Subject: Haying FAQ

From: Ronald Florence <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 04:15:04 GMT

Archive-name: rural/haying-faq
Last-modified: 1 June 1995

	       Frequently Asked Questions About Haying
               ---------------------------------------

Changes since <[email-masked]>: 
	mail-server,
	NWS broadcasts,
	drying examples,
	discing lime,
	fertilizer recommendations,
	light cuttings need no tedder.

Copyright 1994-95 Ronald Florence.  Permission is granted for
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------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: why grow hay?

1.  Why grow hay?  I can pick up all I need at $2/bale in the field.

    There are at least four good reasons to grow hay:

        - control over the quality of the feed you give your livestock;
	- to cut down on feed costs;
	- because you don't want your meadows and fields to revert to 
	  woods, jungle, or desert;
	- as a business.
	  
    Hay as a business is complicated and risky, requiring large
    outlays for equipment and labor, and a steady market.  When you're
    buying, good hay seems scarce and expensive; when you're selling,
    there always seems to be a glut.  The rumors about hay going for
    $160+/ton always seem to apply to a different county or the year
    when you reseeded your haylots and have no hay to cut.

    This FAQ is for small farm and property owners who want to cut hay
    from meadows and fields for their own use or for casual sale.
    Cutting your own hay, either alone or in a cooperative with
    neighbors or a custom baler, may not pay down the mortgage, but it
    lets you control the quality of the feed you give your animals,
    and if you have access to fields and haying equipment, can cut
    down on feed bills.  Much hay, especially in the West and South,
    is grown by livestock producers for their own use; if your only
    source of hay is their excess production, the prices and
    availability of your feed will be volatile.  Even if you don't
    feed livestock, in some areas builders and landscapers pay $3/bale
    or more for mulch hay used for erosion control.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: haying equipment

2.  What equipment do I need to cut hay?

    Traditionally, hay is cut with a sickle-bar mower.  A haybine,
    either pulled by a tractor or a self-powered unit, combines the
    mower with a reel that stands grass up for the cutter, a
    conditioner that crushes the stems so the hay will dry faster, and
    a windrower, which can be set to leave the cut hay in windrows or
    spread out.  Sickle-bar mowers cut like multiple pairs of
    scissors.  They do a good job on grass and legumes, but are
    vulnerable to stones and stumps.  You can rivet on a new knife in
    the field, but the repair is time-consuming and the parts are
    relatively expensive.  

    A newer machine for cutting hay is the disc-mower or discbine,
    which cuts with small, replaceable, free-swinging knives on
    whirling discs.  The discs are said to stand up lodged (toppled)
    hay, and the free-swinging knives are less likely to break on
    stones.  Because the machines are less vulnerable to breaking or
    clogging, you can drive over a field faster with a disc-mower,
    mowing more hay in less time.  Replacing a knife is a quick job,
    and the knives are cheap.  Disc-mowers are messy, and usually have
    a rubber skirt to confine the splashing juices.

    It is also possible to cut hay with a modified brush hog.  If one
    side is removed from the brush hog housing, the cut grass will fly
    out instead of staying under the housing to be chopped by the
    whirling blades.  A sickle-bar or disc-mower will do a much better
    job: it is difficult to keep brush hog blades really sharp, and
    the heavy blades hack the hay and knock off leaves.

    Whether you mow with a 4-foot sickle-bar or a self-powered 14-foot
    discbine, the mowing pattern is almost always the same.  Because
    the mower is offset to the right side of the tractor, you mow
    clockwise in a spiral toward the center of the field, then mow the
    last row around the edge of the field counter-clockwise.  Most
    mowers don't do a good job sweeping around a corner, so you
    usually have to either back up at the corners with the mower
    raised, or take a big loop around to position the mower for the
    next leg.

    Before haybines (mower-conditioners), some farmers used a separate
    conditioner that was run over the field to crush stems and windrow
    the hay after it was mowed.  They will still work, and are often
    available at auctions, but a separate conditioner means another
    trip over the field with the tractor, which is time and fuel.
    Most grass hays dry well without conditioning.  In some areas,
    like the Intermountain West, horsemen prefer hay that has not been
    conditioned because poisonous blister beetles may be crushed into
    the hay.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: drying hay

3.  What equipment do I need to dry hay?  What's the difference
    between a a tedder and a rake?  How do I use a hayrake?

