[AT] OT Hay question

[Dean Vinson]

Cecil, I'd like to chime in with another Eastern-guy "huh?" question.   
What is "oat hay" or "wheat hay"?   All my experience with hay is in 
baling alfalfa or timothy or whatever mix of grass and leftover 
stragglers of past alfalfa happened to be in my dad's fields.  And all 
my experience with baling oats or wheat is in picking up the straw left 
behind by the combine, nice bedding but nothing the cows would eat.   Do 
you just bale it green and use the whole thing for feed, young grain and 
all?

Dean Vinson
www.vinsonfarm.com
Dayton OH


> a mower-conditioner here is a pull type swather.  A swather is a 
> self-propelled cutter usually with a crimper attachment that 
> conditions the hay as it is exhausted into the windrow.  We release 
> the tension on the crimper rollers when cutting prairie hay as you 
> will have only particles of hay if it sets in the windrow too long.  
> When cutting grains or large stalk type of forage, then we load the 
> tension on the crimp rollers to break up the stalks and take some of 
> the moisture out of the material...  I have baled wheat hay when the 
> belts were slipping on the rollers due to moisture running out of the 
> wheat and the bales being so heavy.  You could smell the bales 
> fermenting for about 3 weeks afterward.  However, when we fed it that 
> following winter, the cows would fight over the hay..  I never noticed 
> any mold in those bales.  I think that there was enough acid in the 
> sap to prevent it from molding.  I would much prefer to bale with the 
> sap moisture than rain or humidity.  Hope this makes sense..
>
> Cecil in OKla
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <rasmith4 at juno.com>
> To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 7:04 AM
> Subject: Re: [AT] OT Hay question
>
>
>>
>> Grant
>>
>> Here in the East (NY) we don't have "swathers".  We mostly use
>> nower-conditioners.  What is the difference between a swather and a
>> mower-conditioner?
>>
>> Richard
>> In Central NY
>>
>> -- "Grant Brians" <gbrians at hollinet.com> wrote:
>>
>> I have cut with mower, mower-conditioner and swather over the years.