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Grabill, Indiana | We cut hay last Tuesday and thought we'd get it baled Friday afternoon but there were too many wet, tough stems for us to safely bale it. Since the weather forecast called for a 10% chance of rain we decided to not risk it and went to the house to do other things. Then at 9 o'clock we checked the radar and as usual the weather forecast was wrong. While we missed the first thunderstorm we weren't as lucky for the second one that rolled through.
We checked the hay Saturday morning on our way to the lake and it was soaking wet. We just left the windrows lay until Sunday after church when I flipped them with our rotary rake. I waited another 2 hours then flipped them again to get the bottom stems exposed to the sun. The flipping worked as we baled up the hay after the second flipping.
I took a few photos of the difference between the windrows before and after flipping them. While I was frustrated that we received rain we were fortunate that the hay was in windrows instead of spread out. When the rain hit it only directly hit a small percentage of the hay which reduced bleaching and leaf loss. I know we lost some sugars but not as much as if it wasn't windrowed.
Jim
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 IMAG2137[1].jpg (98KB - 66 downloads)
IMAG2141[1].jpg (606KB - 66 downloads)
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Rain and Windrowed Hay
