This Year's Second Cut of Hay
Here in the Northeast, we're expecting cloudy skies and rain showers today with temperatures in the high 70s - just one day after my outdoor grounds crew worked hard to cut, dry, and bale another good amount of hay for my horses.
When I moved to my farm in Bedford, New York, I designated three separate areas as hayfields and planted them with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clovers - all great for producing quality hay. This past weekend, we cut the hay in one field and then tossed the grass to begin the crucial drying process in preparation for baling. Yesterday, the crew tedded the hay again, raked it into windrows, and baled wagons filled with hay.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- This time every year, we always hope for at least several days of good, dry weather, so we can get a nice cut of hay from the fields. Timing is everything when cutting the hay crop. The last few days have been perfect for this year’s second cutting.
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- The best time to do any cutting is when grasses have reached what is called the “late boot stage”. This stage is typically reached after six to eight weeks of growth after a previous cutting. The “late boot stage” is when the seed head of the grasses first pops out of the sheath. Second cut hay has a finer texture and usually, a greener color and heavier leaves. It is more dense, the leaves are more tender and if cut at the right maturity, it is healthier with lots of protein. This field was cut over the weekend and left to dry for a couple of days.
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- This is a hay tedder. A tedder spreads and fluffs the hay in a uniform swath after it is cut. It basically turns the hay, so it can dry completely.
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- The tedder uses a rotary motion to grab the hay with spinning tines and then cast it out the back of the machine.
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- Here is a closer look at the tines, or moving forks, which aerate or “wuffle” the hay and speed up the drying process.
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- The tedder is attached to our trusted Kubota M7060HD12 tractor – a vehicle that is used every day here at the farm.
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- Look at the giant tires on this tractor – they are about five feet tall.
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- Here is Domi driving the tedder up and down the field as the machine takes all the greener hay from the bottom and turns it over to dry.
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- Here is another view – look how the tedder picks up and fluffs the hay with its forks.
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- After the hay is tedded, it is then raked. Raking the hay is the fastest part of the process. There are different kinds of rakes – they include wheel rakes, rotary rakes and parallel bar or basket rakes. This is a parallel bar rake. This type uses a gentle raking action with a lower chance of soil contamination than the wheel rake.
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- The parallel bar rake picks up the cut and drying hay and rakes it into windrows that can be baled. A windrow is a long line of raked hay laid out to dry in the wind.
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- A side view shows the hay being gathered together by the rake’s tines.
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- The hay rake is pulled at a slight angle to the tractor as it moves.
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- Chhiring moves at about six to eight miles per hour. The speed actually makes a difference in creating the windrows – slower speed results in a wider windrow that is not well filled in the middle. High speed results in a narrower windrow that is over filled in the middle.
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- And here, one can see the windrow after it’s made.
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- Chhiring goes over the entire hayfield to make as many wide, fluffy windrows as possible.
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- And here is the top of the first windrow ready for the last stage – baling.
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- The entire process of raking this field takes about 45-minutes. By the look at these windrows, we should have some good quality bales for the horses.
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- The windrows are done. I am excited to see how many bales of hay we get from this cutting. I’ll share the very interesting process of baling hay in my next blog. Stay tuned.
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