for taking the time to post.

You just convinced me when to follow my drum mower with my tedder. I'm a STO and have downsized to 6' equipment. I like the drum mower because it's a simple, reliable, non-clogging, mow anytime, inexpensive side mower. It does create a 70-80% (of the swath) WW which gives me the edges for my tractor tires to roll (rather than stomping on the clippings of the previous lap) on the next cutting round which I really like. It is not a MOCO for several reasons and on thick stemmed crops I do follow with a crimper. Other times I don't crimp but rely on the tedder to break the stems in several places as it scatters the hay.

Rather than wait a day or two to tedder, I am going to come right behind the cutter to scatter the clippings.

Made the switch this year to wide swaths, don?t make very much dry hay, and so didn?t buy a cutting machine with any type of conditioner. Works very well for my dairy farm, and in some ways think that a conditioner is just an unnecessary and expensive gadget that makes you believe you might get an advantage. Been cutting hay all of my life and it is my opinion that when making silage hay, no conditioner is necessary when hay is laid out flat. Just a hoax perpetrated by the equipment manufacturers to squeeze more money from farmers, than moisture from the hay.

When we had the dairy cows and before we had a discbine we would cut with a Deere 800 swather with no conditioner and then use a rotary tedder to spread the hay out wide. We chopped everything as haylage and usually chopped it the day it was mowed except for first crop and once in awhile fourth crop made late in the fall. Tom

A lot depends on the climate a person farms in.In July and most of August with temperatures in the 90's and usually a good afternoon breeze blowing I can cut hay with a sickle bar
mower that lays the hay out evenly and bale it the next day,real heavy hay wait until the 2nd day.If the hay is extremely heavy I use an old NH 404 conditioner on it which I
can pull behind my NH 456 mower.

We have found a compromise, we set it to wide spread but leave a 10" strip for the tire next to the standing hay. One tire track in thin hay has worked out better for us than the extra time waiting for the tedder to spread the thick stuff. Not a huge improvement
but ready about 1-2 hours earlier on baling day.

Bruce it all makes a big difference in the climate your baling in. We make a lot of dry hay and have 60% plus humidity most of the time during first and second cuttings. So conditioning and tedders are required to get the hay dry in a timely manner. It is rare we get windows of dry weather long enough to make dry hay without conditioning the hay and or tedding it.

As you well know a much easier way is to wrap high moisture hay IF you can feed it that way. Then you would not need to condition or ted the hay.

So it all is what conditions you have to deal with. Those are different on just about every farm. Different hay types, different storage options, different markets/uses of the hay. So there is nothing that is a universal solution.

I've also read that the leaves make sugars during the day and send them to the roots during the night and repeat the next day. So cutting late in the day traps more sugars in the leaves than cutting in the morning.

Friday evening, hurricane Dorian cruising by the Jersey coast 100 miles to the east. I mowed down some 4th cut alfalfa and 3rd cut grass hay. My windrows are wide as can be and get tedded the next morning even wider.

(quoted from post at 19:23:13 09/09/19)
<img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto36106.jpg">
Friday evening, hurricane Dorian cruising by the Jersey coast 100 miles to the east. I mowed down some 4th cut alfalfa and 3rd cut grass hay. My windrows are wide as can be and get tedded the next morning even wider.

Click to expand...

I am sure that it works well for you there. Our soils don't allow it. Everyone mows narrow and then spreads it out after a few hours.