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Few things are as upsetting in the world of hay production as a surprise rain shower or pop-up thunderstorm once your hay has been cut. While a brief sprinkling rain soon after the hay has been cut may not be cause for concern, downpours once the hay has partially or completely dried can be devastating if you’re not prepared. First, let’s discuss the problems created by rainfall on cut hay. Quality loss is the most concerning issue surrounding rained-on hay. Rainfall leaches sugars out of plan …

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 …

There can be much debate about which cutting of hay is best for which species of animal. Unfortunately, there is no way to win that debate. The issue is far too complex. First off, there is just as much variance within a species for which cutting of hay is best as there is between species. Second, as discussed in a previous  blog, there can be more variance in the quality within a cutting of hay than between cuttings. However, we can provide some general guidelines to keep in mind. Wo …

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, …