Wilting a cut hay crop to baling moisture is rarely easy, but if you do it where rainfall and humidity are as common as mosquitoes during the summer, it can take a mental toll on the body. Add to this situation hundreds of acres of hay that need baled each cutting, and you must wonder how large-acreage, commercial hay operations even exist in the humid regions of the United States — but they do, and they’re successful.

With the theme of making hay while the sun does or doesn’t shine, Hay & Forage Grower tasked three diverse, large-scale haymakers to answer some questions regarding their strategies for harvesting a quality crop in regions that are not the most ideal for getting hay dry.

Farthest east is Mike Stefan. He makes 600 to 800 acres of high-quality grass hay each year in western New York near North Collins. Moving west, John Russell farms with his son-in-law, Stewart Foos, in northwest Ohio near Pemberville. They grow and harvest 850 acres of alfalfa, alfalfa-orchardgrass, timothy-orchardgrass, and timothy hay. Our final contributor is Dennis Lundy, who farms in western Iowa near Fontanelle and grows mostly straight alfalfa on 1,200 acres. Each of these haymakers has the same end goal in mind, but as you will see, there’s more than one way to get there.

 What is your bale type?

Stefan: Large square bales that are then converted to small bales using a hay press.

Russell: All small square bales. If requested, they can be bundled for ease of handling after the hay is cured.

Lundy: All large squares.

 What is/are your primary hay market(s)?

Stefan: About 75% of our hay goes to the equine market. The remainder goes to dairy farms.

Russell: It all goes to the horse market.

Lundy: Mostly dairy and beef with a few horse customers.

 How and who determines when and if to cut hay on a given day?

Stefan: It’s very much a family decision. Being in New York by Lake Erie, the weather is always a gamble.

Russell: My son-in-law and I both watch the weather very closely. We discuss it daily, and based on the level of maturity and the number of acres that are ready to cut, we decide whether to cut and how many acres. Our wives are also good at letting us know when it looks like it’s going to rain after we’ve cut.

Lundy: I make the call.

 Assuming a good rain-free window, how long does it usually take between cutting and baling?

Stefan: Three days can get you there, but being in New York, the humidity, wind, dew, and ground moisture are major factors. After four days, it seems like the ground moisture and bleaching takes a toll. We average 50 inches of rainfall where I’m located, so that’s why ground moisture is such a big factor.

Russell: Prebloom first cutting often takes four to five days in mid-May. After that, first, second, and third cuttings will often be baled on the third day with good drying weather. With higher humidity days, we can run into four or five days before it’s ready to bale. Fourth cutting can be three to six days in late summer and early fall. We bale on the third day more than half of the time.

Lundy: For baleage, it’s one day; for dry hay, it’s usually at least four days.

 What sources of weather information do you use to help make cutting decisions? Do you have a favorite?

Stefan: We all have different phone apps, and we compare those at our morning meetings. While we’re baling, it’s nice to have alerts from the National Weather Service. With high humidity and the Lake Erie effect, we can have storms literally “pop up” within a few miles or on top of us.

Russell: We watch several different sources. My favorite is using the University of Kentucky weather site. It is based on our county and gives very specific forecasts for temperature, wind speed, percent chance of rain, humidity, dew point, and the amount of dew — all in two- to three-hour increments. Most of their information comes from the National Weather Service, but it’s formatted nicely. I can’t say it’s always accurate, but it gives me a good idea if it’s going to be reasonable drying weather. I pay a lot of attention to the percent chance of rain, forecasted temperature, predicted humidity, and the predicted amount of dew.

Lundy: I subscribe to The Weather Channel premium package and BAMWX weather, which I access on my phone. I also watch the weather videos of three local television stations. Some are always wrong, some are mostly right, and it changes by which model they are using.

 Based on weather forecasts, is there a set percent chance of rain that will make you delay cutting? Does it matter if it’s Day 1 or Day 3?