    Drying hay is a race against the weather.  A light cutting of
    grass hay will dry in one good hot day.  In 100 degree weather
    with 40% humidity, even a heavy cutting of 3 tons/acre will dry in
    one day.  Those are rare conditions in most areas, and heavy
    cuttings, especially of legumes like alfalfa and clover, are hard
    to dry when the days are damp, cool, or short.  Some farmers spray
    special drying chemicals on their alfalfa as they mow it.  In
    areas with perpetual overcast skies, hay is sometimes dried on
    temporary tripods made of three limbs laced together.  There are
    English farmers who insist that tripod hay is the only really good
    hay, and in damp counties they're probably right.  On Norwegian
    hill farms, hay used to be dried on staked wires.  Fans and
    slatted floors or screened tunnels through the mow can also be
    used to dry hay that has been baled or gathered early.  Chemicals,
    fans, and tripods aside, most farmers rely on tedders and rakes to
    aide the drying of their hay.

    A tedder turns hay to expose green surfaces and speed up the
    drying.  The early tedders were ground driven, and gently flipped
    the hay; newer tedders are driven off the tractor PTO, and do a
    more violent job of airing and scattering hay.  Too much tedding,
    especially late in the drying, can knock the leaves off alfalfa
    and clover, losing much of the nutritional content of the hay.  If
    you're buying a tedder, try to get one that matches the width of
    the windrows left by your mower.  A fourteen-foot wide tedder will
    take in two windrows from a seven-foot mower.  If hay is rained on
    soon after it is cut, running over the field with a tedder will
    shake the water off the hay and minimize the damage.

    If you are blessed with spells of dry weather, and if you take
    light cuttings of hay from unfertilized or moderately fertilized
    fields, you may not need a tedder.  You still need a hayrake.
    Before hay is baled, it needs to be raked into windrows that the
    baler can follow.  The most common rakes are ground-driven
    pinwheels or side-delivery rakes.  Pinwheel rakes do a terrific
    job on long straight rows, but are less effective on corners.  Hay
    is normally raked twice.  On the first run, you rake the hay
    `out,' which with most rakes means driving the field in a
    clockwise spiral.  The tractor and rake end up in the middle of
    the field.  A few hours or even a day later, you follow the spiral
    back out, driving in the opposite direction so the hay is raked
    `in'.  The final raking leaves room for the baler and tractor
    outside the last row.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: gathering hay

4.  How do I gather the hay?  Is there an alternative to baling?

    Before balers, hay was routinely gathered loose, pitched onto a
    wagon or an elevator (conveyor), and stored loose in the mow
    (loft) of a barn.  The loose hay would continue to dry in the mow,
    and was fed out by pitching it down to the animals below.  Loose
    hay is a labor-intensive process and takes up a lot of space in
    the mow.

    You can also stack hay in the fields, in the traditional haystacks
    of Swiss hill farms and fairy tales, or the enormous haystacks of
    Montana range country.  The bigger the volume of the haystack, the
    better the hay inside keeps.  Haystacks look great, but they're
    hard to build, the hay is rarely high quality, and tossing a bale
    in the feeder is probably easier than building a fence around the
    stack and feeding animals with a pitchfork.  Range haystacks are
    built with custom-fabricated beaver-slides; huge tractors with
    grabbers feed out the hay.

    Most small farms today forsake the picturesque haystacks for
    square balers.  The baler can be adjusted so bales weigh anywhere
    from 35-60 pounds for a `two-string' bale or 80-180 pounds for the
    big `three-wire' bales favored in California.  With the smaller
    bales, you can let the bales drop on the field and go around later
    to pick them up; or bale with a chute behind the baler, so that
    one or two people on a following wagon can build a compact load of
    120-200 bales without bending over to pick up bales; or use a
    kicker behind the baler to toss the bales into a wagon with sides
    and a back.  A kicker and special wagons make square baling a
    one-person operation, but the equipment is expensive, and getting
    the wagon to fill well may require soft, shaggy bales.
    
