The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Techniques and skills => Topic started by: Fieldfare on August 02, 2015, 11:37:13 pm
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Hi all- am I the only one yet to still cut for hay? Can anyone predict when the next high pressure is coming? BBC seems downbeat for August. Do I panic yet? :fc:
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Hi, Everyone round here is still waiting to cut , , , great summer !
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I was going to post this very question. Our hay is lying sodden, with very little chance of making it now. The days are starting to get shorter, the sun is less hot.....hahahaha.......nutrition levels have dropped and the grass has rotted underneath. No sign of a high in the next couple of weeks. Still, in 20 years, this is only the second time we've missed the crop altogether. Mr F says not to be so pessimistic as we have made hay into August before, but it's never been good quality. Will start looking for suppliers who can deliver.
I'm not sure what to do with the fallen crop?
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I bought a baler this year and all it has done is take up space in the shed.
Still, at least I still have hope for a chance as the grass in my hay field hasn't been flattened yet - probably because the total growth for the season has only been about 30cm. There was someone of Countryfile last night explaining how one of the reasons lamb prices were low this year was because grass growth had been so good. I choked and fell off my seat.
I think hay will be expensive this year.
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Still waiting too. I have 12 big fields to cut yet, the weather seems to be against us :'( still august is usually a good month I just wish the good weather would hurry up I need at least 5 days minimum to cut. :rant:
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We havent cut ours yet - weve had to ask a contractor this year as when it is time to make, we havent got the machines to do it quickly enough. Our grass is older meadow grass with lots of white clover and other herby type plants and the grasses seem to mature at different times. The latest weve baled (in Aberdeenshire) is september. One of our neighbours used to take a week of in late august to make hay and he always managed it....not panicking just yet!!!!
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Difficult when the weather's so variable. Supposed to be fine here all day but a heavy shower at 7.00 a.m. I have plenty of hay from last year and am going to offer a 7acre field of ours to a neighbour - his was cut and turned once then it bucketed down for ten hours!
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..the weather's variable every year :)
Ours gets cut ned july/beginning of august and is still waiting..always past it's best but we wait for all wildlife to have finished breeding and flowers seeding. But I would like to see the back of it now so I can finish off afterwards tidying the edges and odd unmowable bits with the topper and get some spot spraying in.
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Farmers were busy making hay last week in Aberdeenshire. Not been a good year for it though anywhere.
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This years excellent for grass growth, but just not for cutting it.
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Very little hay made on the carse of stirling , so I assume horse hay is going to be expensive . Have made hay in sept but difficult . FLEECEWIFE the last time I lost a field of hay , I hired an old flail forage harvester and chopped it , often seen rubbish baled and thrown away in field corner to rot :raining: Grass growth in Scotland has been and still is very slow ave temp 5 degrees lower than norm and cold nights .
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We've cut three fields, of which we'd hoped to make hay in two, but have had to wrap them all for silage :( :gloomy:
We've still got several fields to go and remain hopeful of getting at least some as hay. We have also made hay in September before, and actually it's been good stuff for sheep.
In 2006, BH made 6000 little bales of hay, and only a little silage. The following year he got one early field of mini-hestons of hay - early June - and the rest of the year it was all silage, and most of that after mid-August. We even made silage in November one year!
He claims that summers were better and more predictable when he was younger, that you always got the hay finished by the end of July, never needed to make silage, were glad of a wet day to have a rest.
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The person I buy hay from (from off the field) asked thecontractor to do it early July (I think it was then, there was some good hay being got in) he gave some reason for not cutting, now it's gone over, I'll be looking for it elsewhere, Getting worried, I have 4 (small square) bales left, we go through 1+ a week with the goats.
Does ayone use small amounts from large bales, if it's kept covered does it keep?
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Hay doesn't go off like silage, so yes you can use a big bale over a long period of time.
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I used to make silage but I had some neighbors whose kids kept climbing the bales and poking holes in them. I did go and talk to the neighbors, but they never listened. Now I just cut for haylage and stack em in the building, blummin annoying :rant:
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<<<Hay doesn't go off like silage, so yes you can use a big bale over a long period of time.>>>
But if it's from a big round bale it can be horrible to pull off enough. I suppose you could lie it on its side and unroll a bit each time.
