H&C

7
Jul
2009

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Hay making

It's around this time of year that farmers are cropping their grass to conserve it for use in the winter months. The grass has grown well this year with the help of the wet warm weather and yield and quality looks good.

There are two options:

Silage is cut and collected while it still contains moisture, then stored in a bulk clamp or wrapped in plastic so that the anaerobic conditions encourage it to ferment; a kind of pickling process

Hay is bailed up once its dry. Dairy farmers have finished their first cut silage and some are now looking at their second cut off the same fields from the re-growth. For us sheep and beef farmers, we generally only take one cut off each field and then graze stock on them.

Those making hay are concentrating on the weekly forecasts more than ever. To make good hay, the long grass is cut and then spread by a machine known as a Tedder on a daily basis to enable it to dry in the sun. Once dry - that usually takes around five days in hot windy weather - it is bailed and stored safely in barns. Rain not only slows the process down, but also allows the goodness to leech out, reducing the quality of the hay. If the cut grass remains on the ground for too long getting wet, it is eventually wrecked.

We have made 220 silage bales and plan to make plenty of hay - that saves the cost of plastic wrap but needs longer spells of sunshine - so roll on some lovely dry weeks. We need to get that job out of the way before harvest starts at the end of the month.