Hay 2023

redbeaard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121052999#Comment_121052999

Well thanks for the advice but there are a good few reasons why this field is more suited to hay than round silage bales. It's only a few acres too so won't make or break me.

I cut Saturday when it was good a dry and so far so good. Yr is giving perfect weather until Thursday morning and met is giving it until Friday so plan to bale on Wednesday. It's not a heavy crop so that's helping.

bogman_bass

You must not have the fog that we’ve had the past few days

redbeaard

No, thank god. I'm right on the coast, west Donegal, and a bit elevated so fog is not a problem.

tabby aspreme

Would there be much of a difference in the feed value of grass wrapped a day or two before it was fit to bale for hay, and the same grass made as hay

Silverdream

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070514#Comment_121070514

If you can get it to within a day of being fit for Hay then you are wrapping Haylage at that stage. It's good feeding but like everything in September, it just doesn't compare to stuff made in the end of May/early June. But still 100X better than Wet silage in bags of water

glanman

So I cut the MSS for hay Saturday afternoon and small square baled Tuesday afternoon. Saved really quickly as it was light and leafy. Due to the leafy nature, bales packed pretty tightly so a bit more weighty than summer meadow hay. Turned twice a day. Will be very interested to see how it goes down over the winter but I would imagine it will be well received.

Hard Knocks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121075974#Comment_121075974

Well done, some going turning twice a day

Base price

Saw about 20 acres near me in NCD baled today and it smells/looks as good as June hay.

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121075974#Comment_121075974

Was there much clover in that? Always told horse people didn't like clover in hay as it could turn musty ( could be completely wrong in that)

made another 100 small squares yesterday

glanman

Good bit of Clover and then plantain and chicory. Did silage bale's last year and cattle loved it. It be sheep, calves and horses getting this hay so will see come spring.

Austinbrick

97 sq bales of proper hay.

73 round bales of rushy hay. We guessed 34 or 5! Great weather!

Will probably keep them.

Curious to know how much would the round bales make. The contractor said they 4/5s of them were perfect and not much would be left over out of them.

tabby aspreme

I see you have the knots down and out, on the small squares 😊

emaherx

It must be nearly time to put the toys away! 😁

2smiggy

Lovely day again today thankfully, and got everything finished. If we would have got rain it could have turned into a right mess !

emaherx

That's it for this year.

Baled 200 squares yesterday, chain broke going to pickup reel so ended up with 7 rounds too, had 50 squares from the day before. Young lads love helping out with the squares but I was fairly sweating trying to keep the bales pitched up, was some heat I'm glad there wasn't much more.

minerleague

That chain often gets missed ( if its like mine ) for getting oiled

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121091506#Comment_121091506

emaherx

It was well oiled, but the baler spent a decade sitting in the weeds, followed by another decade at the back of the shed where it was on the to do list, bottom half of the chain as it stood was just rotten.

It's a bit of a project but slowly getting rebuilt. A friend of mine is a metal fabricator I've given him the baler but we share machines quite a bit anyway.

The round baler was always going to be on standby, we'd a lot of knotter issues, the last day we tried to use it and gave up after about 5 completed bales. Knotters are perfect now so I guess it deserves a new chain at this stage.