Hayfield cut

This evening I finished cutting my hayfield.  I started the cut last night with four rows cut.  Then finished the hayfield today.  I spent 8 hours cutting the field today, minus an hour where I had to go and buy some more diesel def for my tractor.  Add in the cutting time from last night and it was between 8 and 9 hours to cut the field.  I could have cut a little faster but I drove a gear slower.  That is because the alfalfa and grass were thick and I wanted to be careful and not cut fast.

The alfalfa and grass were dry on the outside to cut.  But the alfalfa and grass still had a lot of moisture inside them.  It will take longer to dry than normal.  Before cutting today I kneeled on the ground to check out the mower-conditioner.  Doing so my knees on my pants got wet.  That was due to the ground moisture.  The ground wasn't "wet" with water, but "wet" as the soil hadn't dried out from the recent rain and my earlier irrigation.

I would have liked to wait a little longer to cut the field as the alfalfa and grass still had moisture inside them, but the forecast is suppose to be dry this week and the temperatures in the upper 80s to low 90s.  And the alfalfa is more than ready to cut due to their having lots of blooms on them.   More so than anytime I ever cut alfalfa.  Usually one cuts alfalfa shortly after they start to bloom.  That would have been a week or two ago.  But between the irrigation and then the rain I had to wait.   Unlike some other people around the Valley who took a chance last week and cut their field and lost as it then rained.

After cutting the hayfield I trimmed some in the south pasture.  The cattle eat the grass but some they miss.  Those grow tall and become stemy, and then will start die / dry out from the top down.   Right now they are hard to eat as they are tough.  By Fall and Winter they will become dead and softer.  But who wants to wait.