As usual with hay - I think the right answer is "it depends".
It depends on how thick the hay is. Depends on the type of hay. Depends on how wet the ground is, how high your stubble is, wind, humidity, what moisture content you're comfortable with in your final product, what cutting this is.
Very generally speaking - If you're not in arid conditions, 2 days CAN be good, but still wetter than 3 day - and therefore a lot heavier, and a lot more work if any of your processes involve touching the bales, so don't overlook that reality.
When your testing it before baling - be SURE to sample your worst areas as a guide, not the best. Go to the edges. It's easy to walk into the middle of a field, grab a bunch of bone dry papery goodness - start baling and realize when you're done that the other 3/4's of the field was still green.
Here's how I do my wet field that stays wet: First I should say I don't count on the field for a lot of volume, so I don't heavily fertilize it so it doesn't get too thick. It's pure, weed free timothy.
Anyways: Day one morning, cut and follow immediately with tedder to spread the hay out. This gives vastly more surface area to the sun, the grass is least vulnerable to the thrashing at that time since it's all green, AND it helps "crimp" the stalks a little more by thrashing it.
I leave a good 4 to 6 inches of "stubble" to help hold the hay up off the wet ground. (And I'm talking sopping wet ground, splashing with the tedder in many places)
Ted again in the early afternoon.
Day two, ted in the morning while the dew's on the hay. Might ted again in the early afternoon if it's real dry on top and green underneath (which is the norm).
Day three I ted once in the morning - rake noonish-to 3ish - start baling before 5.
If you're trying to cut on day two - just do day three instead of day two.
Local conditions matter of course - I wouldn't bale any later than 5 because the hay starts picking up moisture from the cooling air. So obviously adjust your second tedding time to give the hay enough drying time before baling, to justify the second tedding.
If you get that much rain, it sounds like you don't have to worry too much about "beating the goodness out"of the hay by over tedding (within reason).
I should say I'd always go three days in that wet field. So it really depends on how wet your field is. "Moist" I wouldn't worry too much about, but wet trator tires would make me question the 2 day effort.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo filesizes should be less than 300K and Videos, less than 2MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
1964 I-H 140 tractor with cultivators and sidedresser. Starts and runs good. Asking 2650. CALL RON AT 502-319-1952
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.