Table of Contents
How do you manually cut hay?
The proper method cutting hay by hand: stand with your legs apart and knees slightly bent. Three ropes tied around the width and a fourth wrapped lengthwise hold together each 70- to 90-pound bate of sun-dried hay. Swing your scythe and torso from right to left, concentrating on a smooth, whole-body pivot.
Can you make hay with a lawn mower?
Making Hay Step 2: Cut the Grass Once you have located your patch of grass, next you need to cut it. Mowers chop up the grass and crush it which encourages it to begin fermenting. This is great if you want to compost it but no good for feeding to rabbits.
Can I make my own hay?
You don’t need a tractor and big farm equipment to make hay, it’s extremely easy to do on your own. All you need is access to grass and somewhere to dry and store it. If you have poultry I’m going to assume you have a backyard of sorts, but you can even dry hay inside your own house you are so inclined.
Can you bale hay without a baler?
The baler in the plans is to be used in making a bale of pine straw, but it works just fine to bale our mixed-grass hay. Even without a hand baler you can cut and store your own hay. You’ll just need more space to store it.
How was hay cut before tractors?
It had to be hand-cut with a sickle or scythe and hand-raked with a wooden rake or fork. On a good day, a farmer could harvest 1 acre of hay.
How do you make hay out of grass clippings?
A perfect day for making hay is when it’s sunny and calm. Spread the grass clippings in a thin layer on the ground, preferably on the concrete. Turn it and mix it around a few times during the day. It shouldn’t take more than half a day or so until it’s completely dry.
How did they bail hay in the old days?
Baling Hay The first hay baling equipment was invented in the late 1800s. These early baling machines were stationary, and the hay had to come to it. Hay was carried by hand to wagons that then took the hay to these early balers, where the machine pressed the hay into square bales.
What equipment do you need to cut and bale hay?
Hay Equipment A compact tractor is the staple of every operation, but mowers, conditioners, hay rakes, balers, and sometimes hay tedders and bale wrappers are also needed. Pay close attention to make sure your tractor has enough engine horsepower to meet the horsepower requirement for each implement.
Can I cut hay with a flail mower?
If you’re talking about a flail cutter, like New Idea or MC made, they’re basically a chopper that drops the hay back on the ground. That’s probably the most aggressive tool you can use for cutting hay.
Can any grass be used for hay?
Composition. Commonly used plants for hay include mixtures of grasses such as ryegrass (Lolium species), timothy, brome, fescue, Bermuda grass, orchard grass, and other species, depending on region. Hay may also include legumes, such as alfalfa (lucerne) and clovers (red, white and subterranean).
Is hay ruined if rained on?
Rained-on hay often has relatively high protein values compared to fiber content unless there’s great leaf loss. Leaves contain a lot of the plant’s protein. As soluble carbohydrates leach, structural fibers make up a greater percent of forage dry matter. The digestibility of rained-on hay can decline 6 to 40 percent.
Is selling hay profitable?
“If you are getting $125 per ton for quality hay, you are going to see a profit of $51 per ton, or $204 per acre. “The potential is there to make some pretty good money on hay.” Brown says producers could decide to grow higher-quality hay and sell into the dairy or specialty hay markets.
Can you bale grass?
You can’t bale green grass clippings, or they will mildew and rot. The bales might even catch fire spontaneously, which happens often enough to wet hay that EVERY real farmer knows all about spontaneous combustion. But you CAN rake up nice fresh grass clippings and feed some of them to a cow or horse.
How tall should grass hay be cut?
The first cutting in the spring should be when grass has greened up and reached 12 – 16 inches tall. This should clean up all the old growth of winter weeds and such. Then each subsequent cutting is at 3.5 to 5 week intervals.
What machine do you use to cut hay?
Mower – These machines are used to mow the hay. There are basically two types of mowers: sickle bar and disc or rotary.. The sickle bar type mower provides a neat, clean cut of the forage. The sickle bar type of mower provides a neat, clean cut of the forage.
