• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Lifestyle
how to prevent rain damage on cut hay

How to prevent rain damage on cut hay

22nd July 2021
Agriculture, land reform and rural development minister Thoko Didiza has placed a 21-day ban on the movement of cattle across South Africa due to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

SA battles 116 FMD outbreaks amid 21-day cattle ban

16th August 2022
Illegal sand mining poses a threat to many ecosystems, human safety and agricultural practises. Photo: Pixabay

Will the world run out of sand?

16th August 2022
ADVERTISEMENT
Organic certification is a long, but rewarding process. Photo: Supplied/Food for Mzansi

How to get the ball rolling on organic certification

16th August 2022
This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first

This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first

16th August 2022
Prof. Theo Venter gives his take on the ruling party’s recent policy conference and what it means going forward. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Fixing agri challenges: ‘ANC no longer has a choice’

16th August 2022
The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms. Thoko Didiza, MP has taken the decision to suspend all movement of cattle in the whole country. The Ministers decision is aimed at halting the continued spread of Foot and Mouth Disease in the country. It also means that cattle may not be moved from one property to another for any reason for a period of 21 days reviewable weekly. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

FMD battle: Govt prohibits movement of all cattle

16th August 2022
Justin Platt, founder and CEO of Zylem and RegenZ argues that instead of basing management decisions on a purely rational and cognitive approach, farmers need to harness (and trust) their unique intuition. Photo: Supply/AdobeStock

Farmers, trust your intuition and go with your gut

16th August 2022
Leanne Gammage and Jackson Andrew, co-founders of Masterstock Cape Wild Food. Masterstock Cape Wild Food is a speciality salt brand focused on regenerative agriculture. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Agripreneur 101: Regeneration at the heart of this salt company

16th August 2022

R350 grant puts sisters on agri path to success

15th August 2022
The uMngeni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal is supporting local farmers through a new agricultural unit that has been established in the municipality. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Farmer support: KZN municipality leads the way

15th August 2022
Farmers in the south-western parts of the country can expect a slightly drier than usual spring. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

ICYMI: Below-normal winter rainfall to continue

15th August 2022
This week's Agri calendar features a wine and food event, an online discussion on biofilms the dairy industry and another on cutting fertiliser costs. There's also a livestock auction to look out for and an online event about soil. Include your event to the calendar by emailing info@foodformzansi.com. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

This week’s agriculture events: 15 to 18 August 2022

15th August 2022
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
11 GLOBAL MEDIA AWARDS
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Food For Mzansi
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
    • All
    • AgriCareers
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Farmers
    • Groundbreakers
    • Innovators
    • Inspiration
    • It Takes a Village
    • Mentors
    • Movers and Shakers
    • Partnerships
    Leanne Gammage and Jackson Andrew, co-founders of Masterstock Cape Wild Food. Masterstock Cape Wild Food is a speciality salt brand focused on regenerative agriculture. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Agripreneur 101: Regeneration at the heart of this salt company

    R350 grant puts sisters on agri path to success

    The uMngeni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal is supporting local farmers through a new agricultural unit that has been established in the municipality. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farmer support: KZN municipality leads the way

    This drone is collecting data which farmers can then access on the yield management platform. Photo: Supplied/Aerobotics

    How the Internet of Things is transforming agri

    His life took a turn for the worst when he ended up in jail for dealing in drugs, but Thembinkosi Matika turned his life around and now helps others through his Legacy Farming Project. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Drug dealer turned farmer ploughs back

    Christo Van der Rheede is the executive director of Agri SA. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Claire and Martin Joubert have sacrificed and struggled to become top breeders of Ankole cattle in South Africa. But giving up was never an option, because they wanted to offer only the very best Ankole genetics in the country. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farming couple lives and breathes Ankole cattle

    Tackling climate change, one tree at a time

  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
No Result
View All Result
Food For Mzansi

How to prevent rain damage on cut hay

by Dona Van Eeden
22nd July 2021
in Farmer's Inside Track
Reading Time: 6 mins read
A A
how to prevent rain damage on cut hay

Many hay farmers don't have permanent structures to store their hay in. Here's how you can prevent rain damage on cut hay if you have to leave your hay bales in the field. Photo: Supplied

If you read our article “How to make good quality hay” then you will know how important it is to keep your hay dry. When hay becomes wet a number of factors result in dry matter and quality losses. These include plant respiration, leaching, and possibly mould, microbial and yeast growth. So, rain damage should be avoided or minimised as much as possible.

“It is important to keep hay as dry as possible to ensure good quality feed for animals,” says Ruben Badenhorst, agricultural advisor at Overberg Agri. “Excess water in hay can lead to leaching of soluble nutrients, necessary for ensuring good animal health and to improve overall animal performance.”

Badenhorst recommends keeping the moisture content as low as possible before even starting to cut the hay. If there is too much moisture, plant respiration can lead to a decrease in the nutrient content.