    If you drop bales in the field, you can pick them up with two- or
    three-person crews and pickup trucks, low trailers that let you
    stack from the ground, or sleds low enough to let you sling the
    bales on with hay hooks.  Look hard enough at auctions and you may
    be able to find an old bale-picker that picks up bales onto a
    pickup-mounted elevator.

    At the barn, you will probably want an elevator (conveyor) to
    carry bales up to the mow from your wagons or truck.  Some are
    driven by electric motors, others by the PTO of a tractor.  For a
    large mow, a second elevator rigged horizontally can be a big
    labor saver.  Some farms use a permanently installed horizontal
    conveyor near the peak of the mow; as the bales move along the
    elevator, an adjustable diagonal knocks them off into an empty
    section of the mow.  Rigged well, elevators can make unloading a
    wagon a one-man job.  When there is a lot of hay to be brought in
    and threatening weather, even a mechanized setup is no substitute
    for lots of hands and an extra tractor or big pickup (be careful
    with an import or 1/2 ton pickup on loaded hay wagons) to haul
    wagons back and forth from the baler to the barn.

    You will find no end of theories about the right way to stack
    bales in a mow.  Whatever pattern you use, it is a good idea to
    stack bales on their sides, with the stems of the cut hay running
    up-and-down, which allows maximum convection ventilation.  The
    greener the hay, the looser it should be packed, to allow cooling
    and curing without danger of mildew or combustion.

    Round bales are a one-person operation.  Years ago there were
    round balers that produced bales of 60-100 pounds.  Today, most
    round balers produce bales of 600-2000 pounds.  The bales are
    either left in the field until they are used, sometimes covered
    with a machine-applied plastic sleeve and lifted off the ground on
    old pallets or tires, or they can be moved to a covered storage
    area with a bale spike on the bucket-loader or three-point hitch
    of a tractor.  Round bales are labor-saving, both in baling and
    feeding, but even when the bales are stored under cover it is hard
    to get the same quality hay as small square bales.  Recent
    experiments suggest that the cost of constructing inside storage
    for round bales can be amortized quickly with the reduction in
    waste; an alternative, for beef cattle, is to spray the bales with
    beef tallow. For animals that trample their hay, like sheep, round
    bales require some thought in designing feeders.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: small hayfields

5.  What about a little meadow of less than an acre?  Can I get hay
    off it without a major outlay for equipment?

    A small meadow can be hayed with no more equipment than a scythe,
    a hand forage rake (wooden, with wood pins for teeth), and a
    pitchfork to gather the loose hay on a cart, pickup, or wagon.
    Cutting hay with a scythe takes skill: an old-timer can show you
    how to adjust the scythe and keep it sharp, and how to cut hay
    without exhausting yourself.  For a slightly larger meadow, a
    walk-behind sickle-bar mower would do a good job of cutting hay.
    Some European manufacturers make small two- and four-wheeled
    tractors with a sickle bar cutter in front, rather than extending
    to the right, which makes them ideal for smaller fields.  

    If you have too much hay for a forage rake, but not enough for a
    baler, you could gather loose hay with a home-built buckrake on a
    bucket loader or three-point hitch.  Books of older farm
    implements can provide ideas, or you might be able to adapt an
    older horse- or mule-drawn dump rake by shortening the drawbar,
    tinkering with the hitch, and rigging a trip string that you can
    operate from the tractor seat (unless you have a willing 12-year
    old you can plunk on the rake seat to trip the rake at the end of
    each windrow).  Northern Hydraulics sells a miniature pinwheel
    rake (advertised for dethatching lawns), small enough to pull with
    a lawn tractor.  If you have a cooperative neighbor, you might be
    able to cut and rake your meadow when he is haying his fields, and
    arrange custom baling of your meadow.  Most custom operators are
    reluctant to harvest a small meadow, unless proximity to other
    haylots, or some favor tips the balance.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: equipment costs

6.  How much is the equipment going to cost me?

    New haying equipment is expensive.  If you're handy with tools, or
    buy carefully, you don't need new equipment for occasional haying
    on a few fields.  Many farms have part of the equipment they need,
    like a tractor big enough for a baler.  A 25hp tractor can run a
    PTO-driven square baler.  An even smaller tractor can pull a
    gasoline-engine baler.  If you're planning to pull wagons behind
    the baler, especially on hills, you will need a more powerful and
    heavier tractor.  A live-PTO is a good idea on a tractor driving a
    baler.  You can usually clear a clogged baler by backing up, but
    if the PTO stops when you shift into reverse, it may take a
    full-scale dismantling to clear the baler.

