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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:50 pm
by Saffy
We have been waiting to mow about 5 acres of hay for weeks and are just about giving up entirely and getting somone in to do round bale silage. Having said that we would need a few fine days for that, just to let the standing grass and the ground underneath dry a bit or it would just churn up and we would have mud in the bales and mouldy silage.
I am usually able to have a joke about sunny Wales but it is getting to me this year! 
Has anyone made hay - what is it like in the rest of the country?
Stephanie
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:10 pm
by Sylvia
We are in the same situation as you Stephanie, the 10 acre field and another 6 acres are waiting to be cut. We did get about 8 big bales of hay !! and a decent amount of haylage earlier in the year but having uncut fields screws up all plans for moving animals around. I can't believe it can be like this 2 years running.
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:21 pm
by Martin
Hi Saffy,
I live in what is known as the sunny south east (at the moment we have torential rain) and I too am waiting for the weather to change so we can cut hay. I have already cut baled and put in the barn 7 acres of very good rye grass and clover hay completed on the 28th June. I have 7 acres of meadow left and am itching to get finished. I am also lucky in that I have about 300 bales of meadow hay left from last year.
I finished hay making last year when my neighbour was cutting his winter wheat in August so I wouldn't panic just yet. Another neighbour has about 20 acres cut last friday that has been rained on every day since.
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 5:21 pm
by Broomcroft
We're in a dry area but we still haven't made hay. We almost did it...got within a day, then wrapped it. That's fine though because it will be really nice dry haylage, just a waste of plastic though, and money, but we can at least store it outside now.
We have another 15 acres left to do so fingers crossed. But someone just said to me that they had heard on the radio or tele that July and August could be wet throughout
Edited By Broomcroft on 1215620553
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 5:38 pm
by Rutherford
Down here in the southwest we are probably as wet as anyone. I am waiting to make silage, but the entire farm is on the wet side and mostly clay. Silage has to be hauled through several rushy fields to get it back to the silo. Another hitch is that machinery is getting bigger and my erstwhile contractor having retired, I have been told my fields and access are too small for most. I hopefully have found someone, but will need several days for the wettest fields to dry out, before I can contemplate cutting. Who would have thought history would repeat itself two summers running. I am a little old to emigrate!
Beryl (Woodmagic)
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:17 pm
by Duncan MacIntyre
I don't think anyone on Bute has made any hay so far this year but silage has gone fairly well. I buy in hay from Stirlingshire as it is more reliable than local stuff, and the folk there have not cut any so far but that is not unusual for this time of year. As my numbers of cattle have increased I would in a way like to transfer to silage but it needs so much handling and in the wet outside I would end up with an inordinate amount of mud in our wet winters. With the small bale hay I can carry it to different parts each day and spread the damage so it does not take to much recovery when spring comes. The worst bit is I will be taking delivery of 800 or so bales and have it delivered to the end of our road because access by lorry to the shed is impossible, and have to stack it, then load it into livestock trailer and pack it in the shed at leisure (I use the term "at leisure" loosely).
Duncan
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:19 am
by Saffy
You take your leisure time seriously on Bute then Duncan. :D
A local man who keeps a few sheep with us in the winter - down from the hill - has purchased a small bale machine for silage which we are considering. We could feed in a similar way to the hay it is just storage and moving them about that concerns me - they will be heavy!
Stephanie
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:48 pm
by carole
we made about 200 small bales in mid june just before the deluge, it seems ok and isn't heating up but still waiting to do the bulk of it, on a positive note though the construction of the Ark is coming along nicely (just have to get over that rather niggly issue of having more than 2 dexters).
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:55 pm
by Duncan MacIntyre
Carole, fear not.
See Genesis chapter 7, verse 2 - you are allowed to take 7 of every clean animal. Hard luck on the pigs I know, but cattle and sheep you can take 7, but I think only one bull.
Do remember though, that you are a lot younger than Noah was when he built his, and that it is going to be a bit hard on the rest of us if you have exclusive contract on the next Ark.
Duncan
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:22 pm
by marcus
Saffy,
I made some small bale silage myself once. I baled short bales in a conventional baler then stacked them in silage bags, seven bales to a bag. It was hard work and the bales were heavy,I used a wheelbarrow to move them, but the sheep loved them. My back was,nt so keen though!.
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:36 pm
by Saffy
Hi Marcus,
The bloke I mentioned has a way of wrapping the small bale silage as well but it still has to be humped around to be fed.
Stephanie
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:10 am
by Saffy
Having looked at the 10 day forecast on www. weather.co.uk our area is supposed to be "possibly" dry for this coming Sunday and Monday and the following Saturday and Sunday. Not even long enough to make silage at the moment with the ground conditions so wet.
Stephanie
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:39 am
by Broomcroft
A sacktruck with big flotation tyres would be good for moving small silage bales. Or maybe one converted to hitch on the towing ball of a quad?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 6:35 pm
by Duncan MacIntyre
My father made small bale silage and bagged it in "Mowbags" in 1971 or 1972. We had special wedges which fitted into the bale chamber of the baler to increase the tension, they were very tight and very heavy. Once bagged they were very difficult to handle and very vulnerable to damage eg from seagulls perching on them. But despite being made on ground which had not been re-seeded for at least fifty years, and cut on 26th August, the analysis was amazingly good.
Duncan
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 1:01 pm
by Saffy
370 lovely little bales of sweet smelling hay are now in the barn - what a relief - I hope everyone else has managed to get their crops in. :D