grass turning into hay

Question
hello madam, within how many days grass turns into hay if it is cut out or left with out watering?

Answer
Hi Caine,

Thank you for your question.  The amount of time that it takes for cut hay to dry depends on the harvesting method (drys faster if you use a conditioner), ambient temperature, ambient humidity, intensity of sunlight, and the presence of wind.  The longer hay spends drying in the sun, the more carbohydrate is leached out as the dying plant respires...so the objective is to get the hay dried out as quickly as possible.  In an ideal world, hay is cut one afternoon and baled late the next morning.  Having said that, I've never been fortunate enough for my hay to dry that quickly and it generally spends 2 days on the ground.  If you are going to bale your hay, it needs to be 85% dry matter (15% moisture) to keep if from molding.  If you have to bale it wetter than that, you should consider adding a preservative or wrapping it (making sweet hay) to prevent it from molding.  If the grass is dead and dried out before you cut it for hay, there is probably no nutrients left in it, and it will only provide your horse with 'filler' and no nutrients.

Thanks, Corlena