Value of rained-on hay

Zachary Hoyt · Jun 29, 2012

Last night about 3 AM we had a 6 minute thundershower that dropped about 1/4" of rain on the hay I have down but not yet raked. I normally sell hay out of the field for $2 and out of the shed for $2.50. These are small square bales in northern NY. I have told the customers who were coming for this hay that I will sell it to them for $1 per bale because it was rained on and therefore the quality is reduced. I got to wondering whether other folks sell rained-on hay and if so what the difference is in price.
Zach

Nancy Howell · Jun 29, 2012

My opinion - it didn"t get enough rain to devalue the hay.

Traditional Farmer · Jun 29, 2012

Alot depends on when it was rained on if it was just cut 1/4" rain wouldn't matter even if its cured 1/4" isn't going to hurt it as thats more like a really heavy dew.

LazyWP · Jun 29, 2012

Where are you located? I don't think its worth anything. Better just give it to me, after you get it baled.

James Williams · Jun 29, 2012

A dollar a bale that was in the 70s

jimmy

leej · Jun 29, 2012

1/4 inch of rain would not devalue hay at all.
Providing you can get it baled the following
day after the rain. Wait for the sun to dry the
top side before you rack it. Let it dry before baling. I am assuming this is fairly good quality
to begin with. ggp

Tx Jim · Jun 29, 2012

Zachary Hoyt
Won't hurt a thing as long as the moisture content of hay is 15 or below when it's baled. First nutrient to leave is vitamin "A" if color is changed. Lowering of protein takes at least an inch of rain and hay laying on ground for several days. Rained on hay is affected when it gets enough rain it must lay for several days and get mildew or worse mold in it.

larry@stinescorner · Jun 29, 2012

sounds way too cheap,all your prices

Brokenwrench · Jun 29, 2012

All these folks are giving you the right advice. Hay that hasn"t been raked should easily take that rain.

Where you run into trouble is when you get in those rainy stretchs where it rains the whole day or you get alot of rain. If you can rake it now once the top is dry, the bottom will dry out well before it starts molding.

If it were mine, and they were regular customers, maybe drop the price .25 a bale. Around here anyway, you couldn"t buy the worst junk hay for 1.00. Heck, you sound pretty cheap at 2.50.

I bale all 4x5 rounds now, and if I have some rougher hay, I tend to hang on to it longer into winter and then sell it, telling the buyer exactly what it is, poor hay. Do to the law of supply and demand, I can usually get a little better price in mid feb. Or, I just mix it in with better hay and feed it to my cattle.

Wheat Farmer · Jun 29, 2012

That will not hurt the hay AT ALL. Is it laying flat, or in a windrow? If flat let the sun dry it until 14% moisture or less, rake and bale. If in a windrow let sun dry top to 14%, then rake, dry to 14%, and bale. The only problem I have is if the bales set on wet ground for more than a day. With my Alfalfa hay I try not to rake unless I just have to. Our hay last year sold for 6.50 out of the field, and some 9:50 out of the barn later in the year. Some was as high as 14.00. This year is not going to be any better. A little bit of color bleach will not bring the protein down. We test everything.

samn40 · Jun 29, 2012

Come over and try to make hay in Ireland it is the norm for it to be rained on! A big bonus if it doesn't. We have had hay lie for 9 days after mowing with rain every day, the grass was growing green again between the swathes and when the weather got nice we first of all turned it onto the green grass to let the ground under the swathes dry and get the slugs and worms out of the hay! then we tedded for 3 days and baled, the hay was perfect and fed as well as the stuff that got no rain. Saw an article once in the Holstein journal about American fodder versus the wet stuff we feed in UK After all the tests were done there was no difference in milk yield or quality just our cows had better conception rates. Go figure that out...?
Sam

hd6gtom · Jun 29, 2012

Zach, you dont tell us what type of hay, grass or alfalfa. If it is good alfalfa, in south central Iowa, that goes for 4.00 per bale picked up in the field by the customeer. You'r price is about right for grass hay. You have set your price and it is too late to back out now. At that price, I would think everyone would be at your field gate waiting on you to get there.

RodinNS · Jun 29, 2012

You're far too cheap to start with unless the bales are 30# each. As far as that amount of rain goes... that won't hurt it. Shake it out, get it dry, rake it up and bale it.
I sell construction hay for more than you want for good hay...

Rod

Anonymous-0 · Jun 29, 2012

Rain you described won't ruin your hay. If it is fresh cut, not at all. I would get right out there with a tedder and fluff it up and get it off the ground so the air can get through it. It will get musty quickly if it stays wet. I wouldn't even go to the trouble of doing hay for those prices. If you figure your time, land, fuel, wear and tear on machinery, and return on what you have invested in it, you are losing money as soon as you start the tractor.