Sally, that's an advantage you have as being part of a large farm. You can use silage. But having a small number of sheep means silage or haylage goes off too quickly for us to use. A couple of smallholdings hereabouts in past years have used contractors who didn't try too hard to get the crop as hay, so wrapped it as big bales, and those expensive bales have just sat in a corner and rotted. We don't have a mini bale wrapper, and the nearest one I've seen is on Mull. I know there must be some closer, but no-one we know. So for us it's hay or nothing :farmer: Maybe we should hold off until early September to finally give up on it.
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Yes, I realised bale silage wasn't an option for you, FW. There was a chap using a converted regular small baler to wrap small bales in Devon to sell to horsey folk - he lived off the proceeds!
The only thoughts I had about your crop that's gone over were (a) have it made as big bale silage and sell it. At least the profit would make a contribution to the hay or straw you would need to buy in, and (b) BH talks about them making silage in bags, like big strong dustbin bags, years ago. I don't know any more about it than that but can ask, if required.
And I agree that it's not at all as easy using hay off a big round bale as using small bales, or even big slices off a Heston or mini-Heston (big square) bale. If you've got the room, then standing it upright and walking around and around unwinding is the best way, and even then it's a palaver. But frankly it's easier and less 'orrid than using stinky staining silage ;)
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We have yet to make our ha also, there was one week that we could have done it but two of us out of three were crippled with bad backs so it wasn't do-able!
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I know a couple of farmers here in North Yorks who never cut before the second half of August. Personally, I think it is horrible stalky stuff but it's better than nothing and one, at least has a very good flock of sheep living off it.
We have cut in September when the grass was very slow, but made haylage rather than hay and even that was rather wet.
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And I agree that it's not at all as easy using hay off a big round bale as using small bales, or even big slices off a Heston or mini-Heston (big square) bale. If you've got the room, then standing it upright and walking around and around unwinding is the best way, and even then it's a palaver.
Unwinding it is the idea someone suggested, so thats the way I'm thinking.
Thanks
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Well we've taken the plunge and cut it. The forecast is a bit iffy, but if we don't make it now then it's lost, so it seems worth taking the chance. The ground is still very wet, so tomorrow instead of spreading it we'll row it up and let the ground between the rows dry out, while the breeze starts the drying. Same again the next day but the hay will be moved onto the dry stripes. That's worked for us before :fc: Then we can spread and dry normally :farmer:
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My mower is playing up I've had to spend hrs fixing it, I just hope it really works. :tired:
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Sally' I remember those big black bags for silage! I wish I could find some now. They were so useful, opened out and put on manured/composted ground as a mulch. You could plant through them.
As for hay, down here in South Devon we haven't had the quantity but all saved by July. Also wheat, barley ,oats being harvested now and straw baled. Then, though I hate to say it, we need RAIN!! We have had the odd days of showers but nothing like enough.
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A lot of folk up in Angus still to cut.
However, the forecast is looking fine so folk were cutting it yesterday and hopefully will get it bailed before the weather changes.
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We've another field getting baled and wrapped :( today. Running out of fields - and time - that could be hay... when will summer come to N Cumbria :-\
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It's a gorgeous day today :sunshine:, with a good breeze to dry the hay. However, there's thunderstorms forecast for Monday :rant: then rain setting in next weekend :raining:. Not looking good really. We would rather have rain soon after cutting than once it's nearly ready.
I think yesterday and today are summer up here, then back to good old November :cold:
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We still have ours to cut - it looked fantastic 4 weeks ago but the weather has been so iffy, plus we have been busy elsewhere, that we never sorted a 3/4 day window so it's still there - getting stalkier and stalkier :(
Hopefully we can get it done in the next 10 days or so
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OK... so cut it all down this morning/lunchtime... perfect weather for it :) Made a couple of mistakes- didn't 'toe in' the cutter blades enough... and when cutting each row I missed about a tyre-width strip... I think I will already have plenty of 'aftermath' the minute I take the bales off :dunce: Anyway- you live and learn I guess!
