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  1. #1
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Need help from anyone who stores/cuts hay.

    I have one kind of emergency question and a couple of general ones.

    Our neighbors planted hay on almost two acres of our property years ago. Now I am dealing with the fallout from that. We have two dwarf goats so I thought I would just start mowing it with my lawn tractor and store about a month's worth at a time, leaving the rest in the field. Eventually I will till it and start gardening on a larger scale but for the time being, I have to deal with it myself.

    I mowed all of it yesterday. It worked beautifully. It was in the mid-80's and I knew it needed to dry out a bit before I hauled up what I needed. It was in the high 80's today and dry so I went down with the wagon, raked up about four bales worth by hand and put it in my shed. It felt pretty dry. It is spread loosely over an 8'x8' area, about 3' high in a wood shed. My theory was that this would feed my goats for about a month.

    Now I'm reading about hay fires. I used to think that these occurred in very high volume situations over long periods of time as the composting process got into full swing but some people online are saying that spontaneous combustion can occur in small quantities. Does anyone have a feel for this? I just went back out and kind of spread it out again and I feel no heat. The hay feels dry to me.

    What would you recommend? Should I keep turning it to make sure it dries out evenly? Am I being paranoid?

    The other question concerns the hay I left in the field. I understand that it's good for mulching in gardens in spite of the fact that it will mold pretty quickly. What does it do for the hay field though? Will I be able to use the hay that I cut down in the future in that area or should I just keep cutting it and leaving it until next year? I'm really excited about the possibilities for using it in my gardens but I don't know if composting it in place causes a problem for feed during the course of this year since it won't really have time to compost completely before I cut again. Or will it?

    Thank you!

  2. #2
    Senior Dog doubledip1's Avatar
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    Where in the US do you live? I live in NY, and am totally fine to store plenty of COMPLETELY DRIED hay.

    To thoroughly dry hay, you need to let it sit out in a dry field for at least a week after it has been cut. Make sure to flip it over and rake it so it dries underneath also. You can store it after you bale it as long as you let it cure (dry) properly. Hay fires ("spontaneous combustion") start because of green hay. Can you install a ceiling fan in your shed?

    If you're using the hay for your goats, second-cut hay is like candy, so be mindful of that.

    I can't help you on your composting issues: I never let any hay go to waste, it all goes straight into my horse's belly! :-)
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  4. #3
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by doubledip1 View Post
    Where in the US do you live? I live in NY, and am totally fine to store plenty of COMPLETELY DRIED hay.

    To thoroughly dry hay, you need to let it sit out in a dry field for at least a week after it has been cut. Make sure to flip it over and rake it so it dries underneath also. You can store it after you bale it as long as you let it cure (dry) properly. Hay fires ("spontaneous combustion") start because of green hay. Can you install a ceiling fan in your shed?

    If you're using the hay for your goats, second-cut hay is like candy, so be mindful of that.

    I can't help you on your composting issues: I never let any hay go to waste, it all goes straight into my horse's belly! :-)
    I am in Massachusetts.

    That's really interesting. The guy who cuts our neighbor's hay lets it sit for 1-2 days before he bales it.

    We aren't baling our hay. I don't want the field, I want a large garden but I have to till it under gradually with smaller equipment since we don't have access for large equipment from the street so I can't hire someone and the guy who has been doing the work for our neighbors has been using our property without permission then refused to work for us when we addressed the issue so we kicked him out.

    I think I should just cut what the goats need for a short period of time based on what you've said. I give them a limited amount of hay as part of their diet and really appreciate your input given that they snarfed what I just gave them!

    Just out of curiosity, would someone like you be interested in letting your horse graze on our land or come by and take the hay I just cut?

  5. #4
    Senior Dog windycanyon's Avatar
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    First, what KIND of hay do you have? Alfalfa? Grass?? Other??? I ask that because you are offering it to folks for grazing. Some animals can't tolerate alfalfa, though grass would be wonderful. Only drying for 2 days sounds a bit on the insane side for MA. Even in the hot dry climate that I live in, it takes at least 5 days w/ turning to dry it properly. Yes, you can have spontaneous combustion w/ only small amounts, but it's less likely if spread out than if mounded.

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  7. #5
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by windycanyon View Post
    First, what KIND of hay do you have? Alfalfa? Grass?? Other??? I ask that because you are offering it to folks for grazing. Some animals can't tolerate alfalfa, though grass would be wonderful. Only drying for 2 days sounds a bit on the insane side for MA. Even in the hot dry climate that I live in, it takes at least 5 days w/ turning to dry it properly. Yes, you can have spontaneous combustion w/ only small amounts, but it's less likely if spread out than if mounded.
    I am not offering it for grazing. I am asking a question.

    Anyone interested would literally have to look at the field. Someone else planted it and I only give my goats a small amount at any time. I really don't want this stuff on our property but it will take a while to get it off.

    It does seem like a short amount of drying time, especially given what I've seen online. It also confirms that what this guy our neighbors hired doesn't know what he's doing.

    I'll spread out what I did collect yesterday. Maybe that's the upside of having a long driveway.

  8. #6
    Senior Dog doubledip1's Avatar
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    I actually was trail riding yesterday and a neighbor had just mown their side lawn, so I asked if I could take their clippings to give the horses and the neighbor enthusiastically said yes. I would LOVE it if someone offered me grass clippings and always say yes! You could hire a college kid home for the summer to cut it for you for $20 depending on how big the field is. We hire a bunch of college kids every year for hay season (we get around 1,000 bales just on first-cut) and pay them $8 a hour, plus pizza when they're done. Hauling hay is a great workout but it's also the worst because the bales are heavy and the higher up you get in the mow the more you hate everything.

    If there is someone with a few horses that live nearby, you could definitely try to set up and agreement with them to have them set up an electric fence (they're pretty portable and don't leave any permanent damage), and let their horses graze in there. If it is a hay field, the horses will have to have limited time out there (1-2 hours and gradually build up) because of risks for founder. My horse has Cushing's, so he would NEVER be allowed in a hay field, but a horse neighbor I'm sure would be TOTALLY appreciative! I would give away grass clippings for free, but never hay. A nice, 60lb square bale around here goes for $4.00 a bale. A horse neighbor will also probably take care of it for you, including cutting, baling and drying, if they get free hay. You will just want to draft up a quick agreement saying that they have hay rights for 1 year to the property and you will revisit the next year.

    Definitely spread out the hay. If your hay is still really green, it needs to dry more. A week in NY (I'm in the Albany/upstate area) or Massachusetts is a good guideline to make sure it's dry. If you can take a piece and twist it around times without it breaking, you might be okay but I'm super vigilant about making sure my hay is dry.
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  10. #7
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    It's not going to burn as loose hay. It needs to dry for two days, turn it once if possible......it's green bales that can produce heat that start fires.

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  12. #8
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Felt it today and it is nice and cool. Turned it as well. I'm glad I didn't bring anymore up though. The goats just love it. This is going to pay for the Cub Cadet in no time.

 



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