Stefan: I will cut on a 50% chance of rain, even if it’s Day 1. Sometimes these rain events are only one hour’s worth during the day, and we can’t stop for that. Grass will respire for 16 hours after it’s cut, and this will happen even in the rain. We ted our hay at least once a day until it’s harvested. During the 16-hour respiration period, we will ted it twice during the day, so it dries it out more during this crucial time. I have even tedded hay at night. We have continually seen that the hay is drier. After the first day, we don’t want the hay to get rained on at all because it absorbs the water. In New York, we have very few weeks of perfect weather to bale.

Russell: We will take a much greater risk on the chance of rain on Day 1 than Day 2 or 3. We don’t like to cut with greater than a 30% chance of rain on Day 2 or 3. There are times that we will accept higher chances if our hay is getting too mature, or if we have way too many acres to get across in a timely manner.

Lundy: I don’t really have a set percentage. I usually check all the weather sources then go on my gut feeling.

 Given that you have a lot of acres to bale, how does this impact your hay-cutting decisions?

Stefan: For our orchardgrass hay, I will take a bigger gamble so we can get it off the field and get another cutting in 30 days. For timothy, I don’t like to take much of a gamble; it gets bleached easier, and the more mature it gets standing, the easier it dries down. Typically, with straight timothy, I’ll only get two cuttings, so we need to do the first cutting right because that’s the tonnage cutting for us.

Russell: We take pretty big chances if we have a great forecast. We also take big chances if we are getting too mature with a lot of acres to go. It’s not terribly unusual for us to have close to half our hay down at one time. We certainly don’t bale it all in one day, though.

Lundy: I try to push all the time to keep on our cutting schedule so we can maintain dairy quality.

 What is the typical number of acres you will cut in a day? Does the weather forecast impact how much hay you will cut in a day?

Stefan: We like to bale 100 acres a day. Usually, it will be put inside right away due to pop-up storms or ground moisture wicking up into the bale. We run two large square balers, a stacker, two loaders, and two semi tractor-trailers. If we have a breakdown, we can still make it with one baler.

Russell: We normally cut a minimum of 80 to 100 acres per day during first cutting and 100 to 150 acres per day for second, third, and fourth cutting. With a really good forecast, we’ll cut 150 to 200 acres per day and sometimes more.

Lundy: We try to do 100 to 125 acres a day. It depends a little on the weather and travel times if we’re working on more than one farm.

 How does having a relatively large acreage of hay to make and the risk of rain impact your machinery-buying decisions?

Stefan: We’re learning as we go. Several purchases have really helped, though. The Massey Ferguson (AGCO) mower with a Twin Max conditioner changed my life compared to our former finger conditioner. Tedders have been important, too. We run two Kuhn 57-foot tedders and ted the hay every day, mostly due to ground moisture. Sometimes, we are tedding up to 300 acres a day after the dew comes off at 10 a.m. We like to be done by 1 p.m. at the latest, unless we are tedding behind the mower. Adding a preservative applicator has also been important. We use it on all the hay, and we routinely bale at 15% to 18% moisture, but you need to learn how to manage propionic acid so you don’t damage the hay.

Russell: Most farm economists would say we are plain crazy for the amount of equipment we have for our size of operation. We have found that we need to take advantage of great weather when we get it because it is so unpredictable. Oftentimes, our good weather window is reduced because the forecast changes, so we want to get as much done as possible in the short time we have. You can save money on equipment and make a lot of poor-quality, rained-on hay, or you can get the job done very timely by investing in plenty of high-quality, high-capacity equipment to make top-quality hay. That includes investing in the best equipment that will reduce drying time. Even if we only have 80 to 100 acres of hay down, we will still use all the balers so that we can bale at the optimum moisture to make the best quality possible.

Lundy: We own more than twice as much machinery as it would take to bale our amount of hay, if weather was not a factor.

 What optimum moisture content do you target for baling, and what is the wettest you will bale if rain is eminent?

Stefan: We like 10% to 12% with the hay press. I have baled at 30%, but then it’s cow feed. When using a preservative, you still need to manage the hay afterward. Sometimes, we separate the bales so they can respire the moisture out, or I let them sit for a while three bales high, then restack them six high when I need the space. At 10% moisture, we can just stack them in the building.

