Clumpy Grass

[bluescorpion]

Just had to bush hog my hay field due to baler issues. Had to give up and buy hay for the winter. I ended up bush hogging the field full of thick grass. Needless to say there are ALOT of clumps. What do you guys think is the best approach to smooth out the grass clumps and prepare for next spring?

 

[casecollectorsc]

Rake it and run a silage chopper with a hay head on over it.

 

[bluescorpion]

Good idea! I didn't even think about the hay rake. But I don't have a sileage chopper

 

[urbancase]

Try running brush hog over second time after a few days.

 

[Dieseltech]

Flail mower is what I use.

 

[Ray,IN]

Try running brush hog over second time after a few days.

Yep, dry grass/hay chops up well, I also run the opposite direction, seems to scatter the dry grass better. Can't just ignore it or it kills the grass under large clumps.

 

[Steve in VA]

Me too for exactly this issue. I'm guessing he doesn't have one.

Flail mower is what I use.

 

[Princeton Bill]

Raking it when it is really dry and running over the windrows with the bush hog might work. I would just rake a couple of windrows to see now it is going to work.

 

[showcrop]

In a similar situation I have used my tedder to even it out. But as case collector suggested if there are any dairy farmers in the area they could be interested if you have it raked for them.

 

[Wdj]

Where I am the ground doesn't freeze for more than a few days so the soil stays fairly active year around. A dose of nitrogen will speed up the decomposing.

 

[miner09]

Why didn’t you hire it baled.

 

[RobCons]

Like others have said go back over it with the bush hog. Raising it up some seems to help too.

 

[MeanGene1]

As was said, let it dry a few days and hit it again, it will grind up pretty good when dry

 

[bluescorpion]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm thinking i"ll give it a few days and hit it again with bush hog. I thought about using the tedder to spread it out but I wasn't sure if all that grass would stop the new growth once I fertilized in the spring.

Oh, and to answer the other question, I had talked to a guy about bailing it for me and of course pay him. He said he would do it but I never heard anything back from him. Tried to reach him but never got a response and now it's just easier to bush hog everything and work on my baler over the winter. Hopefully I can get it going so I don't have to depend on anyone to help next spring

 

[old]

Just had to bush hog my hay field due to baler issues. Had to give up and buy hay for the winter. I ended up bush hogging the field full of thick grass. Needless to say there are ALOT of clumps. What do you guys think is the best approach to smooth out the grass clumps and prepare for next spring?

While it is pretty much a thing of the past making a hay stack puts it where at least some of it can be feed