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gouverneur ny | boy i'd give anything for those dry conditions. we have got 7 1/2 inches here in northern ny in the month of june. Had a really good downpoar yesterday that gave us almost an inch of rain. its safe to say the ground is pretty wet and haymaking this year has been terrible. i've got a little over a hundred acres in and still have 300 more to go but the weather hasn't cooperated at all. with the ground being so wet it takes awhile for the hay to dry down. i'm always trying to beat the weather. if i don't lay the windrow in a wide swath, i don't would never get any hay in. i've got a JD 1600a 14 ft cut moco and it leaves almost a 11ft swath. if i mow late at night or early in the morning then i can tedd it out that same day once the top of the swath starts to get a little dry. next day rake it up around 5 or so in the afternoon and hope for a light dew. start baling it the next day once the dew is off. don't have to worry about much leaf loss... mostly mixed grass hay w/ some clover in it.
ps. i'm mowing a little higher this year too. about 2 inches higher off the ground so the stubble helps keep the hay off the ground.
Edited by mscowboy37 7/1/2006 20:51
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Benefits of laying down a wide swath of alfalfa
