What have you done with your rained on hay?

[Battleriver]

Sitting here we have had another rain move through, and will have another 3 days of rain to think over things. I just counted the feed fut up to date and it is as follows:

Hay put up with no rain 0
.5 "rain 210 greefeed all plastic wrapped
1" of rain 60 hay bales dry - 200 greenfeed plastic wrapped
2" rain- 75 plasic wrapped
4" rain 170 plastic wrapped
5' rain 150 "dry?"

15 ac 2nd cut down 6 days
150 ac crop waiting for weather to cut

We would have been pretty much hooped without a neighbors tubeline wrapper this year, and a new Hesston Silage baler I just hope that the 2nd cut can come off decent, it does not look promising though.

I am interested in seeing how the 4"rain wrapped bales will feed out, I will use the processor and feed them early, at least there will be no dust. Haying in central alberta has been a complete disaster this year, thank God for bale wrap!

 

[miocene]

battleriver,you have a silage baler & a tube liner to use.your worries are over.that combination will make better feed than dry hay.

 

[Whitewing]

I had hay on the ground for something like 8 or 9 days and used a rake everyday to at least dry it off enough that it wouldn't rot.

We finally baled it. I'm sure it'll be as tasty as cardboard for my animals, but they're gonna get it anyway because I really don't have any other choices right now once the rains fall.

And yeah, if you need rain, just try to bale.

 

[Battleriver]

I agree, but how many wrapped bales can I use in a year?, I am already 2 years ahead and have 2nd cut to deal with. it is better than drought :wink: :wink: , I am considering wrapping all of the first cut next year. The issue here this year is that we have not had a day of less than 60% humidity since the 25 of june here, it is even tough to get hay down to 50%h2O before it showers again

 

[cowsense]

Battle River...........I hear ya loud & clear. Haying has been extremely frustrating this year. It is just in the last 10 days that we have got bales up with no rain damage.......starting to get pretty mature! Distance & lack of extra help rules out wrapping. We did try some dry innoculant but it is a pain and haven't got back to check those bales. Have done a lot of raking to try & speed drying.....helps some. Turned some heavy alfalfa 3 times trying to get it dry enough to bale.....was a nightmare to bale; roped up bad and still had wet spots that plugged the baler constantly
One consolation is that it is an extremely good cut and there won't be a shortage of feed. If the rain holds off I'll be on my last field tomorrow.

 

[PATB]

We have people that feed 100 percent silage bales in my area. I know the cost of putting up wrapped bales is more but sure beats spoiled hay. Silage bales give you another option to make good feed in less than perfect hay weather.

 

[allen57]

And yeah, if you need rain, just try to bale.

Evidently you are assuming those of us who need rain had gotten enough to grow something to bale...

 

[RSL]

We are along the Battle, but east of you. We have had freakish amounts of rain. One neighbour said over 21" since May. We are nearing the end of haying and the worst we have hit is about 40 bales worth with 1/2" of rain on the windrow. So far we are approaching 600 bales of dry green hay. We did not start cutting until August, and have plugged along putting a few acres down at a time so we don't wind up with a 100 acre rain out.
Neighbours all around that started at the regular haying time, have lots of black hay. It has been a pretty good luck year for us.
About 25 acres to go and then some little pieces. The swathgrazing, corn grazing, native range look phenomenal, and if we get some rain this week I have about 50 acres of fall rye to punch into the ground.

 

[PureCountry]

Battleriver, why not stockpile it, or graze it hard with a large mob before fall? If you pound it down with lots of animals now, you'll put alot of litter against the soil which will improve soil condition for years. It will also leave plenty of litter to hold snow. Just a thought.

 

[Liveoak]

And yeah, if you need rain, just try to bale.

Evidently you are assuming those of us who need rain had gotten enough to grow something to bale...

No, he means go out and try to do something outdoors where you depend on dry weather and you'll be sure to get rain. I can't remember the last wet bale we had, Allen. But, I hear next week should bring a few drops.

 

[allen57]

And yeah, if you need rain, just try to bale.

Evidently you are assuming those of us who need rain had gotten enough to grow something to bale...

No, he means go out and try to do something outdoors where you depend on dry weather and you'll be sure to get rain. I can't remember the last wet bale we had, Allen. But, I hear next week should bring a few drops.

Nah... that hasn't worked either. Picked up 4 tons of fertilizer the other day with rain all around. Getting land ready to plant oats. Started drizzling on me after I got a couple acres covered. Fertilizer got pretty wet before I made it to the barn. Stopped "raining" in about 15 minutes. Ground was a little sticky but by the time I finished slinging it out you couldn't tell it had rained. A tenth of an inch doesn't go very far anymore but an inch or two would have really messed up the plans.

Next week, tomorrow.............Promises. Promises....but few drops I can believe.

 

[Trinity man]

This is the first year in a long time we got the hay rolled up with out a drop of water on it. It normally have 2-3 inches on it before it finally gets done. Our last cut for the year was 547 5X6 rolls. I still have some to sale.

 

[Denny]

When it's -30 these cows don't care if it's rained on or not as long as they get something to eat.

 

[jingo2]

Dry it out....bale it up..feed it first

 

[Battleriver]

Dry it out....bale it up..feed it first

With none of the next 6 days less than 65%humidity, I doubt that that is a possibility.

I have 15 ac of beautiful 2nd cut down a week, less than 2tenths rain on it, but with no sun or heat in the forecast, it looks like it too will be going into the whit sock as well :evil:

 

[jingo2]

There are people who ranch in areas with higher humidity......maybe they can give ya more successful help.

 

[per]

Dry it out....bale it up..feed it first

The realities of where Battleriver lives leaves the options up to the weather. He(she) could see an extended period of dry weather and warm days but as the days get shorter and the suns angle diminishes the heat then "drying it up" might not happen. The bright side though is that this late in the year it is rather unlikely that it will turn black rather it will cure wet and frozen. I would consider letting it cure in the swath, waiting until it is frozen and let the cattle do the harvesting. As far a feeding it first were it to get baled, why? Again like Denny I would wait (if it is not as palatable) to feed at -30 when it all looks good to the cows. If it is dry I would consider carrying it over to next year when it is likely not to be as wet during haying, to mix with better quality feed, given this has been one of the wettest years on record it doesn't usually repeat with back to back wet.

 

[Denny]

We have about 400 bales worth still standing problem is the ground is to soft to get at it. I'm hopeing for some cold before the snow. Ground hay mixes well with corn silage.

 

[allen57]

Hey Liveoak......ya see that they got 100% chance of rain in for tomorrow?

 

[RSL]

Just got lucky. Finished baling all the down hay last night. just have a few 5 acre or smaller patches. Got 1/2 our rye seeded today. First field finished just as it got too wet to seed. The second field still to go. I think we had an inch or so today, but will check the guage in the morning.