UNL CropWatch July 1, 2010: Removing Bales Quickly Can Reduce Wheel Traffic Damage

UNL CropWatch July 1, 2010: Removing Bales Quickly Can Reduce Wheel Traffic Damage

July 1, 2010

With all the delays and interruptions to this year’s hay harvest, it’s not uncommon to see hay bales left in the middle of the field. This practice can affect future yields in two ways.

Plants directly under the bale or stack are killed if covered for more than a week or two. This may not hurt yield too much, but it can create an optimum environment for weeds to get started.

Most damage, though, is due to wheel traffic on the regrowth. Studies have shown that when fields are dry, the yield of plants driven on prior to the start of regrowth was about 5 to 7 percent less at the next cutting. It gets much worse if you wait to remove bales. Just seven days after cutting, when regrowth shoots had started to grow, yield was reduced over 25% and fewer plants survived. In both situations, when plants were driven on a second time the same day, yield was further reduced only a couple percent.

Worse yet is removing bales when fields are wet. When this happens, wheel traffic causes much more compaction and yield loss typically exceeds 30 percent.

Just seven days after cutting, when regrowth shoots had started to grow, yield was reduced over 25 percent and fewer plants survived. Worse yet is removing bales when fields are wet. Then wheel traffic causes much more compaction. When this happens, yield loss typically exceeds 30 percent.

These studies emphasize the benefits of baling and removing bales from hay fields as quickly as possible after cutting as well as minimizing driving on wet soils. They also suggest that following the same trail when removing bales or stacks from fields can reduce losses from wheel tracks by limiting the total area damaged.

Bruce Anderson
Extension Forage Specialist

 

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