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The person I buy hay from (from off the field) asked thecontractor to do it early July (I think it was then, there was some good hay being got in) he gave some reason for not cutting, now it's gone over, I'll be looking for it elsewhere, Getting worried, I have 4 (small square) bales left, we go through 1+ a week with the goats.
'our' hay was cut this week, I was at Halifax Show all day, OH came to tell me it was being baled and we had to get it in this evening, rain forcast for overnight, managed to leave 10 bales covered up, 8 are still in the van and 62 in various places in the barn. I really struggle with heights, but it was only fair I went up on the loft to pull them off OH as he carried them up a ladder. we were both too tired and it was unsafe for him to be carrying them up the ladder (+ he is 70!).
Not sure it's dry enough, some bales were a bit too heavy, we will have to see.
I'll need some more, but just now feeling too old for this lark :-(
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Don't forget to stack it with air gaps, and to keep checking it's not heating up. Wouldn't like your loft to burn.
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You know what guys maybe whenever we get a few days of really good weather we should gradually bale our fields. So say about 3 days good weather, you cut about 2-3 fields and bale em, then the next time and the time after you repeat until all your fields are cut. I think that's the only way we'll ever be able to make hay this year :thinking:
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Even with ideal weather it takes 5 days of sunshine and breeze to make hay here. We haven't had that, let alone several episodes to stagger making hay. When you live in a wet cool region, you do your best, take risks, and work your butt off to get a crop in, making use of any snatches of dry weather you get. The hay may not be perfect if it's been rained on part way through the making but, as they say, it fills their bellies :sheep: :sheep: :sheep:
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I have to watch out (with the buff being in calf over the winter) which is why I make haylage now and not silage, as I can't afford for any abortions due to listeria. Its supposed to be really hot next week, so am gonna cut then.
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What is your distinction between haylage and silage, wbf?
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What is your distinction between haylage and silage, wbf?
Haylage has been turned more when in the field. Its basically like big baled hay. Silage requires less time to sit and be turned by the spinner. Also silage stinks and goes off whereas haylage doesn't. Plus silage needs to be wrapped whereas with haylage you stack it unwrapped in the building and it serves you well. How did I do? ;) Also I do haylage cause silage has always been a disaster and the buff are very picky eaters ::)
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To me, if it's unwrapped, it's hay, if it's wrapped it's silage.
We dry ours as much as possible too, which of course depends on the conditions at the time. If it's nearly dry enough for hay but not quite we call it 'haylage'. So I guess that to us, all haylage is silage but not all silage is haylage!
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Mr Rea farmer just rocked up and started mowing..looks like he's going round the edges and rougher/dippier bts and left the rest-- which means his young son will get sent down to fill in the mowing. Gives the kds something useful to do on school holidays. He's a good little telehandler driver too.
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Am gonna cut tomoz as the weathers gonna be good this week. i spent all day cleaning my hay shed. :relief:
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...the lad's out there in the dark with the work lights on still going round...only 15 acres more.
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The hay got turned twice today.. if it's a good night without too much dew then then they might be able to turn am and start baling late pm tomorrow sun forcast all day...but some weather warnings for thursday and friday...
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Lots of folks round our way cut over the weekend..... then it rained solidly all of Monday >:(
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With dire forcasts for tomorrow but a lovely day today the guys worked hard..turned twice and rowed and baled and finsihed just on the target of 8.30pm before the dew - about 160 large round which is up on past years.
I've been letting neighbour farmer just have it in exchange for a few odd bits of help.. but he really hasn't offered anything this year so perhaps time to get more commercial....?
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With dire forcasts for tomorrow but a lovely day today the guys worked hard..turned twice and rowed and baled and finsihed just on the target of 8.30pm before the dew - about 160 large round which is up on past years.
I've been letting neighbour farmer just have it in exchange for a few odd bits of help.. but he really hasn't offered anything this year so perhaps time to get more commercial....?
