Innovation is the key to improving quality. Over the last century, technology for processing and storing hay has developed at a pace never seen before. Modern tools allow you to mow, rake and press even in bad weather. At the same time, the quality has gone far beyond what it was on most farms even 50 years ago.
Most often today, mowers, rakes and balers are used for harvesting hay. Some farmers additionally use mower-conditioners and tedders. More about all this in the article.
Thanks to science, we now know the optimal cutting heights for various plants. This simultaneously ensures their rapid regrowth and high energy value of the resulting feedstuff. Previously, farmers most often mowed very short, leaving 1 inch or less. Today, cutting heights are most often 1.5 to 2 inches.
The width of the cut is also important at this stage. The wider your swath, the faster it will dry under the influence of sun and wind. This means that there will be less chance of precipitation and related problems before baling. Most often, drying hay takes 2-3 days.
For areas with high humidity, the use of mower conditioners is recommended. Thanks to them, a cushion is formed between the hay and the soil, which allows air to circulate freely. This speeds up the drying process, which improves the quality of the finished bales and avoids crop losses due to excessive moisture.
Another interesting innovation in recent years is mowers with counter-rotating blades. This technology allows you to equalize the load on the drive and each blade individually, which ensures a clean and accurate cut. In addition, they have proven themselves successfully in wet conditions: when using this type of mower, there are no uncut stripes left on the field.
Tedding is not a completely separate stage, but rather an auxiliary one, which is often used in regions with high humidity. Tedding helps speed up the drying process of feedstuff. To do this you need to use a hay tedder. It should be applied 1-2 hours immediately after mowing or early in the morning before dew falls.
To make it easier to lay hay in wide windrows, use a rake. They help to rake the herbs more evenly, which subsequently has a positive effect on the pressing and packaging stage. Raking the swaths also helps speed up drying by lifting the hay off the soil, which protects it from contact with dirt and other foreign matter and also improves air circulation. All this improves the quality of feedstuff.
Most of the hay harvested is baled hay. That is why the pressing stage is one of the most important when preparing feedstuff. It is important to do this in time before weather conditions change, which can significantly depreciate the value of finished feedstuff.
The higher the bale density, the higher quality the bales are obtained.
Modern balers help bale large round bales weighing up to 2,650 feet, with widths of up to 4 feet and heights of up to 6 feet. We explained in this article why it is better to pack in large bales. Another advantage of larger bales is faster harvest times and lower costs per bale. We also recommend packing hay in a bale net wrap rather than twine because it will better protect your feedstuff. The bale net wraps by Polypak are suitable for all popular and common types of balers.
It is very important to maintain optimal tension of the net when pressing, since the safety of the feedstuff depends on this. Be sure to match the crop produced to the number of turns around the bale. Here you can find our recommendations.
It is important to set the pressure correctly in different zones when baling heavy bales:
Important! Move your finished bales into storage as soon as possible. Ideally within a week. In this article we described storage options for net wrapped bales.
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2020 All Rights Reserved.