With very few rain free days this spring, it seems like the principle of “Hay in a Day”, the catchy description of wide swathing, would allow harvest of some high quality hay crop even if on limited acreage.
It works well when you match the acreage you harvest to the amount you can mow, ted, regather, and chop or bale in a 24-36 hour time frame, allowing you to make harvest progress between rain events.
Dale Dewing, Extension Field Crops Specialist in Delaware County, reported the following in their May 24 Scissors Cut Report:
“As is often the case, we had a one day weather window this week, and several farms were able to take advantage and get a field or two done. The key is mowing in a wide swath (80% + of mower width if possible), even tedding after a couple hours of drying.
Rapid dry down preserves more sugar in the forage aiding in better fermentation and more digestible nutrients. More days available for harvest and more nutrients per pound of forage are a winning combination. A timely first cut is the essential first step to an adequate inventory of high quality feed.”
Advantages of Wide Swath Harvest Management
During a wet spring, wide swathing may allow you to take advantage of more useful days for harvest, and help you complete first cutting sooner on some fields. You may be able to finish the harvest in fewer days, while producing drier baleage with a lower fiber (NDF) content. Since dry down time is reduced with wide swathing, fermentation and digestible energy are improved. Plant sugars are conserved by reducing respiration losses. Haylage porduced in this system has higher dry matter and lower soluble protein.
Some producers discount wide swathing due to the time and effort expended to regather the swath for harvest. Rakes can introduce stones to the windrow that can wreak havoc on the chopper but shouldn’t bother a baler. Hay crop quality suffers whether the hay is standing in the field continuing to lay down fiber and reduce digestibility, or laying in a windrow consuming precious sugars while it rains for a day or more. In this context, it seems worthwhile to experiment with wide-swathing to see if you can work out the system.
Key Points for Wide Swath Management
Mow only as much as you can chop or bale that day. Lay hay out in as wide a swath as possible, and ted if needed. Watch the drying rate and rake when hay is within 1 or 2 points of desired moisture content. The hay will not dry much after raking. Wide rakes making large windrows will reduce harvest time.
Here are a few tips for success from Dan Undersander, retired professor and forage specialist from the University of Wisconsin. Undersander presented the keynote address Advances in Haymaking at the 2016 Great Lakes Forage and Grazing Conference. MSU Extension Educator Philip Kaatz summarizes Undersayer’s main points below (source: Tips for a successful forage harvest).
1. Take first cutting by plant height. Producers should measure the height at the top of the plant stem, not the tip of the leaflet. Consider harvesting at 28-29 inches in height to get the best compromise between yield and quality of the crop. Research findings show a daily change of -0.25 percent in crude protein, +0.36 percent in acid detergent fiber and +0.43 percent in neutral detergent fiber as the alfalfa matures.
2. Use the widest swath possible (more than 70 percent of cut area) when cutting for faster drying and higher forage quality. The wide swath provides the best opportunity for alfalfa plants to lose the first 15 percent water as fast as possible. Conditioning is necessary for hay but not haylage. Alfalfa and alfalfa/grass mixtures for hay should be conditioned with a roller conditioner, not a flail conditioner.
3. Reduce the amount of leaf loss in alfalfa. Retaining the most leaves possible has been a long standing recommendation by forage experts. Alfalfa leaves are 15-20 percent neutral detergent fiber whereas the stems are 55-75 percent neutral detergent fiber. Making sure machines are adjusted correctly and the operating speed have the largest effect on reducing leaf loss at harvest.
4. Bale at the proper moisture levels to prevent mold growth and heating in storage. For square bales, the general recommendations are: small squares 19 percent moisture or less, medium square bales (3 feet x 3 feet) less than 16 percent, and for large square bales (4 feet x 4 feet) less than 14 percent moisture. For round bales, the general recommendations are: small rounds (4 feet wide x 5 feet high) less than 18 percent moisture, medium rounds (5 feet wide x 5 feet high) less than 16 percent moisture, and large (5 feet wide x 6 feet high) less than 15 percent moisture.
5. Remove hay/haylage from the field as rapidly as possible to minimize wheel traffic damage. Research shows there is a 6 percent per day reduction in yield of the next cutting for every day the field is driven over after cutting. Wheel tracks will damage the crown buds that produce the next cutting’s growth. Producers that tend to leave bales in the field for several days following baling will sacrifice yield unless they pick up bales immediately.
For more details from our NYS Extension Forage Specialist, Dr. Jerry Cherney, read Research Shows Wide Swath Haymaking Can Produce Faster, Higher Quality, Less Costly Forage, a study supported by the Northern NY Agricultural Development Program.