Large round bales of hay cost £20-£25 around here. We worked out that it costs us approx. £10-£12 a bale to make (including paying contractors for cutting and baling.)
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With dire forcasts for tomorrow but a lovely day today the guys worked hard..turned twice and rowed and baled and finsihed just on the target of 8.30pm before the dew - about 160 large round which is up on past years.
managed to get some 3x2 flags on ebay, driving home10.15pm they were still baling near the village, it's been cut long enough for hay, would it now be haylage?
and how many sizes are there in round bales?
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Large round bales of hay cost £20-£25 around here. We worked out that it costs us approx. £10-£12 a bale to make (including paying contractors for cutting and baling.)
I guesstimated his costs...1/2 a day to go round each time: cut, 4 turns, a rowing then baling then a day collecting and carting with 2 men. So while he has some of his own gear and some contracted out it works out to be some 5 'contractor days' equivelent at say £200/contractor day or £1K in costs for £3+K in hay. It'd be nice if I got a £5+ a bale out of it or he offered to pay for 3 or 4 contractor days of work on my place for me (since he could deduct the vat etc 'cos we're not commercial)
In past years he did send someone down to top my slopes for me (1 day's work) but it was always way late in the season and for bracken control I've been paying a driver to use my kit to do it 3 times this year aready (I don't have the bottle/skill for those slopes). It's really knocked that bracken back too.
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couldnt cut as its supposed to rain yet again :rant: I can just see us in Dec without forage :rant:
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It's looking good for baling today here :fc: :fc: :fc:
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I was supposed to cut four days ago, but everyday it says rain and it never does but I can't risk it. I hate this year, nothing but annoying weather and people who can't seem to tell exactly what the weather will be, in my opinion they should either be sacked or their system nerds updating. :rant:
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I was muttering about bad forcasting yesterday...considering all the supercomputers etc and the forcasts seem to be worse than 40 years ago (or just a selective memory). Perhaps they should just ask airline pilots what it's like mid atlantic and save all the fancy met tools..or ring an irish farmer?
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The problem is that the jet stream has been behaving differently over the last 8 years or so to how it had behaved for the preceeding decades. So at first, the forecasters had no models on which to base predictions. And, unless the Jetstream is where it is expected to be for the time of year, the models they are using now have only data from the last few years, so the forecasts are of course less accurate.
And actually, reports of actual conditions from airline and other pilots and from aerodromes and weather stations are an important part of the information used by meterorologists ;)
I can recall the day they announced that the latest Cray supercomputer could now calculate the weather for 24 hours ahead with complete accuracy. The only problem was, it took 25 hours to do so. All my pals found this hysterically funny; I was the lone voice saying, "You're missing the point. The point is that they now have enough information in the models to do the calculation and get an accurate result. Faster computing will come."
I expect that the Cray "supercomputer" which had produced this accurate, but late, forecast was about as powerful as the laptop I am using now! :D
(And it was 1980 or 1981, if you were interested. I know because I remember where I was working at the time, and I was there from Sept 1980 to Jan 1982.)
For making hay, we need a four or five day accurate forecast. These only got really accurate towards the end of the 20th century. The jet stream started misbehaving around 2006/7, I think - so actually, most farmers have been making hay according to their own weather sense for most of the last x00 years... ;p
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The jet stream started misbehaving around 2006/7, I think
Ha! Go on, blame the poor ol' jetstream and not the guys modelling it ;D
If memory serves the weather forcasting used to be based on current local obs and look back to see when they last happened and what happened next... rather than a global model and understanding of pattern changes. Reality is that one needs full global sensing from ocean temps and currents onwards and refine a model that works - why the supercomputers get used.
It's like blaming el nino instead of modelling el nino and working it out.
What gets to be fun is looking at the forcasts from other countries - as in their interpretations compared to our met folk interpretations of the data - often significantly different. www.yr.no (http://www.yr.no) is generally more optimistic than met office...
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Our hay is still standing there - haunting me when I look out our sitting room window. I swear its laughing!
Last Monday (3rd) the weather forecast for this week looked hopeful..... however by this Monday the forecast had turned to pretty dire - currently sitting here while it is raining with suggestions that we might get a month's worth of rain today. Oh joy.