“Hay with a high moisture content has a lower financial and nutritional value, because at the end of the day you are feeding your animals water instead of dry matter,” Badenhorst says.

“Hay should not contain more than 15% moisture,” Professor Robin Meeske, researcher at Outeniqua Experimental Farm in George and extraordinary professor at Stellenbosch University, says. This is to prevent growth of yeast and mould in the hay.

square hay bales
Keep your hay bales from getting too wet but stacking square bales in small stacks around the field. The outer edges of the bales will become wet, but their insides should remain relatively dry. Photo: Supplied

Another huge drawback with wet hay is the potential accumulation of mould.

“Mould makes hay less palatable, decreases intake or even [causes] refused intake and can lead to an overall decrease in growth performance as well as productivity,” says Badenhorst. And some fungi moulds can even produce mycotoxins that can be toxic to animals.

Luckily, according to Badenhorst mycotoxins are rarely present in hay and occur mostly in hay that contain weed seeds.

“[The] best is to stack bales under a roof to keep the quality for as long as possible,” says Dr Johan Strauss, directorate of plant sciences at the Western Cape department of agriculture. “The midden (heap) needs to be stacked with spaces for airflow.”

But if rain is on the way, your bails are on the field, and you won’t have all the bales in a shed or under a tarp before it arrives, what can you do?

First, avoid the worst damage. Then, after the rain, make sure you save the salvageable hay in the correct ways.

ALSO READ: ‘There is money in the soil,’ says community farmer

1.    Avoiding the worst damage

The first step to avoiding the worst rain damage is to minimise the contact area that the rain has on the hay.

“Most people that produce hay that don’t have access to storage structures will stack hay bales on top of each other and place them on a level part of the field,” Badenhorst says. “Some prefer to stack the hay at a slight angle to ensure water runoff.”

Badenhorst recommends covering these stacked bales with plastic or any other durable and water-resistant material.

“It would also be wise to place the bales on a platform ± 1m above the ground to avoid water flow damage,” he says.

Farm Online proposes these following shapes to stack your hay in:

  1. Stand the bales on their ends in threes so that they resemble an upside-down V-shape.
  2. Lay two bales horizontally on their edge so that they lean into each other at the top edge. This will form a “V” into which the third bale is then placed.
    The uncut side of the bales should be facing up since it tends to shed the water more effectively.

The second technique is the better method for shedding rain off small square bales.

Large square bales can be stacked in small stacks around the field which could be covered with tarps or plastic sheets. Although the outer edges of the bales will become wet, their internals should remain relatively dry.

round hay bales
If your hay is baled in cylinder shapes, stack them in a pyramid shape and leave openings between the rows for ventilation. Photo: Supplied

Round bales, if balled tight or tied up, will shed most of the rain. According to Badenhorst round bales should be stacked in a pyramid form.

Due to the surface area of spheres, the outer parts of round hay bales contain the largest part of the volume of the bale. To avoid high losses, round bales of high-quality material should be put under cover in a shed as soon as possible or stacked and covered with plastic to minimise losses.

“The bales should be placed in rows (end-to-end) and orientated in a North-South orientation,” Badenhorst says. “The North-South orientation will prevent excess deterioration caused by the penetrating sunlight.”

He also says that it is important to leave a space between each row to ensure proper ventilation.

Badenhorst says that research shows that stacking bales over a 12 month period in enclosed shelters only leads to a 5% loss in dry matter, 8% under a roof or outside covered with plastic and elevated, 35% when exposed and elevated and exposed with no elevation can lead to up to 50% of loss in dry matter.

2.    After the rain

After the rain, if better weather is on the horizon, it might be good to keep the bales in their stack so that a breeze can help to dry them out.

The most cost-effective way to dry your wet hay is to place the hay outside in the sun. Make sure the hay is completely dry before storing, since a small section of one bale containing moisture may be adequate to cause spontaneous combustion if stored before becoming sufficiently dry.

“By stacking the hay bales in the field, the outer parts of the haystack will get really wet while the insides may be dry but this can cause the midden to spontaneously ignite,” warns Dr Strauss.

“If you want to protect the hay from external conditions it can be placed in a barn (or any other structure with a roof) that is well ventilated to get rid of excess water,” says Badenhorst. “Ventilation is the key aspect that can help with drying wet bales.”

All bales which are rain affected will be much damper than normal, even after a period of drying, so regularly monitor the stack for signs of dangerous heating and do so for up to seven weeks.

Ugandan farmer Hamiisi Semanda explains the importance of storing hay, and how to bale your hay, in this video:

Tags: farm guideFarmer’s Inside Trackhayhay balinghow-to guide
Previous Post

New farmers: Reasons to supply to fresh produce markets

Next Post

Section 25: Have your say on redistribution of land

Dona Van Eeden

Dona Van Eeden

Dona van Eeden is a budding writer and journalist, starting her career as an intern at Food for Mzansi. Furnished with a deep love and understanding of environmental systems and sustainable development, she aims to make the world a better place however she can. In her free time you can find her with her nose in a book or wandering on a mountain, looking at the world through her camera's viewfinder.

