How to make hay for the winter - drying grass for pets

How and when to cut hay

If you decide to please your four-legged pets with the “right” hay, then you need to mow it correctly. First you need to decide on the place to collect the grass. A meadow with green grass should be located outside the city limits, away from dusty and polluted places such as highways, factories and garbage dumps.

Hay harvesting begins after the grass has grown sufficiently tall, around mid-June. Leguminous plant species are mowed at the beginning of the bud generation process, and cereals - at the beginning of heading. Before you start work, you need to inspect the clearing and make sure that no poisonous plants such as hemlock or honeysuckle grow in it.

The main tool for making hay is a hand scythe or an electric trimmer. You won't be able to cut grass for hay with a lawnmower, as it shreds the plants into dust.

What time should I mow the grass? Work should begin early in the morning, before the dew has disappeared.The water lubricates the cutting surface of the tool, making mowing much easier. In the morning hours it is also quite cool and there are practically no blood-sucking insects. Also, when harvesting in the morning, the grass has time to dry out during the day, which prevents dew that falls the next night from spoiling it.

For harvesting grass, choose a sunny, dry day. It is advisable to study the weather forecast for several days in advance, since the grass will dry out much faster in the sun. Wet weather not only delays the drying process, but also helps remove beneficial substances.

You need to mow the grass at a distance of 6 - 7 centimeters from the ground. This gentle cutting option will allow you to make hay again in the same area after some time. At the same time, re-collecting the grass in the same place produces a more nutritious and healthy harvest.

Tatyana Sapronova in her video will talk about how to dry hay at home for chinchillas

How to dry grass

The mown grass is left to lie in the clearing in natural rows - swaths. It needs to be turned over several times during the day. This can be done with a rake or manually, without special tools. In the evening, the grass is collected into heaps, and in the morning, a small layer is again placed in the sun. Depending on weather conditions and air humidity, the drying process can last from 2 to 7 days.

If it is possible to place half-dried hay under a canopy, then it is better to do so. This way you will retain more nutrients. If you leave the hay to dry in direct sunlight, the final product will lose some of its protein and carotene, but will gain vitamin D. You can dry the plants in parts.Dry half in the shade to give the food more nutritional value, and the other half in the sun to replenish the animal’s body with vitamin D.

Small volumes of grass can be dried in bunches by hanging them in a dry, ventilated place or under a canopy. To speed up the drying process, grass brooms can be brought indoors at night.

Watch the video from the Lesnoy Khutor channel - How to dry hay

How to determine readiness

High quality hay is green in color and the grass stems contain a large amount of foliage. If, when you squeeze a bunch of hay with your hand, it makes a rustling sound, and some of the stems break, then it’s time to send it for storage.

How to store hay

Prepared hay should be stored in cool, dry rooms or outside in stacks. In apartments, glazed balconies or attics can be used to store grass food. You can store grass in bulk, in fabric bags or briquettes.

A video from the “Rabbit in the Pit” channel will tell you in detail how to form briquettes from dry grass - Making hay at home