rained on hay on the ground :-( how to get rid?

P

Perce

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 March 2009
Messages
276
Visit site
Am hoping it is still salvagable, but have my doubts as the light rain forecast was far from light or a short lived!
And please don't get me started on the incompetency of the MET office!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

So, if we have to give up on it what would people do with it?
- bale it anyway and leave it to rot? yesterday was hoping for 100 bales, now hoping as few as possible!!! got nearly 200 off the field last year.
- leave it on the ground as is? It's not a terribly heavy crop this year .
- ask the hay man to rack it up , or scrape it into a couple of big piles and leave to rot?

i don't have a lot of land so loosing grazing to a hay pile is not ideal. neither do i have anywhere to 'disappear' the unwanted hay such as the large dip on a friends land.. not sure if you are allowed to burn 'spoilt bales' anymore - it's a private yard and only for my horses use.

We do have to graze the fields (and soon as no grass cos it's been sunny all summer so in drought-like east devon -obviously the MET office have threatened rain constantly until this weeks supposed weeked of no rain - yeah right!!)

what do poeple do? i've been lucky enough to get my hay in successfully for the last 5 years. did get rained on once but then good sunny, breezy drying weather for several days after. but not rain like this!


ps. anyone tried to sue the MET yet?? Not sure if i am joking here or not???
 
it all depends how long the grass has been cut.
if its in swath you could leave it untill it drys and then start shaking it to dry it.
if it looks like it wont make hay i would row it up asap and get it big bailed and wrapped. it will then be classed as silage.
im sure a local farmer would have it off you for cattle feed.
 
it was cut wednesday early eve when there was a clear week of dry weather forecsat!
Had a day of middling drying weather on thursday.By which time they had changed the forecast to light rain showers on friday and sat eve and heavier rain next tuesday!
A fabulous drying day yesterday (friday) and looking hopeful for a late sunday afternoon baling as such a light crop.
Then the rain started sometime between 5am and 6.30 this morning. it was still raining at half ten and was wet rather than damp. just what the ground has needed for months!

i was still optimistic when i wrote the post but we have since had more rain, stopped again now!

But farcically there is now a severe weather warning for heavy rain!
How can the MET office get it so so wrong!!I'm more than disgusted! can't print a more appropriate word!

anyhow..
my hay chap is set up for small bales only and do not have contacts to bag haylage or bale big at this short notice. My neighbouring farmer no longer farms his land but contracts it out to an organic chap who won't take it as not proven organic.

i suspect after the rain we've had no one will want it -. i've off to inspect to see if rain suffered by us while out doing chores also hit hay field.

it still needs to be a bit dry to make silage doesn't it, at least not full of rain water!


sorry, sounding a bit negative aren't i.
 
If it is ruined I'd try to get it raked up (or baled - but needless expense:() and pile it up and fence it off, it will rot down (eventually) and makes a great wintering place for little creatures. Leaving it on the field makes a real mess and really stops the grass growing again.

I lost a couple hundred bales earlier this year to rain, but my lovely contractor just baled it in rounds and took it for his cattle and swapped me the equivalent in good small bales.

It may be OK for cattle, if it is, bale it and sell it as cattle hay for what you can get.
 
Firstly, forget any idea of making haylage ,it wont work.You will have lost too much of the soluble sugars.Secondly its far to early to start worrying that it is ruined. It will have lost colour and some sugars but will still have plenty of digestible fibre,just think of it as hay for laminitics. It only gets to be a problem when it starts to rot and grass grows through it. You are nowhere near that stage yet. You will need two dry days and a lot of turning,but will have perfectly acceptable hay providing it is dry when baled.
 
just spent ages writing reply then computer lost it!!

so short hand version!

Mike - hay is pretty wet but 2 days dry weather forecast (ha!ha!ha!) so haven't given up hope yet. thanks for reassurance. weather longer term not lookig that hopeful though.

- agree won't make haylege.

will try to rake up/bale if have to give up. have stream along 2 edges of field so may be able to layer alongside that.

enfys - what a lovely contractor. mine lovely also but hasn;t enough hay to sell never mind swap me. he baled his in june (mine was next on list before the weather turned) and got about 50% his usual crop.

keep fingers crossed please.
 
