Check out these four tips to enhance your forage harvest.
Cut hay between 2.5 to 3 inches
In most cases your forages should be cut between 2.5 to 3 inches to maximize the yield and longevity of your stand. If you cut to shorter heights you’ll get slightly more yield but experience a decrease in quality, since cutting below 2.5 inches increases soil contamination. If you’ve got newly-seeded grasses they should be cut to 4 inches in the year of their establishment.
Reduce your impeller speed when harvesting broadleaf forage crops
To condition crops impeller conditioners use rapidly-moving tines that scratch the stems to facilitate stem drying. Impeller conditioners can have greater leaf losses with broadleaf forage crops, however, when compared to roll conditioners. So when you harvest broadleaf forage crops you should reduce your impeller speed by 30 percent to lessen leaf losses.
Make sure you have the proper roll clearance
Roll conditioners are the most commonly-used to condition broadleaf forages. These conditioners are made of intermeshing steel or rubber rolls which squeeze stems as they pass through. Be sure to check your roll clearance to verify that it’s narrow enough to sufficiently condition your forage but wide enough to avoid plugging. The appropriate clearance is usually between 1/16 inch and 3/32 inch. The roll pressure should be substantial enough to crack stems even when moving at fast speeds.
Keep the tines of your rake from scratching the soil
Although wheel rakes are usually the least expensive type of rake they roll forage across the ground and increase soil contamination. Mergers, sidebar rakes, and rotary-rakes, however, essentially pick up the forage which keeps it off the ground and minimizes contamination.
Whatever type of rake you have you should adjust the float settings to keep the tines from scratching the soil, since contact will increase soil contamination and the ash content of your harvested forage. To minimize leaf loss you should rake when your forage is 40 percent moisture, or higher.
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