Russell: Since we usually have to bale with stem moisture, there is no magic optimum moisture content for us. We generally need our first cutting orchardgrass/alfalfa to be under 14%, and even less if it’s immature. We can be at 18% to 20% sometimes in the fall and be just fine. A lot depends on the cutting, the maturity, and the amount of stem moisture versus external moisture. The moisture readings I’m using here are with a handheld probe-type tester. We use a Gazeeka (microwave) tester on the baler, and that will pick up stem moisture that the handheld will not, so that reading will typically be 3% to 4% higher. Judging what’s safe to bale is far from black and white. When you are forced to bale with stem moisture like we are, you need to be able to judge how much stem moisture you’re dealing with and how much is external moisture. I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and I still get it wrong occasionally.

Lundy: For dry hay in large square bales, if it’s over 15% moisture, I plan on having grinding hay. Sometimes we’re forced to do that.

 If wilting hay is exposed to rain, how do you jump start the drying process again?

Stefan: We ted the hay immediately after the rain — sometimes twice — if we can to shake the water off. Droplets magnify the sun, and I feel it will cause more bleaching if you wait.

Russell: We use 36-foot, self-propelled fluffers that lift and fluff the hay to get air through it. We may fluff it two to three times if it was a big rain event, or if the hay was really heavy. We don’t like rotary tedders for alfalfa.

Lundy: Usually I rake; I only pull out the tedder when there are no other options available.

 Do you do anything that allows you to bale at a higher moisture percentage than you’d typically like to?

Stefan: A hay dryer for me is not the answer due to the volume I want to do, but they serve a purpose, for sure. I utilize a preservative and have been very happy with the support from Harvest Tech. Someday, if I get some cows, we will look at making some baleage.

Russell: We have a hay dryer that dries 63 small square bales per cycle. We can typically dry 189 bales per hour at 18% to 20% moisture. We don’t cut hay with the intention of drying it. We consider our dryer to be a tool to fall back on when we are forced to bale hay with more moisture than we want. We are also able to rescue hay that we thought was dry enough to bale, only to find out that we misjudged it. If it starts heating in the barn, we can run it through the dryer and save it. Drying hay is too time consuming to be part of our normal routine. It allows us to take more chances on the weather, and more times than not, it doesn’t rain anyway. The less we use the dryer, the happier we are. Having said that, we are more than happy to spend the time drying hay when it’s raining, and our hay is in the barn. We’ll run it 24 hours a day when we need to.

Lundy: We do a lot higher percentage of baleage than dry hay. We only try to do dry hay when there is a good weather window.

 Do you have a market or animals that can utilize the poor-quality hay that gets rained on?

Stefan: Here, it’s a limited market. We sometimes will even chop it back to the field with the limitation of storage space and added handling costs. Most dairies have plenty of feed in this area and don’t need extra low-quality feed.

Russell: We are fortunate to have a friend that feeds replacement heifers, and he uses any rained-on hay that we make.

Lundy: I do not own any livestock, but we usually can find a market for the low-quality hay.

 Any other thoughts on how a hay producer in the humid U.S. can deal with cutting decisions as they relate to weather?

Stefan: Making hay is a skillful art form that we all go about in different ways to get the same result. Your skill is put to the test every time you cut. Even with all the current and coming technology, it still seems like the best hay we make is when the weather is right and it magically happens the same way it has for years. I feel we are only 50% of the equation when we make hay. The rest is out of our control.

Russell: Go to church on Sunday. It’s never good to start off on the wrong foot, so we try to avoid cutting on Sunday. I’m not saying we don’t bale on Sunday, but only when we have to. It’s hard to watch your hay get rained on, but it’s also a lot of fun to get in a big day and beat the weather. We definitely win more than we lose, and you must accept that you can’t win them all.

Lundy: Have Faith in God. The hay will let you down; God never will!

This article appeared in the July 2025 issue of Hay & Forage Grower on page 32-34.

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