Questions re haying by hand

Hi all. Will be moving to a new property soon with a field of about 5 acres. We plan to get goats and alpacas soon.
The field right now is very high grass at about two feet. I was thinking of trying to hay this by hand. Here are my questions
1. How do you know if the grass is nutritious enough for farm animals?
2. Has anyone hayed with a scythe?
3. If yes to the scythe, can you restore an old scythe (sharpen) enough to use?

Thanks

Lot of cutting, raking & baling there!

Restore blade? Depends on how bad it is. My understanding is that it should be very sharp & re-sharpened every couple hrs (when working) for best & easiest use. Also, that the grass cuts better if just slightly wet -- So, early morning after dew.

Have you considered a battery hedge trimmer? Or renting a unit with a sycle blade (BCS makes both) ? Then raking, turning, etc, to dry CAN be done with big rake, by hand. You can also make a hand baler with wood.

Grass can be tested for nutrition. Check with your local Ag Extension Agent for locations to send sample. If the grass had grown & seeded, you have some very mature forage. More mass & less nutrition....just for a quick "look see" .... At 2' it sounds very mature but, depends on type of grass also.

I haven't worked anything that large and get tired just thinking about it. But it surely can be done with a good amount of determination & sweat. It will be a workout.

Personally, two feet isn't very tall grass, again to me. Grass at four or five feet (or higher) is indeed very tall, and if flowering, reaching maturity. BUT, as MH said, it depends on the species, and I'm curious as to the species you have that is "very tall" (again, just my own perspective). The aforementioned grasses that I'm talking about are smooth brome grass, orchard grass, reed canary (which can grow up to 6 feet), quackgrass, most wheatgrasses, etc.

Has the grass started heading out, yet? Is it flowering still, or has it set seed? If it set seed then it's fully mature and quality will be lower than if it was just starting to flower or is flowering right now. Optimum time to cut hay is between the stage of pre-bloom to full bloom. For grazing, you would try to target the grass at an earlier stage, when it's still very leafy and very few to no seed heads and started emerging.

I did this one summer, but my scythe was way too old and ruste, plus, you need to move it just right to cut efficiently.

I used my riding mower to cut it.
The next day, used a hand rake to flip the grass to dry on the underside.
Once dry, I used the hand rake to make rows, then scoop up onto a tarp and used the mower to drag it up to my pile.
I wad able to make about 600 pounds of hay.
I was done after that. Too much work and gawd did I turn dark!!

I have a blend of fescue, timothy, orchard grass and red clover. I have been waiting for a friend to get freed up enough to cut it. It is 4-5' and seeding out.
I tried to get it cut between prebloom and bloom, but no such luck. It is an acre and the wind rows are huge. It is looking like 40 or more bales.
Earlier I cut some with a scythe and got a great workout. I pressed it in a plastic tote with a board and tied it with twine. I made 5 mini bales, and the centers stayed too wet and molded. I am working on finding a self-powered pull behind sickle bar mower. The raking isn't too bad on an acre, but what I can't find is a reasonably priced mini round baler.

I don't know about #1 but we use to hay by scythe back in Lithuania. It is very doable but very labor intensive plus as stated, you need to know how to use a scythe. We re-used many o,d or worn out scythes. However, the more maintained or newer one will be twice to triple more effective then a worn one. Good luck!

Thanks all. I realize it will be labor intensive .. But could use a little hard labor right now.
I am wondering if I could put a new blade on an old scythe handle. There is a company up our way that sells blades. Will also look into rentals of battery operated tools.

Plan to build a wood baler as seen on YouTube.

Various grasses I think. I will take pics and post with question type and maturity. We are 4Hers so I will contact the office and see about testing.

Very excited about this task/project

Those windrows need to be turned to get a good cure. So we are talking rowing, spreading /turning & then re-rowing to get a good dry. Time of day, humidity, shade/sun, outside temperature, winds, all that plays into the drying time for grass.

Even time of day to cut will affect nutrition somewhat as the sugars, etc. change in the leaf. It's a real "science" that most users don't ever get "into". Hay farmers are really fighting the elements.

I like the "baler" you thought up. Of course the tightness of the bale is a consideration when stacking.....not to mention curing. The guy up the street from me hays and I watch him do the acreage across the street. Most amazing (& helpful) thing I see is the accumulator/stacker unit he has. It picks up bales, aligns them on a platform & at point of full it has a hydraulic lift, stacks that rack next to others, repeat. He can load about 100 bales (guestimate) then go deposit in the hay barn, start again. WOW -- no more walk along & throw one at a time onto the trailer.


I looked for a small baler a couple yrs back and the cost was several thousand....figured I could buy 5-6 yrs of hay, delivered and no issues with cut/turn/bale. If you only need 40-50 bales a yr, hand can work (if YOU can work that much!) For me, I go thru 8-10 ton a winter. Not hand doable.

Mini Horses said:

Even time of day to cut will affect nutrition somewhat as the sugars, etc. change in the leaf. It's a real "science" that most users don't ever get "into". Hay farmers are really fighting the elements.

Click to expand...

Yes ... I love the science of things. Any details of the science you have I would love to see.

Greetings @Foggy Mountain and welcome to BYH and the thread! Looks like you've gotten a good response to your question. You'll have to let us know what you decide to do and how it works out for you.