Keith Molden · Jun 29, 2012

WHERE DID YOU FIND THE RAIN??? I wouldn't care right now if I did get a little rain on some hay as long as I get the rain. Seriously, the rain won't hurt it at all. The protien will still be the same as long as you don't let it lay there & mold. Just my thoughts, Keith

Fern(Mi) · Jun 29, 2012

I shouldn't even bother getting our equipment out and just let you supply us.
Be that it may be....
We bale 6'x5' dry bales and 5'x4' green bales for hay silage, dependent upon weather conditions.
Early damp'n'cold Spring and same late fall conditions we silage wrap some amounts of hay plus in particular rye grass and Sudex for spring like delicacies when these bales are winter fed.
Okay, as often as the weather guessers are either wrong or can not get it right I've often cut hay just before a rain so's while the hay has to dry anyway it need only do it once when perhaps I'm offered a mere 2day drying window. There have been times when we've been deluged with rain and there's no place to rake the hay too. For these conditions I merely drive along side the windrow and tip it up on edge for drying between the windrows as the had existed. Let me also add having to harvest the vast amounts of hay to feed our herds we windrow all our cuts. Little to no more than half our hay harvests are ever raked or tedded.
Keep up the good work and perhaps even bring up your prices some to cover your costs.
Fernan

Zachary Hoyt · Jun 29, 2012

Thank you all for the advice. This is mixed grass hay with weeds as well, so it is not all that great. It seems the hay market in these parts is softer than in some places as it often takes me months to sell 400 bales out of the shed at $2.50. Picture is some hay I cut a couple of weeks ago. Bales are probably around 40# at a guess. One of our neighbors was buying hay from a nearby farm for $1 per bale out of the shed a few years ago.
Zach

swood043 · Jun 29, 2012

In Oklahoma that looks like $6.00 hay to me.

swood043 · Jun 29, 2012

In Oklahoma that looks like $6.00 hay to me.

David G · Jun 29, 2012

That rain should not hurt the hay at all. I was in NM last week and small bales are going for $20 to people with horses. We will probably not have any extra hay in Iowa this year.

Walt Davies · Jun 29, 2012

The book says 18% to 22% moisture for best hay.
Walt

LazyWP · Jun 29, 2012

Where are you located? I will buy everything you have, if you aren't thousands of miles away, and give you a premium for it too boot.

Heat Houser · Jun 29, 2012

Brown hay should be more valuable than green hay.....when fed to my cows, it lasts a long, long time!!!! LOL

No clue as to prices in your area.

Walt Davies · Jun 29, 2012

I remember paying 50 cents a bale in the field in the early 90s good hay too.
Walt

old · Jun 29, 2012

As long as it was not raked up all that rain did was wash some of the dust off. So that hay is just as good as it was before the rain. Ya if it had been a gully washer or it was raked it might have been hurt but as little as you got no harm to it

Tx Jim · Jun 29, 2012

(quoted from post at 11:37:57 06/29/12) The book says 18% to 22% moisture for best hay.
Walt

Walt
22% moisture sq bales of grass hay won't go in my barn and will have white mold if not worse.I've accidentally baled 18% moisture rd bales of grass hay in Texas that had white mold/mildew.

donjr · Jun 29, 2012

Folks around here pay $4 a bsle for the privelege of going out into a hot hay field and picking up idiot cubes. $2 a bale is giving away

Sparktrician · Jun 29, 2012

Uh....buddy.....you are way to cheap for that hay at $2 bale...If you figure your TRUE ACTUAL costs....you are working for free. I wont turn loose of ANY square bale of hay this year for less than $6.50 bale. We dont have any extra hay to sell, but you are well below the market.....I dont know about you, but I dont like to work for free....

NEBeef · Jun 29, 2012

Things that make a difference:

How dry is the hay? The drier it is, the more it will be damaged by getting wet, hay that was just cut won't be damaged at all.

First cutting/ Second? Third? First cutting is damaged the most easily, second stands up better to getting wet, third even better.

How long did it stay wet? If it's a hot sunny day and you get one of those heavy downpours that blows right through to sun again there's usually no damage at all even to very dry hay. If it gets wet in the middle of the night and doesn't dry out for half a day - more damage.

How good was the hay to start with? Crappy hay that wasn't worth much to start with won't suffer much from getting wet!

showcrop · Jun 29, 2012

I had some mid June hay rained on when it was a day from being ready, some years back, so I had some tested after getting it dried down and baled. It tested to about 95% of protein and RFV as some hay we took off the same field the day before. One thing that I have found is that it seems to take two trips over it with the tedder to get it all up and dried, after being rained on. I will usually reduce the price by $.25 from $5.00

Rollie NE PA · Jun 29, 2012

People around my area will pay 2.50-3.00 for mulch hay.

Rollie NE PA · Jun 29, 2012

People around my area will pay 2.50-3.00 for mulch hay.

Value of rained-on hay

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads