Is it disaster if there is a shower on my mown field of haylage?

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myhorsefred

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Hi all,

Farmer is cutting my field tomorrow for haylage, hoping to bale and wrap some point over the weekend.

Have checked all the website etc for forecasts and only one says ' slight passing shower'. All the others say no rain.

So, I'm gonna go for it tomorrow and cut. (I could wait until next week to cut, but then more risk of showers, so tomorrow is the best forecast to cut.)

Just wondering, is my crop ruined if i have one small shower on it whilst cut and laying on field?

thanks.
 
Thank you.

Will it wash all the 'goodness' out of it? Or is haylage simply fibre, with no 'feed' value anyway?

I suppose I could always feed a balancer or supplement in the winter if it does wash the goodness out. My horses always have plenty of winter grass, and chaff, beet and feed anyway, so I guess if my haylage has a shower, it won't be the end of the world.

thanks.
 
I always think that a shower is not too bad, unless its torrential and wets the ground as well. Fingers crossed for you! I hate the waiting!
 
The rain wont wash goodness out of it, unlike hay which is more like just fibre, haylage does have some goodness in it in terms of protein etc, and it wont wash out; the risk with the rain is that if it's soaking wet the haylage might rot inside the wrapping and not keep.

But one light shower should be fine, esp if followed by some dry hot weather before baling.

I would go aheadif the farmer thinks it will do ok - he will know best on this.
 
Thank you.

I could never be a farmer! I only really study the weather for one week of the year, in order to make haylage! I could never study the weather all year round like they do.
 
Our haylage this year has been rained on and will be fine. It was cut just before a fairly sharp shower and hadn't been turned at all. If the hay has been turned it is more of a problem in my experience.
 
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