Maybe next week.....
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I'm feeling extremely smug - sorry :sofa: Our little bit of hay is all baled, carted and stacked, and in spite of the endless rain it's perfect quality (for primitives). Our lovely workies took half the afternoon off to help with the work and they really enjoyed it (stacking bales is 3D brickwork 8)). It means we're not dead on our feet as most years. :relief:
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I'm feeling extremely smug - sorry :sofa: Our little bit of hay is all baled, carted and stacked, and in spite of the endless rain it's perfect quality (for primitives). Our lovely workies took half the afternoon off to help with the work and they really enjoyed it (stacking bales is 3D brickwork 8) ). It means we're not dead on our feet as most years. :relief:
You can go off people....... :innocent:
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Years ago I used to make small baled hay, always perfect weather. One year I made so much that it was a squeeze to shut the door to the building, very good year that. :) Am glad though that you have had a good year for hay though fleecewife, I wouldn't wish this year of bad weather in Wales for anyone. Am always happy to hear other people being successful at baling for hay :)
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You must have different weather in your valley - I'm mid wales too near llanfyllin.
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WBF you could always resort to the old method of grazing standing hay this winter. I had to do this a few winters ago and it was very successful.
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:relief:
ditto fleecewife! :thumbsup:
Sorry WBF, I'm only over the hills near Llanidloes can't be that far from you.
Mine was in yesterday by 6.15pm.
It was cut Saturday evening, rained on sunday night and monday morning then two really good sunny days got it made.
Looks and smells great.
Still another field to do if the weather comes right again but what I've got could be eeked out and the goats can graze the uncut field once the angoras have been shorn in a few weeks if I can't get it made.
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Good luck to everyone still to get it in .
Weather forecasters Pah ! Each and every one has a different outlook. Sometimes the best forecast is the local old boy down the road , one day forecast for showers , the day of baling , bale it he said it'll not get wet . So we did
it was a dour day with a breeze but no rain , he explained that with a sw wind the rain would fall on the grampians before it got to the coast , nothing like local knowledge.
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Our two fields cut Monday were baled with literally minutes to spare before the rain started. :relief:
Big round bales, hay not silage (not wrapped); they'll have to stand out and withstand the rain for a while. We've got spitty spotty stuff at the mo, that won't harm them. Heavier forecast for overnight and tomorrow morning, but :fc: not enough to do damage.
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I'm feeling extremely smug - sorry :sofa: Our little bit of hay is all baled, carted and stacked, and in spite of the endless rain it's perfect quality (for primitives). Our lovely workies took half the afternoon off to help with the work and they really enjoyed it (stacking bales is 3D brickwork 8) ). It means we're not dead on our feet as most years. :relief:
You can go off people....... :innocent:
;D :bow:
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Years ago I used to make small baled hay, always perfect weather. One year I made so much that it was a squeeze to shut the door to the building, very good year that. :) Am glad though that you have had a good year for hay though fleecewife, I wouldn't wish this year of bad weather in Wales for anyone. Am always happy to hear other people being successful at baling for hay :)
Most of the year has been awful WBF, constant rain, never a long enough stretch to make hay. I had totally given up expecting to get any hay at all, and having to buy it in. The past week with mainly dry weather (a couple of good soakings but soon dried in the breeze) was a complete surprise :sunshine: I hope something similar happens in wet Wales and you get a crop. It's always a big worry, and an expensive one too.
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Managed to get neighbour to help and finished at 10.20 pm last night
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WBF .. if my current frcast is correct then you have a hay-making window starting in a couple fo hours when the worst of the rain has dried off...supposed to stay dry to tuesday pm. That's if you believe forcasts..
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My first ever baling. Cut Saturday...baled Wednesday- all went smoothly for the 1st field (then I broke the baler- see equipment thread!). All home and dry (neighbour round-baled the 2nd field). 60ish bales in the warm and dry by 9pm Wednesday all done by my own fair hand. Phew- time to sit down :farmer:
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WBF .. if my current frcast is correct then you have a hay-making window starting in a couple fo hours when the worst of the rain has dried off...supposed to stay dry to tuesday pm. That's if you believe forcasts..