Related Posts

Netafim agronomist, Charl van Reenen, Corteva #SoilSista, Chube Mothapo, plant scientist, Henry John Basson, and Dr. Clive Jackson-Moss, founder of the International School of Training and Technology. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Podcast: How to farm with precision irrigation

by Vateka Halile
3rd August 2022
0

FARMER'S INSIDE TRACK: In this episode, Netafim agronomist Charl van Reenen explains why farmers should seriously consider precision irrigation -...

In this edition we meet Conce Moraba and Karabo Mabuza, aka the AgriDuo. These two vibrant agricultural economists are making waves with their YouTube Channel, Food For Thought with Karabo and Conce. In this episode we get to chat to them about where it all started and how they hope to inspire not only the agricultural industry but everyone in Mzansi. Photo: Supplied/FoodForMzansi

Podcast: Getting to know SA’s lively agri duo

by Vateka Halile
31st July 2022
0

FARMER'S INSIDE TRACK: In this episode, we get to meet a zippy agri duo whose YouTube channel 'Food for Thought'...

This week's Gather To Grow session featured Njabulo Maseko, mixed farmer in Mpumalanga, Lufano Netshikhudini from anointed farming trade and projects, Leshalagae Mojapelo of BK Agric Traders in Polokwane, and poultry and crop farme, Taetso Tsebogo. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Farmer 101: Tips for growing cabbages

by Vateka Halile
25th July 2022
0

FARMER'S INSIDE TRACK: South Africans love their cabbage - imagine fried chicken without the slaw? This popular leafy green is...

Moeketsi Mapheelle, owner of Rain Scent Farmers in Johannesburg, Yasas Jayakody, Operations Director: Elysian Fields, and Eastern Cape farmer Xolie Koncoshe. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Farmer 101: Learn the basics of growing brinjals

by Vateka Halile
15th July 2022
0

FARMER'S INSIDE TRACK: Brinjals, or eggplants, have an acquired taste and can diversify your production profile. In this episode of...

Next Post
Expropriation bill: If public works minister Patricia de Lille is considering expropriating property, she may authorise an inspector to enter a particular property to ascertain if it is suitable. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Section 25: Have your say on redistribution of land

This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first
Advertorial

This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first

by Nicole Ludolph
16th August 2022
0

Moving from chemical engineering to chicken farming is a drastic change, but for Dimakatso Makgoe-Mabheju, it was precisely what she...

Read more
Prof. Theo Venter gives his take on the ruling party’s recent policy conference and what it means going forward. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Fixing agri challenges: ‘ANC no longer has a choice’

16th August 2022
The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms. Thoko Didiza, MP has taken the decision to suspend all movement of cattle in the whole country. The Ministers decision is aimed at halting the continued spread of Foot and Mouth Disease in the country. It also means that cattle may not be moved from one property to another for any reason for a period of 21 days reviewable weekly. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

FMD battle: Govt prohibits movement of all cattle

16th August 2022
Justin Platt, founder and CEO of Zylem and RegenZ argues that instead of basing management decisions on a purely rational and cognitive approach, farmers need to harness (and trust) their unique intuition. Photo: Supply/AdobeStock

Farmers, trust your intuition and go with your gut

16th August 2022
Leanne Gammage and Jackson Andrew, co-founders of Masterstock Cape Wild Food. Masterstock Cape Wild Food is a speciality salt brand focused on regenerative agriculture. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Agripreneur 101: Regeneration at the heart of this salt company

16th August 2022

FMD battle: Govt prohibits movement of all cattle

This week’s agriculture events: 15 to 18 August 2022

Podcast: Prevent rabies with vaccination

Fruit farm shows there’s power in transformation

How to get the ball rolling on organic certification

ICYMI: Below-normal winter rainfall to continue

THE NEW FACE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

With 12 global awards in the first three years of its existence, Food For Mzansi is much more than an agriculture publication. It is a movement, unashamedly saluting the unsung heroes of South African agriculture. We believe in the power of agriculture to promote nation building and social cohesion by telling stories that are often overlooked by broader society.

SA battles 116 FMD outbreaks amid 21-day cattle ban

Will the world run out of sand?

How to get the ball rolling on organic certification

This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first

Fixing agri challenges: ‘ANC no longer has a choice’

FMD battle: Govt prohibits movement of all cattle

  • Our Story
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright

Contact us
Office: +27 21 879 1824
News: info@foodformzansi.co.za
Advertising: sales@foodformzansi.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought

Copyright © 2021 Food for Mzansi

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.