    Used rakes, tedders, and balers are often available at auctions or
    at implement dealers.  You may find some odd-balls that are no
    longer made, like three-point hitch side-delivery rakes and
    ground-driven tedders.  They will often do a good job, as long as
    essential spare parts, like rake teeth and knotter parts for the
    baler, are available.  Even if you're an experienced mechanic, it
    is probably a good idea to try to get the manual with a used
    baler, to try it on some loose hay before you buy, and to examine
    it carefully for wear on the knotter, the flywheel bearings, and
    the knife.  Get the owner or another experienced user to explain
    the adjustments.

    Haybines generally require a tractor with auxiliary hydraulics,
    and many sickle-bar mowers only fit a particular model of tractor
    because they require some special link to the drawbar or
    three-point hitch to control the raising and lowering of the
    cutter bar.  A sickle-bar mower can be a versatile implement for
    trimming fence rows and clipping pastures as well as mowing hay.
    Make sure you can get replacement knives and stone guards for the
    mower.

    Used hay wagons (hayracks) are also available, especially if
    you're willing to replace worn tires and rebuild wooden beds.  It
    is not a good idea to save money by putting auto tires instead of
    heavy-duty implement tires on a wagon: a load of hay can weigh six
    tons.

    Cost?  You can probably find a serviceable used baler for $500 to
    $2500, depending on your mechanical skills, the area of the
    country, and the season when you shop the auctions and implement
    dealers.  A used sickle-bar mower could be as cheap as $200; new
    ones cost $1000 and up.  A used hayrake can be had for $500.  If
    you hay with a friend or neighbor, you may not need even the
    minimal equipment.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: making hayfields

7.  What does it take to convert my overgrown lot to a hayfield?

    Hard work and patience.  See the Pasture FAQ for some general
    information on land clearing.  Once the field is clear of stones
    and stumps -- which may require a bulldozer with a grubber blade
    or a backhoe, and hours of stone-picking -- do a soil test and add
    lime as needed to bring the pH up to whatever your planned hay
    crop requires.  Lime migrates slowly in soil, so adding more than
    2.5 tons/acre may require a year or so of alternate crops before
    the pH is at the required level.  Heavy applications of lime
    should be disced in; surface application initially affects only
    the top 1/2 inch of soil.  Once the pH is where you want it, you
    can either disc the field thoroughly before seeding, or kill the
    existing vegetation with Round-Up (or 2,4-D or atrazine) and plant
    no-till.

    A heavy drag behind the disc harrow will help level the field.  To
    control weeds, it sometimes works well to plant an interim annual
    crop, like buckwheat, oats, rye, or dwarf rape that you can later
    disc in, perhaps with a heavy application of manure, before you
    seed the hay.  A dense stand of buckwheat will choke out weeds
    that would overwhelm a hay seeding, and add to the tilth of your
    soil when you disc it in.  Temporary crops like rape, turnips,
    rye, or oats can provide pasture for animals or a quick cutting of
    hay while they're helping get the field ready for seeding hay.  In
    some areas, broadleaf herbicides (2,4-D) are sprayed on young oats
    to control weeds.

    On a disced field, after you've applied the needed fertilizer, a
    Brillion or other heavy seeder will do the best job with small
    seeds like alfalfa or timothy; a drill will work well with larger
    seeds.  If you can't borrow a seeder, you can broadcast from a
    hand-carried Cyclone seeder for small seeds (alfalfa, timothy) or
    a three-point-hitch fertilizer spreader for orchard grass or oats.
    Increase the application rate over the seed bag recommendation if
    you are broadcasting.  Rolling broadcast seed will probably
    provide the highest germination rate.  If you don't have a roller,
    disc large seeds lightly after broadcasting; a pass with a drag or
    branches will cover small seeds.

    For no-till seeding, you may be able to borrow the needed machine
    from a local agricultural extension or soil bank office.  It is
    important to follow the instructions for early mowing or grazing
    to control weeds after no-till seeding.

