Complete Hay Making Guide — From Field to Bale

Hay is dried grass or legume fodder used to feed livestock when fresh fodder is unavailable. In India, hay making from berseem (Egyptian clover), lucerne (alfalfa), maize, sorghum, and napier grass is becoming increasingly important as commercial dairy farming grows.

Good hay — properly cut, dried, raked, and baled — retains 80–90% of the original crop's nutritional value. Poor hay — cut too late, dried unevenly, or baled wet — can lose more than half its nutrition and may even mould, harming animals.

Here is a complete, step-by-step guide to making quality hay on Indian farms.

Step 1 — Choose the Right Crop

Step 2 — Cutting

Use a disc mower, cutter bar mower, or flail mower. The cutting height matters:

• Lucerne / Berseem: Cut at 5–7 cm above ground — leaves enough growth point for regrowth
• Maize / Sorghum: Cut at 15–20 cm to keep stems out of the bale (wet stems delay drying)
• Ideal cutting time: Morning, after the dew has dried but before the afternoon heat — reduces leaf loss during subsequent handling
• Mower conditioner: If available, a mower with a conditioning roller crushes stems during cutting, speeding up drying by 30–40% — especially valuable for thick-stemmed crops

Step 3 — Tedding (Spreading and Fluffing)

After cutting, the crop lies flat in a mat. A tedder lifts, fluffs, and spreads the cut crop to expose more surface area to sun and air, dramatically speeding drying.

• First tedding: 4–6 hours after cutting while the crop is still flexible (reduces leaf shattering)
• Subsequent tedding: Every 8–12 hours if the crop is thick or humidity is high
• In Punjab/Haryana with summer temperatures of 38–45°C: lucerne can dry in 18–24 hours with two teddings
• In humid coastal areas: May need 3–5 days and more frequent tedding
• If no tedder is available, a rotary rake can partially do this job by flipping the swath

Step 4 — Moisture Testing

Do not bale crop that is too wet. This is the most common and costly mistake in hay making. Wet hay in bales heats from microbial activity, loses nutrition rapidly, and can combust in extreme cases.

Simple field test: Twist a handful of hay tightly for 30 seconds. If water squeezes out — too wet. If it snaps cleanly with a dry sound — ready to bale. A moisture meter gives accurate readings (₹1,500–3,000).

Step 5 — Raking into Windrows

Once the crop reaches safe moisture, rake it into uniform windrows for baling. Good raking directly affects baler performance:

• Windrow width: Should match your baler pickup width — typically 1.2–1.8 m for small square balers
• Windrow height: Consistent height (30–40 cm) gives uniform bale weight and density
• Raking speed: 6–9 km/h for most rotary rakes. Too fast causes leaf shattering in legume hay
• Direction: Rake with the windrow facing into the direction your baler will travel
• Avoid raking when dew is present or humidity is high — crop picks up moisture from the ground

Step 6 — Baling

• Bale as soon as windrows are ready — do not leave raked hay in the field overnight (it absorbs dew)
• Adjust baler density to suit crop — loose bales dry better if baled slightly above ideal moisture; dense bales are better for completely dry hay
• Tie with quality twine rated for your crop weight (200+ kg/cm tensile for wheat straw; 180 kg/cm acceptable for light hay)

Step 7 — Storage

• Stack in a dry, ventilated shed. Leave 30–40 cm gaps between stacks for airflow
• Do not stack more than 6 bales high for small square bales — bottom bales compress excessively
• Check bale temperature for the first 2–3 weeks after baling — warm bales indicate dangerous heating
• If outdoor storage is necessary, cover with tarpaulin and elevate off the ground on pallets or old tyres