I've come to not believe any forecast at all, I rely on a farming neighbor who can predict (to some accuracy) of when to cut, however it was a close shave for him this year. The day here has been mist, fog and rain with a lot of salty wind from the sea, reminds me of loch lomond pics in scotland :)
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It bucketted down here until about 2-3pm then dried up and by 5.30pm the long grass was dry as well as the pathways..forcast is good for 3 days and into tuesday.. as good as you'll get this time of year - a cut this evening would have been a good start then plenty turning to make up for the lack of breeze...
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Well my small field will be cut tomorrow and keep fingers crossed it gets made. :fc:
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Hay still standing here, but the ground underneath is so wet that I would need at least 2 good days with a dry wind before I could think of cutting it.
There were 4 days in a row without rain early last month but apart from that I don't think there has been a day for months without at least one shower. At least the events of Monday this week have been a one-off - beautiful warm morning followed by a cloudburst and floods in the afternoon which closed away the railway line.
I'll give the hay until the end of the month and then let the tups and hoggs start work on it. At saletime I'll keep back the minimum number of animals for this winter. In theory SGRPID should be handing us £80 for each ewe hogg we keep over the winter but as there is no knowing what ways they will find to reduce the payment I'm being cautious this year. We'll see how the scheme works and maybe keep more next year.
A couple of months ago I was visiting a farm in Banffshire and they were telling us that farmers there had been trying to sell off big bales of silage at £10 each. It's enough to make you weep!
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Ah well I've taken the plunge and cut! 4 days of good weather, supposed to be forecast. I have a neighbour cutting half the crop and I'm cutting the other half, I just sincerely hope all goes well. I couldn't wait any longer, my grass is already past its best! :rant:
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My first ever baling. Cut Saturday...baled Wednesday- all went smoothly for the 1st field (then I broke the baler- see equipment thread!). All home and dry (neighbour round-baled the 2nd field). 60ish bales in the warm and dry by 9pm Wednesday all done by my own fair hand. Phew- time to sit down :farmer:
WELL DONE hay looks good , see what you mean about the mowing, next year :thumbsup: have a look on ebay a very simple bale sledge ( one for £ 140 ) dragged behind the baler to collect 10 or so bales in one place , released at the same point across the field makes stacking in the field or picking up much easier
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Ah well I've taken the plunge and cut! 4 days of good weather, supposed to be forecast. I have a neighbour cutting half the crop and I'm cutting the other half, I just sincerely hope all goes well. I couldn't wait any longer, my grass is already past its best! :rant:
:fc: Keeping fingers crossed for you :fc:
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Thanks. If all goes well I should have over 150 big bale haylage am just hoping all goes well. I have more fields to cut, but am focusing on the biggest fields, so hopefully at the end of the year I should have over 200. Probably not quite enough over winter but if need be I'll buy more in. :thinking:
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Things are most definitely against us :( Had arranged for our neighbour's grandson to come and cut the field this weekend as the forecast looks good til Thurs - however after waiting all weekend I get a text from him at 4pm today to say his mower was having problems so no chance to cut for us :(
Twice this summer we had the opportunity to buy our own disc mower at a couple of auctions - really wishing we had taken the plunge now - relying on someone else is a major pain in the proverbial.
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Phew, :relief: all safely in the barn ( and shed and kid pen because I've never had so much hay and have run out of places to put it.) Not sure where the goat kids are going to eat their creep tonight.
It's been a fantastic haymaking day. Clear sky, hot sun and a steady breeze all day.
Hope everyone else is having the same luck at last.
How have you done WBF?
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quite well actually, 2 fields I got 95 bales off, should be another 60 or so off the other half. I still have about 20-30 more acres to cut, but I had to only cut half as I had only a limited window. Just got back from watching the guy bale all the hay. The guy who's gonna do the wrapping is gonna be here shortly to wrap the bales. The hay is almost haylage, only slightly damp.
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Glad you've got something in. :fc: for the rest.
