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Thumb of Michigan | The last few years, I’ve managed to put up dry hay in 30 hours, here in Michigan. Before getting into the details, I need to say:
Thanks to a guy that went by the handle “HayWilson”, I gleaned a lot of hay making info from that man (may he rest in peace). His wisdom among other’s including Dan Undersander (U of Wis), has been the foundation for my success. Even thou I’ve been involved in making hay for over half a century, I’m continuing to learn.
The short version of my recent 30-hour hay, goes like this: I starting cutting at 10 am day 1. I’m cutting with a NH discbine, with roll conditioning. I ted the hay right after I finish cutting (Krone 6 basket). Tedding is completed by 12.30pm day 1. Day 2, I ted again (most of the time I skip this step) at 9 am, with dew. I start raking hay at noon as dew burns off, day 2. Finish raking by 1.30pm (NH double rotary). Start baling at 4pm day 2 (finished baling same day). So, I’m starting to bale 30 hours after I started cutting, hence the calling it 30-hour hay.
Before I get into the details, a few years ago and if I was a betting man, I’d bet a lot that no way in he double L could you make 30-hour dry hay in my area of Michigan. I have a changed opinion today. I've been doing this numerous times for the last few years.
I cut my teeth on a Johnny 14t, behind a Farmall H. As I got older, we upgraded to a Johnny 24t, that I spent a lot of time on the business end (my younger siblings had it made, with the Ford 3000 and live PTO). I remember dad getting a pull type ‘conditioner’, that we ran behind a Farmall C. Which at the time seamed like a game changer, taking a day off hay drying time.
On to the details of how I make 30 hour hay:
I’m cutting an alfalfa/grass mix (pic attached) I’d say an 60/40 mix in alfalfa’s favor. Mainly OG, but some fescue as far as grass content.
I cut at around 3” height, discbine rollers are set to they are not quite touching, I leave hay spread just about wide enough not to drive on (almost all fits between tractor wheels).
I have the Krone tedder set to a fairly flat tedding position (hole 3 of 4, tilt adjustment).
My most recent 30 hour hay, yielded 65.57 bales per acre off 16 acres, 52-55# bales. Eg 1.7-1.8 tons per acre. I actually weighed 10 random bales. Moisture content 10.83% (lab results, I send samples of all my hay in for lab results to give to customers), HarvestTech system was running between 10-12% most of the time while baling. I’m baling with a NH5070, dragging a Kuhn (Norden now) 15 bale on edge accumulator behind. FWIW, I’m also using a stroke counter, shooting for 16-18 flakes per 34-36” bale. This hay was raked with about 18’ of hay per windrow, average baling speed was 2.5MPH.
Some key things - Pan evaporation (PE) numbers are important. Spreading hay to 100% ASAP. The stoma openings and how soon the permanently close. Rotary rakes, make a fluffy windrow.
My PE was a really high for my area of .36 for Thursday and Friday (June 1-2). See attached page 2 info from AWIS.com (a site that I use to get PE numbers). Using HayWilson’s PE chart (attached), a 1.7 ton per acre crop need .42 PE at 100% spread (would have been .59 PE if I’d left at a 66% spread area). My hay was almost dry on day one!
Most stomas are located on plant’s leaves (some are on stems). Stomas keep operating as long as the plant has around 47-48% moisture (plants usually start around 80% moisture) and daylight. While the plant doesn’t know it’s dead (been cut), the stomas continue to take in carbon and release oxygen/water (transpiration), as long as they are exposed to daylight. Note: I didn’t say sunlight, but daylight, this way hay can cure under a tree (abet slower). Once stomas permanently close (plant goes below 47% moisture), they don’t re-open. Hence, cutting late day, stoma can re-hydrate overnight. If the crop mat is greater than ¾” thick, the stomas cannot see daylight and will not continue to operate (why bottom of clumps of hay are still as fresh cut hay days later).
And to have hay dry enough to bale, the humidity in the hay (windrow) gets to <70%, hay cannot go below 20% moisture (why higher humidity areas fight getting hay down to below 16-18% moisture). Study out of U of West Virgina, IIRC.
I had light breeze and low humidity which are the two strongest drying agents for dry hay making. I had 6-7MPH winds, humidity of as low as 27%, even with a partly cloudy day 2. The majority of the drying took place on day 1 (IMHO), because of hay being raked into windrows on day 2. Normally, I will only see high twenties for PE, but can still make 30-hour hay. I could’ve started baling earlier at 16-18% moisture, instead of 10-12%, my mistake (28-hour hay).
Being I sell most of my hay to horse customers, making hay this fast also preserves color, so it’s pretty. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and horse folks like color (even though I know it doesn’t mean its better hay).
Hope this is informative, the learning curve continues for me, anyhow. I waited to post this, until I got the lab test results back.
Edited by r82230 6/9/2023 21:34
 (Hay1 (full).jpg)
Attachments
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 Hay Wilson pan evaporation table .pdf (46KB - 729 downloads)
Weather Consulting _ Weather Da,ta _ Weather Forecasts _ Agriculture,.pdf (271KB - 664 downloads)
WVU-Moistue-Humidity-Colored-Figure-5.pdf (227KB - 637 downloads)
Hay1 (full).jpg (535KB - 524 downloads)
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Making dry hay in 30 hours, long post with details
