Cutting New Field of Brome

Bobl1958 · Jun 9, 2016

Was able to start cutting this new field of brome hay yesterday afternoon. Looks like it is really going to have pretty fair tonnage. We were really dry from January to late April so it didn't get the early rains needed to really produce, but for a new field I am sure pleased. Bob

JD Farmer · Jun 9, 2016

I would be pleased too. That sure is a nice field to work in compared to my hilly ground. Hay looks great.

dhermesc · Jun 9, 2016

I was pleasantly surprised by my yields so far. In NE Kansas we had the same dry period and the brome looked horrible in mid April. Cutting almost two weeks earlier than last year (because its not raining as much) my yield is only off 5% to 8%.

When you use your swather - how long does it take for your hay to dry with a good stand? People seem amazed when I tell them I cut with a sickle bar mower and with good drying weather I can start raking 22-24 hours later and then bale immediately after that (usually at 27 hours with these small patches). The exception to that was last year when I had so much hay go down that I ended up raking a lot of it twice to flip the windrows for better drying.

Bobl1958 · Jun 9, 2016

It depends on how wet the ground is and how high the humidity is. The first brome I cut was taking 3 to 4 days to dry. It was really heavy but with all the rain we had the ground was saturated and I'm sure it was pulling moisture up, plus dew each evening that was almost like a rain and then 45% humidity all day long on top of that, so not ideal drying times for here in Central KS. Other parts of the country probably deal with that all the time.

But in normal times, I can cut one day, and bale two days later without turning the windrows. On really hot dry times, I can cut one day and bale late the next, but rule of thumb is two days. Bob

tim s · Jun 9, 2016

No one raises Brome around here any more, but I remember baling a lot of it back in the 60's, always seemed to make a lot of bales,,we baled a lot of nice thick Timothy back then too but we can't seem to get a good stand anymore, our corn/soybean chemical program must have some thing to do with it..

David G · Jun 9, 2016

I have a brome buffer strip between my house and fields, it looked really good this year.

Tim(nj) · Jun 9, 2016

cereal rust mite doesn't help, either.

Cutting New Field of Brome

Bobl1958

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JD Farmer

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dhermesc

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Bobl1958

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tim s

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David G

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Tim(nj)

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