I find this forecast fairly realistic. http://www.farmersweather.co.uk/ (http://www.farmersweather.co.uk/)
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My contractor cut it Sunday as he said there was a window until Wed night. He turned it Monday, and then it bucketed it down Tues afternoon and then again Wed night. We have lost 6 acres :'( what is usually around 600 small bales. Luckily we have enough really good hay in the barn from last year that will do the fussy pony and the two little goats, who are arriving in 10 days time, until Christmas, Will have to get some big bale haylage for the other horses and then we will have to buy in for the sheep.
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Ah man am so sorry to hear about that, that's awful.
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My contractor cut it Sunday as he said there was a window until Wed night. He turned it Monday, and then it bucketed it down Tues afternoon and then again Wed night. We have lost 6 acres :'( what is usually around 600 small bales. Luckily we have enough really good hay in the barn from last year that will do the fussy pony and the two little goats, who are arriving in 10 days time, until Christmas, Will have to get some big bale haylage for the other horses and then we will have to buy in for the sheep.
Is it really lost? Ours often gets wet at least once, but if you then get a good spell and you can lift and turn, the hay will be ok.
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My contractor cut it Sunday as he said there was a window until Wed night. He turned it Monday, and then it bucketed it down Tues afternoon and then again Wed night. We have lost 6 acres :'( what is usually around 600 small bales. Luckily we have enough really good hay in the barn from last year that will do the fussy pony and the two little goats, who are arriving in 10 days time, until Christmas, Will have to get some big bale haylage for the other horses and then we will have to buy in for the sheep.
Is it really lost? Ours often gets wet at least once, but if you then get a good spell and you can lift and turn, the hay will be ok.
Absolutely. Where we are, it's never lost - it might not be as good, but it's still usable. The only time it's really lost is if it rains a lot on it when it was bone dry ready to bale. (And we'd still bale and wrap for silage.)
But then, it takes 4 days to dry here and needs to be worked a lot - if you are somewhere much dryer and warmer, I suppose it might have been more dry before it got wet (if that makes any sense.)
If it's no use for hay, could you still bale and warp for silage - and sell it if that's not useful for your own livestock?
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TBH girls, it hasn't really stopped raining since :gloomy: . Contractor has gone to ground so I will have to write it off. Not sure what to do with all the grass on the ground though. Will the new grass grow through?
I will investigate if anyone ants any silage, thanks for the tip.
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I feel for you HG, the storm tonight was crazy, worried about flooding again, but luckily it kept having lighter showers between the downpours, just about got the goats in as it started and had to leave the lights + radio on because of the thunder & lightening,
just been looking at weather forecasts, nice start tomorrow but rain pm, and some rain each day till Friday, which at the moment looks good.
I know a few people now who are losing their hay, not locally, we have 3 local contractors who seem to get it in once cut, maybe they only cut what they know they'll have time to work and bale,
def not going to be much summer hay about, but the contractor told me they've had some good hay in september.
I'd try and get the wet hay raked off, it could act as a mulch and kill the grass underneath?
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I've got some gulleys I only top once a year (or it means lots of turns through the good flat meadow) and each time they end up with thick layers of toppings that happily rot down with new grass coming through better than the hay meadow. last year the crows dug up a whole 5 acre field (looking for larvae?) and it looked like bare mud by christmas... it all came back with good hay cut this year at as good a level as on the untouched fields.
With all the seeds in there and the seeds from the hay cutting and the new organic matter from the rotting grass these fields recover well - more resilient than you'ld think.
Also if you do rake it up what are you going to do with it apart from let it rot down and spread it back on?
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Well, to my surprise I actually managed to get some hay in on Tuesday, a week after it was cut and in spite of two wet days. Most of the drying was on Sunday, with a fine warm wind. It's only a small amount, six tarpaulin loads, so perhaps 8 or 10 small bales, but it's not bad stuff, considering, and maybe I'll manage a bit more if we get a few more dry days. And now I have some space to spread new-cut hay!
