Post by Applelonia on Sept 14, 2017 13:43:16 GMT -5
I know if hay is lightly rained on it can dry and be fine, but what if it gets rained on - as in soaked through?
We rented a small acre field from a neighbor. A different neighbor cuts and bales it for us. Got four round bales first cutting - 1/2 a bale left. 65 squares the second cutting - gone. And one round bale this last cutting. It's a grass alfalfa mix.
It was cut six days ago. The second day it was rained on - soaked. Two days later it was turned/raked. Felt dry - smelled fine. Then overnight we had a light mist like rain - got wet again. Two days after this, it was baled. It was dry - baled late afternoon. It's been humid but warm to hot sunny weather. This morning he brought it. It's sitting in our barn. It's certified organic land/hay so no anti mold preservative went on it...would not want that anyway but, is it apt to mold from the heavy rain? I see there are some black tiny dotes on some of the hay pieces - mold? Or if it was dry when baled it's fine?
I take pitchforks off the round bales and give each cow a mound of hay three times a day ...don't really want to work around moldy hay. But, at least I'll be able to monitor for mold dust.
If I was feeding out beef steers I'd feed it no problem, but there is App with the potential chronic lung damage so I don't want to harm her and the other two will be calving while eating this hay.
Besides the mold issue - How reduced is the quality after a rain?
It would sure be nice if it was usable hay. Our regular hay guy has been turning people away. We reserved 500 bales last fall for this year. He thinks he'll have that many. He's about two hours away from us - guess they've had a lot of rain and lost some cuttings. We wanted to buy a little extra, but he doesn't think he'll have any. So having this round bale will get us by for a couple extra weeks ...every week adds up.
They're finishing up the last round bale from the first cutting so this rained on hay, would be fed out by the beginning of October.
Would you guys feed it?
We rented a small acre field from a neighbor. A different neighbor cuts and bales it for us. Got four round bales first cutting - 1/2 a bale left. 65 squares the second cutting - gone. And one round bale this last cutting. It's a grass alfalfa mix.
It was cut six days ago. The second day it was rained on - soaked. Two days later it was turned/raked. Felt dry - smelled fine. Then overnight we had a light mist like rain - got wet again. Two days after this, it was baled. It was dry - baled late afternoon. It's been humid but warm to hot sunny weather. This morning he brought it. It's sitting in our barn. It's certified organic land/hay so no anti mold preservative went on it...would not want that anyway but, is it apt to mold from the heavy rain? I see there are some black tiny dotes on some of the hay pieces - mold? Or if it was dry when baled it's fine?
I take pitchforks off the round bales and give each cow a mound of hay three times a day ...don't really want to work around moldy hay. But, at least I'll be able to monitor for mold dust.
If I was feeding out beef steers I'd feed it no problem, but there is App with the potential chronic lung damage so I don't want to harm her and the other two will be calving while eating this hay.
Besides the mold issue - How reduced is the quality after a rain?
It would sure be nice if it was usable hay. Our regular hay guy has been turning people away. We reserved 500 bales last fall for this year. He thinks he'll have that many. He's about two hours away from us - guess they've had a lot of rain and lost some cuttings. We wanted to buy a little extra, but he doesn't think he'll have any. So having this round bale will get us by for a couple extra weeks ...every week adds up.
They're finishing up the last round bale from the first cutting so this rained on hay, would be fed out by the beginning of October.
Would you guys feed it?