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The following is a blog we posted to our website and social media account in October of 2018. It is our most shared blog post ever. When we updated our company website, it was removed due to its incompatibility with the new platform. However, enough people contacted us asking for it to be replaced that we took the time to redesign and update the calculator to make it even better. Here it is!Livestock Winter Hay Needs With winter coming on, it is time to make sure that you have enough hay in th …

The pasture has been cut, dried, and raked into windrows. It's hay day! Here are some tips to make baling day with your Ibex  TX31 Mini Round Baler run smoothly. Before heading to the field: Baling days are typically hot days, so dress in lightweight, light-colored clothing. Long sleeves and long pants are best for protecting your arms and legs from cuts and scratches when collecting bales. Be sure to bring along a large water jug so you can stay hydrated. Pack a tool kit with …

When baling hay, one of the decisions a producer must make is what type of bale binding to use. Hay binding materials include sisal twine, polypropylene twine, hemp twine, net wrap and others. This blog will discuss sisal twine.  What is sisal? Sisal is a fiber found naturally in plants of the agave family. These plants grow in the arid regions of Central America, Mexico and the American Southwest. Native to South America, the fiber has been used since pre-Columbian times but became …

When preparing to bale hay, the transition from freshly cut, high-moisture grasses and legumes to dry forage is known as curing. This process takes on average 3 days—in good weather. While some of the factors involved in the curing process like weather can be out of your control, there are many steps you can take to ensure properly cured, high quality hay while even reducing drying time. The first step to speeding up curing time begins with mowing. Since sunshine is a hay producer’s best fr …

In a previous  blog, we discussed when to cut hay. In this blog, we will provide an overview of a season’s different hay cuttings. Typically, first cuttings of a hay season can be achieved around May 15th in the southern regions of the US and May 25th to the north. The climate of a location will determine the number of cuttings that can be achieved each year. Northern areas of the US might only get 2 cuttings per season while southern areas might get 4 or more. In very general terms, …