    In some areas, fall seedings work well, and provide hay the next
    spring.  In general, planting time is site and crop specific.
    Talk to knowledgeable local people, including extension or soil
    conservation service agents and other farmers, to find what works
    in your area.  Some farmers like to plant oats as a cover drop
    with spring or late summer seedings.  The fast-growing oats are
    supposed to keep down weeds.  Be sure to inoculate legume seeds to
    increase the nitrogen-fixing ability of the alfalfa or clover.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: hays

8.  What kind of hay should I plant?

    Depends on location, climate, soil, and the intended use.  Some
    general observations:

	- alfalfa (Arabic for `best fodder') is a high-yielding,
    highly nutritious, and highly palatable legume hay.  It requires
    well-drained soils and a neutral pH.  In some climates alfalfa hay
    may be difficult to dry well without a haybine or conditioner to
    crush the stems, it may be susceptible to weevils and other pests,
    and for some livestock, like horses, alfalfa hay may be too
    nutritious except as a supplement.  Alfalfa can have disease and
    insect problems that make it uneconomical to grow, especially in
    the South.  Alfalfa fields generally have to be reseeded every 4-6
    years; it is often grown in rotation with corn or other crops.

	- clover hays (Red, Alsike) are highly nutritious and often
    highly palatable.  They are hard to dry well and usually require
    fairly neutral pH.  Clover is often planted in combination with a
    grass such as timothy, orchard grass, or brome grass.  For the
    first few years the clover will predominate; as the clovers thin
    out, the grasses take over.  Ladino clover makes terrific pasture,
    but is low-growing and hard to mow.  Palatability can be a problem
    with clover hays, because of mold and dust from the drying
    problems.  There is some evidence that red clover retards
    ovulation in sheep, so it may not be a good hay to feed breeding
    ewes.  Molds on red clover can cause photosensitivity and/or
    slobbering in equines.  Clover, like alfalfa, does not do well in
    acid soils.  Alsike clover grows in poorer soils, but should be
    avoided for equine forage.

	- grass hay is generally grown in long-term fields.  Some
    grasses, like reed canary grass, will grow in less well-drained
    soils, but may be less palatable to fussy animals.  Timothy,
    orchard grass and brome grass will turn brown and dormant in the
    middle of a hot dry summer.  Grass hays generally dry faster than
    legumes, so they may be a better choice where haying weather is
    iffy.  Some recent research suggests that with proper
    fertilization and timely cutting grass hay can yield protein
    contents as high as legume hays.

	- oats and other annual grasses can produce high yields of
    nutritious hay.  Oats may be more advisable as a rotation pasture:
    oats are susceptible to many diseases, grain hay attracts mice and
    rats, drying hay in early spring may be a problem, and baling oats
    can be the hottest, itchiest job in the world.  Japanese or
    Hungarian millet and sudangrass are also seeded for quick annual
    hay crops.  Select varieties of sudangrass with low prussic acid
    content.

    Extension and soil conservation service agents can often suggest a
    good seed mix for your area and soil.  Unless you have a good
    reason to do otherwise, you may want to follow the lead of your
    neighbors.  If they grow mostly orchard grass, it may be because
    timothy doesn't do as well in the area, or because local buyers
    aren't interested in timothy hay.  Trying to beat the odds --
    alfalfa in a heavy acidic soil -- rarely works.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: fertilizing hay

9.  How much should I fertilize hayfields? 

    Depends on what kind of hay you're growing and how high a yield
    you want.  Each cutting of hay robs nutrients from the soil that
    need to be replenished if productivity is to be maintained.
    Fertilized hay is also higher in total nutrients, and feeding your
    animals fertilized hay can avoid some mineral deficiencies.  A
    soil test from a state agricultural extension office or university
    lab will tell you the exact blend of NPK and application rate to
    achieve best yields on your soil, and whether you need to add lime
    or micro-nutrients.  If you buy your fertilizer in bulk from a
    blending plant, you can get the exact mix you need, and save the
    extra cost and inconvenience of paper-bagged fertilizer.

