Farm Dreams
Homesteading, Organic Gardening, How to Farm, Preparedness, Self-Reliance
conditioning hay
We have a farm/ranch in a very arid part of the country. We have the unusual problem of not having enough moisture to bale our hay (especially the alfalfa). We were thinking of removing the conditioner on our self-propelled swather. Does anyone have any experience with cutting/baleing hay without conditioning it?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by NHF on -
Like you, I use a mower/conditioner (Haybine). However, most people around here don't, opting for disc mowers instead. Sometimes they ted the hay, sometimes they don't. If you don't have moisture I'd sure think you could do it without a conditioner but I haven't done pure alfalfa, so grain of salt there. Is there a local extension agent you can ask?
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Permalink Reply by Molly Linville on
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We have an extension agent who is great about a lot of things but on this particular topic we got a blank look and "nobody does it that way". The conditioner is really easy to drop so I think maybe I'll cut half the field with the conditioner and half without and compare the bales. Thanks a bunch for the input!
P.S. I spend a lot of time on that swather listening to your podcasts. You and Liz make the round and round go much faster!
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