I agree with Mike, allow it to dry out, plenty of turning and a bit of breeze and it will be fine. Obviously not as good as if baled earlier but bearing in mind the cost of hay at the moment (see the post I made in NL earlier about the farm sale today) you will be able to sell it for sheep if nothing else.
Ours was cut yesterday and got thoroughy soaked today despite a good forcast, but we will work it and hope to get it made.
 
All is not lost by anymeans. I have made hay during some very catchy years where there was never more than 2 dry days at a time. I had to cut while it was raining, turn like crazy ,then row two swathes into 1 , let the rain go through ,then spread it out again dry and bale. It does make me laugh when people say £4 is a lot for a bale of hay:D.
 
Fingers crossed for sun! And two days of dry weather.The met office got it very wrong this week! We cut Sunday but have managed to get the bales in just in time. I do feel for you.
 
It's in!!!
it was very wet sunday morning but due to a combination of factors - 2 days of fabulous drying weather (sunny and breezy), an open flat field, extra turning, and a light crop - it was fine to bale at 5pm today!
Having checked the forecast (not that i had a lot of faith) we knew there was heavy rain on the way tonight so it was tonight or never and i have been really lucky with weather as prob 2 of the best drying days we've had all year!!!

so thrilled to have 145 bales of not bad at all hay in the barn - what a relief!!! this was more than i had hoped for in the light of the poor growth. thought i'b be lucky to get 100. they are quite 'girlie'bales but i'm happy.
And so relieved not to be buying in 145 bales at £4 a bale plus paying for my own to be baled to rot. PHEW!
So, assuming all others baled too, could the rain they have forecast please come cos my fields are threadbare! tis midnight and no sign of it yet!!!

Also a relief to know that in a couple of weeks i have another couple of acres grazing available and can maybe rest the winter paddocks we have had to keep revisiting at last!!!

Thanks for all advice and reassurance. Much appreciated!
This has taught me that hay can recover from quite a lot of rain given the right weather afterwards. :-)
 
Perce said:
It's in!!!
it was very wet sunday morning but due to a combination of factors - 2 days of fabulous drying weather (sunny and breezy), an open flat field, extra turning, and a light crop - it was fine to bale at 5pm today!
Having checked the forecast (not that i had a lot of faith) we knew there was heavy rain on the way tonight so it was tonight or never and i have been really lucky with weather as prob 2 of the best drying days we've had all year!!!

so thrilled to have 145 bales of not bad at all hay in the barn - what a relief!!! this was more than i had hoped for in the light of the poor growth. thought i'b be lucky to get 100. they are quite 'girlie'bales but i'm happy.
And so relieved not to be buying in 145 bales at £4 a bale plus paying for my own to be baled to rot. PHEW!
So, assuming all others baled too, could the rain they have forecast please come cos my fields are threadbare! tis midnight and no sign of it yet!!!

Also a relief to know that in a couple of weeks i have another couple of acres grazing available and can maybe rest the winter paddocks we have had to keep revisiting at last!!!

Thanks for all advice and reassurance. Much appreciated!
This has taught me that hay can recover from quite a lot of rain given the right weather afterwards. :-)
Click to expand...

Well done , this is when you find out if your contractor is a good one. At the risk of seeming smug,"Told ya"
 
Mike - I'll let you have that one!

Am feeling magnanimous - I wonder why!

it does make you realise that with the right drying conditions hay can survive a lot of rain. think i was very very lucky with the weather. :-)

And did the heavy rain threatened hit east devon last night? were the MEt office correct?
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Some rain fell but 'light' would be a generous description!

But all the same today was warm and still and muggy - bad hay making weather!

off to drink yet another glass of celebratory pink!
 
Are you actualy using the right forcast. Back in the day......yawn... when I used to make a lot of hay, I paid the met office and had a direct line number to talk to the man himself. Amazing the difference it can make ,even down to tracking rain on the radar and telling me exactly when it would reach my farm and how much was likely.
 
niagaraduval said:
Very lucky here, got it cut and baled in 2 weeks - The only two weeks of summer we actually got! Rain is hammering down here, Looking forward to some nice hay this winter though!
Click to expand...

Gosh how different. We are in Maine et Loire and finally had our first rain, since beginning of June, at the weekend. We have been promised thunderstorms week after week but all but one passed by and that one only lasted 30 mins.

I have been feeding hay for over a month.
 
Mike - using 5 day forecast online for my home town. also check several others.
with the amount of hay i make prob not worth paying met office!! and poss feel they should be paying me this year! :-)

next year maybe!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top