    Grass hays need plenty of nitrogen.  For highest yields, fertilize
    grass hay twice, when growth begins (early spring in the east,
    late fall in California) and again after the first cutting.
    Typical New England applications for grass hay would be 60-30-40.
    In the South, Hybrid bermudagrass may receive 100-60-90 in the
    spring, then 100 lbs. of N/acre after each of four cuttings, and
    90 lbs of K/acre in July.  Soil tests are the only way to
    determine the optimum fertilization for your own fields; make sure
    the testing lab understands what hay crop you have planted.
    Excess fertilizer is a waste of money, and too much nitrogen leads
    to lodging -- leggy hay that lies down and is hard to mow.  For
    `generic' hay from native grasses you may be able to get by with
    no fertilizer at all: yields and nutrition will be lower, and may
    continue to decline, but you probably won't need a tedder to dry
    the hay, and lower yields may suit your available labor pool and
    hay needs.

    For legume hays (alfalfa, clover, birds-foot trefoil), you can
    usually get by with one application of fertilizer per year,
    typically a blend like 0-40-90, with added boron.  Mixed hay
    (timothy and alfalfa, orchard grass and clover) is usually
    fertilized to favor the legume.  Again, use soil tests and
    recomendations specific to the crop and your area.

    Manure is good for a hayfield and will cut down on fertilizer
    bills.  If you don't have a manure spreader, you may be able to
    borrow one once a year when you clean out your barn or barnyard,
    or hire a farmer to spread your manure.  After the final cutting,
    or during a dormant period (winter in the east, summer in
    California), is a good time to spread manure on a hayfield.  Soil
    tests immediately after you have spread manure won't be accurate.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: when to cut hay

10. When do I cut the hay?  How many cuttings a year can I get?

    The quality of hay, particularly the all-important protein
    content, is determined in large measure by the stage of growth
    when the grass or legumes are cut.  For most hay, the later in the
    bloom you cut, the greater the yield, but the lower the protein
    content and palatability.  Alfalfa hay can range from 20% protein
    in a late vegetative state (before bloom) to 11% protein at the
    end of the bloom.  Timothy can go as high as 18% protein just
    before bloom to as low as 6-7% protein in late bloom hay.  For
    mulch hay or livestock on maintenance rations, a late cutting is
    fine.  For high-production dairy animals, late-term or lactating
    sheep, or hard-working draft animals, you may want the highest
    possible protein, which means early cut hay.  Unfortunately,
    weather and other commitments don't always let you cut hay at the
    optimum time.
    
    In most areas of the country, grass hay can be cut twice,
    sometimes three times, per year.  The first cutting generally has
    the largest yield.  Some animals, like sheep, prefer the tender
    stems of second or third cutting hay.  When a haybine or
    conditioner is used, first cutting hay may be just as palatable as
    second cutting.  Alfalfa can often be cut four times, even when it
    is not irrigated.  The last cutting should either be after a hard
    frost, or well before the first frost, so the plants have time to
    push nutrition into the root system for the winter.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: haying weather

11. How do I beat the weather?

    Pray, and watch the weather channel or pick up weather charts off
    one of the Internet sites.  In some areas, the NOAA weather
    broadcasts include special haying advisories.  In many parts of
    the country, weather systems provide windows -- a period of 3-5
    days of dry, crisp weather between two fronts.  The beginning of a
    dry window is the time to cut your hay.  Sometimes folk wisdom,
    like the feel of a coming northwester in an arthritic knee, can
    predict haying weather better than the charts.

    Given a choice, waiting for dry weather and cutting the hay beyond
    its peak is better than the risk of getting hay rained on.  Rain
    is not always the ultimate disaster for hay.  Little harm comes to
    hay that is rained on right after it is cut, then quickly dried
    (see question 3).  If your hay gets rained on late in the drying
    cycle, either feed it out immediately, sell it to a neighbor who
    can feed it out immediately, or bale it for mulch hay.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: identifying good hay

12. How do I tell good hay?

    Sending samples to a lab will give you exact protein and TDN
    measures.  Failing a lab, good hay smells and looks good.  The
    best grass hay is usually silvery green in color.  Brown hay was
    probably cut too late or dried too long.  Green hay is too wet to
    store in a barn.  It can be fed out immediately, but in a barn it
    will rot, mildew, or possibly start a fire.  Sheep and goats find
    alfalfa hay more palatable if it is not too stemmy, and especially
    if the stems have been crushed with a haybine or conditioner.
    Good legume hay is not so dry that the leaves fall off at first
    touch.  

    The smell of good hay depends on the grasses and legumes in the
    mix; hay that smells dusty, mildewy, or over-ripe is probably no
    good.  When hay is curing in the barn, you can and should test it
    by putting your hand deep inside bales.  It should generate warmth
    for several days after it is baled; excessive heating is a danger
    signal.  Ruminants on maintenance rations can tolerate
    less-than-perfect hay, although dusty hay may cause respiratory
    problems; equines have low tolerance for bad hay.

    Before you bale hay, pick up a bunch and twist it tightly in your
    fingers.  If it is too dry to hold the twisted shape, it is
    probably too dry to be really good hay; it may be better to bale
    it the following morning after a dew.  If it feels wet when you
    twist it, it is too wet to bale.  If there are trees around your
    hayfield, the hay on the outside rows may dry slower than the
    inner rows.  Test different rows, and if the outside rows are too
    wet to bale, start baling a few rows in, then return to the
    outside rows after you've baled the rest of the field.

    If you are buying hay, you probably want to examine and smell
    samples from inside a few bales.  Check bales from different
    loads, or different ends of a load.  Everyone who sells hay isn't
    unscrupulous, but even innocent mistakes can burn down a barn or
    leave your livestock sick.

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Subject: haying alternatives

13. Haying sounds too risky and too labor-intensive.  Is there an
    alternative to get good feed from a field or meadow?

    In many areas, unpredictable weather and labor shortages make it
    tough to bring in good hay, particularly in the spring.  An
    alternative is haylage, usually done with first-cutting alfalfa.
    The alfalfa is mowed, conditioned, and windrowed by a haybine,
    then left in the field to dry for anywhere from a few hours to a
    day.  A hay-chopper (a corn chopper with a haylage head) is then
    run over the field to chop and gather the partially dry hay.
    Stored in a silo, lined pit or sileage bag as haylage, it makes
    nutritious feed.  Haylage is probably only workable if you or a
    nearby custom operator has the equipment.

    Another alternative to dedicated hayfields is to combine a cutting
    of hay with extensive pasturage of the fields.  Many farms have
    too much forage in the spring flush, followed by shortages during
    the dry months.  If your pastures are clear of stones and stumps,
    you can take a cutting of hay in the spring, then use the fields
    as a pasture in the dry months.  In some areas you can cut down on
    hay and manure handling by setting aside a field or two for
    succession grazing to extend the normal pasture season (see the
    Pasture FAQ).

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Subject: the value of haying
   
14. Is making my own hay really worth all the work?

    Even if you only cut a small meadow and store the hay loose for a
    pet animal, completing the cycle of old-fashioned farming --
    manure from the animals fertilizes the hayfield, hay from the
    field feeds the animal -- is rewarding.  If you own or can borrow
    the equipment, and if family, neighbors, and friends add up to the
    needed labor for timely baling and storage of hay -- haying your
    land or rented land can provide excellent feed for your livestock
    at a good price (especially if you're paying $6-8/bale for spring
    hay), the pleasures of shared hard work with friends, and the
    rewards of a cold beer or dinner after bringing in hundreds or
    thousands of bales of good hay.  If you have to hire a bulldozer
    or backhoe to clear the land, buy expensive equipment to do the
    haying, can't find the helping hands when you need them, and have
    terrible luck with weather -- haying may not be right for you.

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Subject: credits

15. Who wrote this FAQ?  I'd like to be aware of regional and other
    prejudices in the information.

    Ronald Florence <[email-masked]>, who raises Cotswold sheep in
    Stonington, Connecticut is the author.  Additional information was
    provided by James Meade <[email-masked]> of Iowa
    City, Iowa; Bernie Cosell <[email-masked]> of Pearisburg,
    Virginia; Spencer Yost <[email-masked]> of
    Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Mark Kramer <[email-masked]>
    of Boston, Massachusetts; Mark Barnard <[email-masked]> of
    Deerfield, New Hampshire; Dale G. Watson <[email-masked]>
    of the University of Missouri Extension Service; Marsha Jo Hannah
    <[email-masked]> of La Honda, California; Greg Dean
    <[email-masked]> of South Portland, Maine; and David Kee
    <[email-masked]> of Auburn University.

End of Haying FAQ Digest
************************
-- 

				Ronald Florence