[Fleecewife]

This year we will be making hay for a neighbour in a field with masses of clover.  Does anyone know of this will slow down the making/drying?

[robert waddell]

red or white clover

[Fleecewife]

Hi Robert    It's white clover so quite short.  The grass, which is mostly timothy, is sparse in places and thick in others, but where it's sparse there's masses of the clover.  We have made hay with some clover in before but never this much.

[robert waddell]

timothy grass if you can pull the seed head from the plant (easily) there is to much sap in the plant to make hay in a short period with the clover in the mix it will take longer to dry to an acceptable level to prevent mould forming             the timothy could end up like sticks before the clover has dried enough           you are going to get an uneven drying rate as i visualise it         round bale haylage would be the alternative   
or a return to the old days(weather permitting)cut in the morning  turn during the day and ruck or quoil in the evening
as i am typing i can visualize the heady smell of sweat and sweetmeadow hay both filling the air  :farmer:old

[Fleecewife]

Thanks Robert - that's what I'm worried about.  No chance of haylage - don't have the equipment or the money    We are used to working and watching the hay carefully as it's always a dance with the weather up here.  Always takes at least the 5 days, unless we have a heatwave which has happened twice in the past 16 years    The forecast for the next week is mostly sunshine but with some rain, but no wind.  And of course a bearing has just gone on the tedder...no prob as OH is my mechanical hero but such things always choose their time.
So we will be prepared to watch it all closely and work it carefully.  I'm hoping that as the crop overall is fairly light the clover will get a better opportunity to dry than if it had a heavier grass content.  All that timothy isn't ideal for our sheep as they like something much more varied, but seems to suit the neighbour's horses - too much clover for them though so they are thinking of killing it off.  Hmm - we encourage clover here as we don't use fertilisers, just dung as it falls, raked over and of course clover makes all that lovely nitrogen out of thin air and sunshine  .

[robert waddell]

small square bale it then wrap it depends on the amount of bales you are likely to get   or if you can still get silage bags pop them in vacuum out the surplus air and tie  time consuming but you you have the best of both worlds          that was the principle behind round bale silage to start with
everybody wants free nitrogen you just have to work at it 

[cooper956]

when the wether is right just cut it and seeyou just have to make the best you can if you carnt make haylage m8 made his hay few weeks ago had some thick crop and some light and quite a bit of clover about in te same feild so all got baled at same time some was a litele green and the odd heavey bale but its looking fine in the shed now and better than last years i think sometimes you just find the odd cakey bale but im talking 5 or 6 bales out of 300 so not a problem.
just pick the best week of wether and go for it and if one bit of the feild is still greener than another dont be afraid to go back  and do that bit a extra time on a good day
i have one feild that always has very heavey crop on about 4 rows at the top i ted the lot then do another feild then on way back ted just te top again seams to work but you doo need some good sun or a nice warm breze

[Fleecewife]

We've gone for it    OH mowing now so fingers crossed the forecasters have got it right.  Will report back on how the clover affects the end product 

[Pony-n-trap]

Am watching this thread with interest!!   

[cooper956]

well mines all down now to mowed half on sunday and the rest today hopefully baleing first lot tomorow more clover than iv ever seen in the first lot 2nd lot hasent as much

[cooper956]

now all safely in the shed