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SE PA | Cliff,
Are you meaning to say that you just have a sickle bar, or 3pt rotary mower that does NOT have conditioner rolls in it???? Or do you mean some sort of crusher/conditoner deal that you drag around the field after it's cut???
If you can get 4 nice days, a conditioner in your haybine is all you really need. If your hay is conditioned when it's cut, you can easily knock a day or so off of your drying time. Even a poorly adjusted, or worn out conditioner will ADD time to the normal drying process.....
We pulled the rolls out of our one haybine the other year, and the new set that we installed knocked for sure a full day off of the drying time. That was a rubber on rubber chevron design.
You're talking about alfalfa, so I assume that's all you're cutting? You should have breaks in the stem every 4-6 inches or so, and then it should be an inch or so that's smashed open. You gotta have open areas along the stem for the water to escape - otherwise it ALL has to come out through the bottom of th stem, or respire through the leaves.... it's hard to get water to come out through an 'unconditioned' stem. It doesn't really matter what kind of rake or tedder you have, if your haybine isn't crimping the stems, it won't matter.
Your BEST $$$$ is spent on a haybine with proper conditioning.
Rodney | |
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Speeding hay drying?
