How is our hay made these days

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Yardbird

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I was reading the blog written by a lady who had attended lecture given in Guildford by Dr. Deborah Carley of Thunderbrooks feed. She says in her blog that the most shocking thing that she had learnt at the talk was that hay is often made by spraying the hay with roundup, letting it dry before it is cut, rather than cutting it, sun drying it, turning.....Does anyone know if this is correct, and if so, how much hay is made this way?
 
Sounds very unlikely to me - not cost effective and highly dangerous for any animal that consumes it….

We live in a very rural area and have only ever seen hay being harvested in the traditional way.
 
I really hope that lots of people will reply that hay is made the notmal way. Also please note that I have not said myself that Dr. Carley said this, but tha it was written in a blog by someone who had attended the talk.
 
Have googled it it does seem a practice used more commonly abroad (USA/New Zealand)- the product is also called Roundup Absorb so may be a different chemical to what we see in the uk……which would make more sense.
 
You would have to re seed the field after so wouldnt be common.
Once roundup has made the crop wilt it is perfectly safe to graze. would not do any harm to livestock.
oilseed rape is sprayed off before harvest and that ends up in the human food chain.
 
Never heard of that!

Oilseed rape and sometimes cereal crops are sprayed off if there are lots of weeds which would clog up the combine, but I understand that once the chemical hits the soil it decomposes. Sprays are also very expensive, so only used if necessary.
 
All hay I've seen made has been cut down them left to dry as long as the sun shone, turned and left to dry then baled. Nowhere was there a sprayer doing the job of the sun.
 
We make our own hay in the traditional way. Haymaking is a nightmare because of the vagaries of the British weather and the amount of effort, blood, sweat, tears not to mention diesel involved is largely undervalued I think.
 
Roundup would kill the grass plant as well as the sward, I can't see how it works unless you grow hay as part of your crop rotation?

All hay in UK where I have ever been, seen or noticed is made by cut, turn, pary for sun, turn, bale.

Wagtail, excess nitrgoen fertiliser applied to the grass can make hay unpalatable.
 
Clodagh said:
Roundup would kill the grass plant as well as the sward, I can't see how it works unless you grow hay as part of your crop rotation?

All hay in UK where I have ever been, seen or noticed is made by cut, turn, pary for sun, turn, bale.

Wagtail, excess nitrgoen fertiliser applied to the grass can make hay unpalatable.
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It is more common in haylege where a ley has come to the end of its life ,but then again roundup is a very safe chemical I have seen it drunk to prove how safe it is! We have made baled silage before now having sprayed off the field and it can be grazed. This is just scaremongering

Wagtail I would suggest having batches that your horses wont eat the hay has possibly had balers choice sprayed on at baling .Its an additive that stops Hay heating up and forming moulds if it is borderline fit in catchy weather ,horses dont like it and the growers around me keep it seperate from their stocks to sell for horses for this reason! Does your hay have a very slightly citrus smell ?
 
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Think there is a slight mis-understanding re the use of roundup in this context. It is probably not used to kill weeds. The purpose would be to kill the hay grass so that it dries evenly across the whole field(s) prior to cutting/baling.
This use is extremely common practice in the USA prior to wheat harvest so that wheat moisture content is even across large field areas.
Believe this practice is not currently in use in the UK.
However as far roundup being totally safe -not so sure, personally would prefer to try to avoid it.
 
sem9999 said:
Think there is a slight mis-understanding re the use of roundup in this context. It is probably not used to kill weeds. The purpose would be to kill the hay grass so that it dries evenly across the whole field(s) prior to cutting/baling.
This use is extremely common practice in the USA prior to wheat harvest so that wheat moisture content is even across large field areas.
Believe this practice is not currently in use in the UK.
However as far roundup being totally safe -not so sure, personally would prefer to try to avoid it.
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I promise you it is used to kill off the grass not to make hay easier to make as it wouldnt as it would take at least 3 weeks till green grass was anywhere near dry enough to bale if relying on the roundup.
It is actually recomended for use prior to cutting haylege or silage as a means of sward destruction it is 100% safe to feed! A lot of food crops are sprayed off prior to harvest in this country as it even the ripening of the crop and they are all used for human consumption to name a few Wheat ,barley ,Oats,OSR,Peas and beans being the major ones it is the most widely used product on farms that goes through a sprayer.
 
JenHunt said:
thanks for the info popsdosh - I never knew that about balers choice! I don't think anyone I know uses it to make hay but I'll bear it in mind!
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More people use it than you imagine but keep quiet about it because some horses just wont touch perfectly good looking hay with it on, it is more prevalent in the big bale market
 
I know Roundup is used to spray off paddocks here before re sowing, but it isn't used in making hay. All hay here is still made the old fashioned way - pray for rain, followed by praying for it to stop raining ...
 
NZJenny said:
I know Roundup is used to spray off paddocks here before re sowing, but it isn't used in making hay. All hay here is still made the old fashioned way - pray for rain, followed by praying for it to stop raining ...
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It is certainly used to make silage and haylege in NZ its where the technique originated from.
 
It is done but more for silage for cattle I think. Hay can be sprayed with acid after it's cut to get it to make quicker if the weather isn't going to hold. Balers choice it's called. We would never use that and my oh says it's pointless as the hay is not good. Another farmer I know does it almost as standard (doesn't sell the hay it's for their own sheep, the horses get Haylage).
 
My supplier was unhappy when he found that some hay he'd bought in was treated with balers choice.
As to glycophosphate (the active ingredient in Roundup and erm Agent Orange) - it is not.
It is a known carcinogenic and is implicated in birth defects.
The manufacturer sells seeds as well as chemicals so will obviously "recommend" that it is used.
 
ozpoz said:
My supplier was unhappy when he found that some hay he'd bought in was treated with balers choice.
As to glycophosphate (the active ingredient in Roundup and erm Agent Orange) - it is not.
It is a known carcinogenic and is implicated in birth defects.
The manufacturer sells seeds as well as chemicals so will obviously "recommend" that it is used.
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Get your facts right(scaremongering) Glyphosate is not an ingredient in agent orange 2,4,5T is that active ingredient and the reason that caused health issues was because a batch got contaminated.
If there was any risk with roundup the technique would not be allowed,it has nothing to do with the manufacturers it would need to be oked by the regulatory authorities. Another eco warrior blaming monsanto for every evil in the world. Roundup has been in use for 45years now and if it had the effects you suggest it would not be in use today.
 
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I am not ashamed to admit I do blame Monsanto for quite a lot of evil in the world Popsdosh.
I would class myself more as a humanitarian than eco warrior, and I am horrified at the exploitation, degradation and misery this company cause, without mercy.

Enough said. I don't support them.
 
I've never seen that done in the US either. A quick look around on ag sites suggests that weed killer (round up or something else) is sprayed at least 4 days before cutting to limit the weeds in the hay. Every hay field I've seen in the US and now in Lux was cut, dried, then baled.

Also...popsdosh is 100% correct on the glyphosate thing. It's a common scare mongering tactic to claim that it has anything to do with agent orange. It doesn't. Plus, if the crop itself is "round up ready" then there's actually less harmful chemicals used overall in the weed control than with a typical crop.
 
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