MAKING HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES

SUN & HAY

MAKING HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES
The evolving method

It typically takes three sunny days to make "dry" hay - one for mowing and two for drying, raking, and baling. The challenge is it often rains during one of those three days, greatly diminishing nutrient value of hay. As a result, a method of growing use is to make "wet" hay. This involves mowing, raking, baling, and wrapping the bales in plastic all within 24 hours. The wet hay then ensiles or ferments in an anaerobic environment, becoming more digestible. Livestock much prefer it over dry hay, and waste less. Reducing the haymaking window by two days reduces production risk many fold, so there are few drawbacks to this method, except one, which is why I have resisted it over the years. That is the waste of plastic wrap that ends up in the landfill. Last year, we made half our hay dry and half wet. The dry was rained on and was of greatly inferior quality thereafter, while the wet was excellent. So economics drove the decision this year, and we have made all wet hay. There is a movement afoot by OEFFA and others to find ways to recycle the plastic, which would be of great benefit.

This wagon is an old logging truck that was converted into a wagon. The heavy suspension is particularly helpful for hauling wet hay, which is 50% water, and puts quite a strain on most hay wagons.

Bales are placed on the wrapper and automatically encircled with plastic - serving the place of a silo, barn, or tarpaulin, at a fraction of the cost.

This past week Elderberry bushes jumped into bloom. They have never been so prolific, especially around the wetlands. We will try making jam from the berries.