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Very good, glad to hear it :thumbsup:
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Weve finally managed to get our park cut, baled and wrapped for haylage - 37 large round bales. Weve never used it before and we aren't sure if our anima ls will take to it (cows, goats, sheep). The guy who made it for us has offered to swap it for hay if we can't use it.
We don't yet know how much he will charge yet - any ideas much the going rate is in Aberdeenshire? We bought the film wrap - so hopefully will reduce the cost a bit. I never realised how much the black plastic costs £97 for 2 reels of 500mm!! Trying to work out what I can use the half reel left!!
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We went down to Edinburgh at the weekend (passed 2 lorryloads of small bales heading north) and there was a lot of haybaling activity in Stirlingshire, so perhaps things aren't as bad as I'd feared. I was imagining prices going through the roof.
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the local farmer here has baled loads of hay , small and round bales, mostly for their own use, I think the farm where I keep abbey has a certain amount of it booked and paid for in advance as they dont' sell it to the public usually as far as I know, I am sure the farmer kept working for at least 48 hrs without a break to get it in.. .. so hard working. he gets a bit grumpy at this time of year, I dont' blame him.. but is usually the nicest person ever. and some fields he might get a second cut, he's just waiting the weather out now.. it'll be less nutritious but good for fat ponies so I'm hoping for some of that.
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I always use the leftover black plastic for raised beds in the winter. Also if you get any bales with holes in it can be useful too. Am sure there are more people with a lot more suggestions :thinking:
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We finally cut our field today - had to use a topper as our access to a mower has not materialised this year. Weather is looking ok until Friday so hopefully we will get it baled and under cover by Thurs evening. A lot of the bulk of the grass has already gone, but we will get more than enough for our needs and maybe 50 or so bales to sell on. It's more to do with field management than anything else.
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I still have 7 more fields to cut, I should have cut two days ago but half of my imported heifers, which arrived 6 wks ago, calves, so I have been milking and bottle feeding. I just hope the weathers good for the rest of the week.
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I was so close to giving up last week & opening the gate for the cattle to have a feast - really glad I held out, we ended up with nearly twice as much as last year's early August crop. All that rain certainly kept the grass growing! Feeling relieved.
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I just cut my second lot today, am baling on Friday as the weathers good for then. Once that's done I am finished for the year. :relief: :excited:
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We'll be baling up tomorrow - :fc: the baler does it's job. At the end of baling last year it started to miss the knotting on the last few bales but we hope we can source and fix the issue with the 1st bales this year.
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We did it :excited: :excited: :excited: :excited:
The problem with the knotter of the baler turned out to be a broken twine grabber (technical term don't you know...) and we were filled with dread - but it turned out our neighbour had a Bamford baler sitting in his yard that was being broken for bits so we were able to salvage the requisite part :thumbsup:
So all spun, baled and now in the barn. We got about 100 bales (300 last year) but the cut was less than good (topper) and not very short, with quite a lot left uncut so quite chuffed with the 100. The field does look like it needs a tidy up though!
Phew
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We did it :excited: :excited: :excited: :excited:
The problem with the knotter of the baler turned out to be a broken twine grabber (technical term don't you know...) and we were filled with dread - but it turned out our neighbour had a Bamford baler sitting in his yard that was being broken for bits so we were able to salvage the requisite part :thumbsup:
So all spun, baled and now in the barn. We got about 100 bales (300 last year) but the cut was less than good (topper) and not very short, with quite a lot left uncut so quite chuffed with the 100. The field does look like it needs a tidy up though!
Phew
Well done such a relief for you , some is always better than none :thumbsup:
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Phew!! What a relief!! Cut on Monday evening, put undercover last night. Rain spots today and light rain forecast for tonight.
I was only able to cut half the field it was so tangled and could only be cut in one direction, but what it lacks in quality it has made up in bulk and at least I should be able to cover most of the winter's feed with it. :fc:
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Well done to everyone who has cut for hay! :yippee: I baled yesterday afternoon and finished just as the first spots of rain came in. :relief: I was congratulated by a farmer I have never met before, but heard a lot about (lives in the same village as me) about getting my hay in, weird how two people can live on different sides of one village and never meet until now :roflanim: