Rained On Hay

A post over on the Implement forum about chopping rained on hay got me thinking. Soon after I got started in hay in 1988, we got some hay rained on. My immediate thought is what are we going to do with it?? I talked to a dairy farmer friend, and he told me not to worry about it. We were making feed for sheep and he told me that it would still make perfectly good feed hay. This was around he 10-15th of June, so the grass was not mature yet. Well we dried it back down and baled it up, and got some tested, along with some from the same field that was baled the day before the rain. We found that our dairy farmer friend was correct, the loss in both protein and energy was only around ten percent, Now there are a number of variables in this, the most important being maturity at time of cut, another being how much had it dried down before getting rained on, and third and perhaps the one having the most effect is how long did it stay wet from the rain. A quick down-pour followed by quick dry down will have little effect but if a rainy stretch of five days keeps it wet, it will loose a lot of feed value. Another factor is who is going to use it. Horse people seem to think that it is impossible to get hay dry once it is rained on, so that it will mold in the bale after being put in the barn. You have to have trust with a horse customer built up over many years for them to accept hay that has been rained on. People with cattle or other animals are a lot more likely to be receptive to rained on hay. The greatest factor we know about hay is that if not cut before seed heads mature, it will lose a great part of its feed value, so it is better to cut it even if there is a chance of rain, than to let it turn into wood as it stands in the field.

My dad always said its pretty hard to ruin June hay!

The biggest lose is the color, and that makes it hard to sell in small squares. I have put up quite a bit of hay that has been
rained on. Never turn it until you know you can get it dried and baled. Makes good cow hay for sure!

My uncle would haul his moldy hay to Chicago
wherr it was used to grow mushrooms.

I don't know about other horse people but my horses will not eat mature grass.
They pull it out of the feeder and drop it on the ground. I think they would start eating the barn before eating mature grass. Rained on dry hay does not seem to bother them if it is good hay to start with.
The picky horse people that have one or two pleasure horses that I know buy hay on other peoples opinions. They put feeding their horses a notch above their kids. Amish would be a better place to get hay advise where the horses have to put out a good days work. They seem to put up stuff that most "horse people" would burn.
The horse people I talk to have different strong opinions and none of them are wrong. Just ask them! If you toss a bale of slightly molded hay out in their lot the dumb horses will go out and eat that first. They don't know it is suppose to make them sick. Do a search on high moisture hay for horses! This is spoiled hay in a bag.

Those horse people are sure different than the people that depend on their horses for a living and transportation. A lot of their hay is made late and never conditioned as no way to run a conditioner and it is very likely to get rained on at least once and a lot of time twice.

I have a related question. In my part of CA (also known as crazy America) I see grass hay left for weeks after cutting before it is baled but while living in IL and IN seldom saw it lay for more than 4 days.
Also, the seldom ted here. Any thoughts on why they do things the way they do here?

My cows and horses eat the same hay. I try not to sell to "horsey" people. The old saying is that "Come January, the worst hay in the world is better than the best snowballs."

I bale what I have, when it's dry enough to bale.

Tom in TN

I agree with the statement that it depends on when it gets rained on and how much it got rained on.

On a side note, it was hard to get hay to dry last summer without tedding.

Your dad was a wise man. I would say that is exactly right.

I would much rather have hay that has been rained on as too mature. I cut ryegrass Tuesday and it got rained on last night. It was starting to turn and to wait for dry weather was not an option. Over ripe ryegrass is nothing but straw.

The way I look at rain and hay is this - think of it as a tea leaf.

The day it's cut, and the day after - probably to green yet to give up much nutrients. Once it's dried down and
the rain comes, nutrients wash out like water through a dry tea leaf.

I know some (who's judgement and knowledge regarding hay I respect) who will cut hay - knowing it is going to
rain later that day or the next day. But they also know after the rain, there is going to be two or three sunny
days for the hay to dry. So they cut, expect rain the same day or early next and ted as the weather breaks
sunny and really have nice hay. Threading the needle for a weather window to make hay - before the hay heads
out and quality goes down!

We have a similar situation here. It has been dry all spring, but over the last few weeks, it's been raining
like cats and dogs. We have a weather window like this: Rain Friday (today) night, rain heavy over night into
Saturday, becoming partly cloudy Saturday afternoon/evening with maybe a scattered shower. Sunday - maybe a
scattered shower, but breezy and warm. Monday - clearing and sunny, Tuesday more sun and almost zero percent
chance of rain. Wednesday - mostly sun with a chance of a stray shower.

If the hay is mature enough (timothy) and if the above weather pattern holds, I'll be mowing hay Saturday
evening, tedding on Sunday afternoon and baling on Tuesday and maybe into Wednesday. I'll be having this hay
tested - will be interesting to see the results - especially if it sees some rain.

Fingers Crossed - We'll see - YMMMV.

Bill

Horse people??????????? You best not put all people that own horses into on box since we and yes I have horses and have had for years and what you say well if you where here in front of me I would have to kick you back sides. I bale hay and have sine 1980 and yes there are times it get washed by rain and I still bale it and still feed it to my horses and have for many many years now.
I always hate it where people use words like every body since every body does not fit into one box and people that say this person or that person since just because this or that person has this or that we do not all think the same way

(quoted from post at 10:07:14 05/20/16) The way I look at rain and hay is this - think of it as a tea leaf.

The day it's cut, and the day after - probably to green yet to give up much nutrients. Once it's dried down and
the rain comes, nutrients wash out like water through a dry tea leaf.

I know some (who's judgement and knowledge regarding hay I respect) who will cut hay - knowing it is going to
rain later that day or the next day. But they also know after the rain, there is going to be two or three sunny
days for the hay to dry. So they cut, expect rain the same day or early next and ted as the weather breaks
sunny and really have nice hay. Threading the needle for a weather window to make hay - before the hay heads
out and quality goes down!

We have a similar situation here. It has been dry all spring, but over the last few weeks, it's been raining
like cats and dogs. We have a weather window like this: Rain Friday (today) night, rain heavy over night into
Saturday, becoming partly cloudy Saturday afternoon/evening with maybe a scattered shower. Sunday - maybe a
scattered shower, but breezy and warm. Monday - clearing and sunny, Tuesday more sun and almost zero percent
chance of rain. Wednesday - mostly sun with a chance of a stray shower.

If the hay is mature enough (timothy) and if the above weather pattern holds, I'll be mowing hay Saturday
evening, tedding on Sunday afternoon and baling on Tuesday and maybe into Wednesday. I'll be having this hay
tested - will be interesting to see the results - especially if it sees some rain.

Fingers Crossed - We'll see - YMMMV.

Bill

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That's how I try to do it if it's ready to go and that's what we're dealing with. Some times it fails miserably, but most of the time you can make it work.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Old saying rained on hay will burn damp
hay won't. We had an older neighbor who if
his hay got any rain it went back on the
ground he lost one barn and wasn't going
to lose a second one. I think chopping on
the ground was more common with small
square bales and barns. Now with round
bales outside it's not much of a worry.
Seen a few barn fires and seen black hay
in the barn that didn't catch.
It's funny that hay baled tough won't burn
and I've seen bales put in that will turn
to silage but hay that gets rain will
burn.

I believe the only people getting underwear knotted up over rained on hay is the horsey crowd.

Buy a bale wrapper , and forget about rain on hay,
and trying to get it dry. Make wet hay and feed hay
like I am holding in my hand in the second picture.
Perfect feed , still has it's leaves , and can be stored
out side with no damage to the quality from
weather. Dry hay is as much a part of the past as
steam powered tractors here.

(quoted from post at 11:39:35 05/20/16) Horse people??????????? You best not put all people that own horses into on box since we and yes I have horses and have had for years and what you say well if you where here in front of me I would have to kick you back sides. I bale hay and have sine 1980 and yes there are times it get washed by rain and I still bale it and still feed it to my horses and have for many many years now.
I always hate it where people use words like every body since every body does not fit into one box and people that say this person or that person since just because this or that person has this or that we do not all think the same way

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Old don't get your knickers in a wad. Horse people and people who own horses aren't necessarily the same group. Don't get your feelings hurt. Is that difference also considered bullying? The bar gets moves so often I can't keep up

Growing up, the horses got what Dad didn't want to feed the cows. I am a bit more picky now, but my horses get fed what I have. I use my horses hard, when I use them. Yes they will sort out the best hay first, but they will eat it all.

That's fighting words as granny used to say. Thankfully one good thing about the Internet you can't Duke it out no blood well be shed

Selling rained on hay to the horse crowd is a matter of timing..... when they're faced with snow balls and 2x4's as an alternative and'good'
hay is 6 bucks a bale... they'll usually take a second look. If rained on hay has been properly dried it will usually be OK unless it's been
rained on for a week. Sometimes it's a bit dusty... Strategy... slip some through with the good stuff.
I certainly wouldn't chop it back on the field. That's just asinine... At the very least it can go for cow hay or just about any construction
company uses it for ground cover these days...
I sell everything, including the stuff that got wet in the barn from a drip, etc. Waste nothing.
We also keep a bunch of cows basically for no reason other than to act as garberators to consume some of that old or dusty hay...

Rod

Several years ago I took a week off the bale hay, cut it on Saturday and it rained from sunday evening to thursday, finally got it dried and baled before going back to work on sunday. Hay was a bunch of black junk so we hauled it to a ditch on the back side of the field. Later that fall we turned the cows into that field and they went to the ditch and eat all of that black rained on hay.
Rained on hay loses it's feed value but it's better than no hay.
I have a couple of neighbors with horses that buy hay from me, they feed them the same hay my cows eat, I don't sell hay to THE horse people.

No threat intended. Just something I read years ago. By the way I have a cousin who is big into horses. So much so she has had two husbands divorce her over it. I would say she is certifiably horse nuts.

I want to try that in the worst way. I only feed a few steers per year and they get mostly grain. I would like to wrap sell balage, but am scared to death of being stuck with it. I may roll the dice this year and get a few wrapped and try it. How long will a bale keep once it's unwrapped?

Based on my experience, once unwrapped and opened up being fed, about 3 days max in the summer, even then you do notice minor deterioration beginning. The bale will keep better longer once opened up if the weather is freezing or colder. You can make smaller bales to better match your herd size. Ben

(quoted from post at 11:26:01 05/20/16) Growing up, the horses got what Dad didn't want to feed the cows. I am a bit more picky now, but my horses get fed what I have. I use my horses hard, when I use them. Yes they will sort out the best hay first, but they will eat it all.

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We never had horses, but an old neighbor asked me one time "what happened to horses?" Told me the same thing, good hay for cattle, horses got what was available to them. Now horses get the best, and don't get to try eome that they might like better because of picky owners.

(quoted from post at 08:39:35 05/20/16) Horse people??????????? You best not put all people that own horses into on box since we and yes I have horses and have had for years and what you say well if you where here in front of me I would have to kick you back sides. I bale hay and have sine 1980 and yes there are times it get washed by rain and I still bale it and still feed it to my horses and have for many many years now.
I always hate it where people use words like every body since every body does not fit into one box and people that say this person or that person since just because this or that person has this or that we do not all think the same way

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I think it's you, Rich, you got yourself into a bad group when you got horses.

Just kidding, but I had a customer come to buy ten small square bales for their horse one time. Young lady looked at 1,800 bales in the barn and said "wow, how many horses do you have?" I told her "none, I'm scared of horses". She laughed at me, and I finished "I'm scared they'll take all my money". Silence.