[Richmond]

We got a good crop in June while we had a dry fortnight and for us the wet weather since has been a bonus as the regrowth has been superb. Last year we got an early June crop made just in time before the drought hit and ended up feeding hay from July right through to the winter. Fortunately it was leftover crop from 2021 so we still have plenty left in the barn from last year and now this year.

Sounds like a good deal with your friendly farmer KirinChris.

[landroverroy]

Ah yes, I lived in Yorkshire for a while - tropical    Here, there was NO rain in spring so by June the grass was perhaps 3-4 inches long, so nothing to cut, not just that we wanted to wait for more.  In fact in our part of Scotland we rarely cut hay before late July anyway.  It poured for the rest of the year and there is still no sign in the forecast of more than a dry day or two together.  We're still hopeful 


So if we need to buy in hay, Yorkshire's the place to come?

It would seem so!     

[Bywaters]

In west yorkshire. Came back off holiday yesterday 2.30 and was getting the hay crop in at 5.30. The weather has been cruel and my grass is a late growing mix, so when the june heatwave was on, it was 6" tall. When it was cut 10 days ago it was much better, having over come the blasted yellow rattle as well
The yield was rubbish, but I was getting to the stage that I thought I would never get any,
however, calender says it was the same time last year, but much better weather and yield

[Fleecewife]

We cut ours in the south of Scotland two days ago.  There is a High Pressure system building which is almost certainly going to be our only chance of getting a hay crop in so 
Negatives are that the grass was a bit wet, and the ground too when we cut.  Also that we had a bulky amount of second growth coming through the first grass.  It's actually looking quite good though 

[SallyintNorth]

If the forecast holds, we'll be mowing tomorrow....  Keep your fingers crossed for us please!

[Fleecewife]

 

[KirinChris]

We got ours off yesterday but it will go for silage not hay.

The downside to being reliant on someone else for cutting and baling. It probably would have dried this week but the chap who does it for us isn't going to have time later so he had to take it while he could.

We don't need the silage so he will take it all, but he has hay from earlier in the year and will let us have as much as we need through the winter.

We got 42 large bales from our top field (it's about 4.5 acres). Hopefully next year we'll get hay and have some excess to sell.

[Fleecewife]

It's noticeably cooler and damper overnight now than in our usual haymaking time of June/July, so the dew hasn't burnt off until lunchtime.  It's still nailbiting stuff - will we get it or will we not?   We're hoping for Wednesday, but now the three point has started playing up.    we can bring the crop in without needing to use the 3point too much 

[Penninehillbilly]

Tenant cut our field yesterday, I believe he got a crop off other fields in June, but due to no rent payment, I wouldn't let him on my fields, he suddenly turned up with money yesterday  . Hopefully weather will be kind and he gets a good crop.
Hope everyone is managing to get theirs in.

[Fleecewife]

Well, we baled, carted and stacked ours yesterday and actually got a lovely, sweet-smelling, good-sized crop. I'm amazed as I never expected grass which had been rained on most days since July to make so well.  It took a week, with a bit of rain early on.
I'm so pleased we got it in yesterday as today is overcast and humid, with no more good dry days to come.  Serendipity    (and the 3point linkage held up)

[SallyintNorth]

We got our biggest crop ever on Wednesday.  It was nailbiting here too, possibility of rain Weds overnight meant we had to go for Weds but our contractor thought it needed till Friday to be hay...  so it was decisions minute by minute, and needed all community members to give it their all to get it in and stacked under cover before midnight, but we did it.  And a lot of it is hay, with a enough haylage for the cows for this winter and a bit towards next.

 

[Fleecewife]

That's a situation where a community must be a huge help  . I'm glad you got a crop too, now you can relax 

[Penninehillbilly]

Looks like some good stuff off our fields, been a lot of dew, but he has been turning it on afternoons, baled yesterday.

[Forestlens]

It’s certainly been a pretty tough year for haymakers. Our neighbours crop was cut on 22 August and was baled in a sea fog on 8 September! I can’t imagine it will be fed to anything apart from a biomass boiler. If only they’d held their nerve and waited it might have been a half decent crop after last week’s glorious weather.

[twizzel]

Our august cut stuff that got wet was round baled in the end after 16 days and made some gut fill for the cows this winter. We managed to make some small bales last week to much relief, it had a shower on it but the sun came out and managed to bale it before the thunderstorms. Thank god