Making Hay When The Rain Pours

devilwoman

devilwoman

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Got a message on Wednesday to say my hay field had been cut (300 bales) and was to be bailed today (Friday) we havent had any rain for months here in my part of Essex until TODAY - yep it has absolutely poured down most of the day so the hay is now cut and soaking wet, doesn't look like much hold up of the rain until at least Tuesday, will the hay be ruined or is it still salvagable after being cut and getting so wet ? really dissapointed as i've now let other hay go by me off the field as I was promised this field at a great price too :confused:
 
Probably wont be as good hay as it would have been. Ours did get showered on, and looks great. I think the main thing when it gets that wet is that it is given the chance to dry out again and not baled while wet, as otherwise it will go mouldy.
 
Hi sare-bear thanks for that - so long as its not mouldy its not too much of a problem if the quality isn't as good as it would have been since both my horses are very good doers and I usually soak their hay anyway but just didn't want it to be totally un-useable, otherwise i'm in for a very expensive winter !, thanks again.
 
Don't despair! Obviously no rain is better but if you are making hay then it normally needs 4-5 days before baling and rain on it at 48 hours is not as bad as rain on day 4-5. If the weather is dry and it's turned a couple of times before rowing up it should still be ok for horses. TBH when we buy hay in we have no idea if it's been rained on or not. If you find that it's not good enough for horses then there will be plenty of farmers keen to buy it from you.
 
If the hay was almost dry when it got soaked ,it will suffer most damage. Just make sure it is properly dry when it is baled and it will be usable.Not great ,but usable.
 
Its academic now because there is no point in swathing it up once its wet,its just that if it is swathed up it suffers less damage.
 
Thanks for info, when I spoke to the guy who cut it earlier he said he was at the field and the top was wet but underneath was still dry although to be fair it has rained a fair bit more since then. ohh well I suppose what'll be will be now - i'll have to wait until it drys and see whether it is still ok for the nags or not.
 
Sounds like it is swathed up so thats good. You are a long way away from not being able to feed it to your horses . Panic not.:)
 
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