Ep. 26 - Hay Production & Heat Illness

This episode continues with educational information about improving hay production.  Avoid bailing hay that is too wet because it causes spontaneous heating which can decrease nutrition quality.  Speaking of spontaneaous heating, Anna talks how to be safe this summer to prevent heat illness. Be Safe out there. 

Transcript

It's June 9th.

Already.

Already. Where this year is going by quick. Ever since we started doing this podcast, it's like week to week.

Yes. What was June 8th?

June 8th, nothing in particular, I don't reckon.

How old are you now?

39.

You're almost a man. I'm an old man.

Almost.

Almost. Man, that's going to be wild getting into another decade.

Yeah, hopefully it goes good. 30s.

30s been pretty good.

30s been all right. 40s.

I've said in your 30s, I feel like you know what you're about.

Yeah. I'm about to get into some midlife stuff, so.

We're gonna have to pick you a midlife crisis.

Yeah.

I picked Brandon's.

What's his?

Well, I got him the drum set.

Oh, yeah. I'm going for.

Swords.

Yes. I'm gonna learn how to sword fight. Wouldn't that be cool? That way, if anybody ever comes into this office trying to start havoc or trouble, whip out. What would be like the craziest sword to whip out, like a rapier, like a... I don't know what it is. The super long ones. The skinny, yeah. Like the fishing ones. Yeah, sort of, but I don't want a pointy one. Like a Zoro.

I think you need like a samurai sword and then you can slice melons.

Yeah, that would be cool. Pull out a samurai sword.

Well, there you go. Swords.

Swords. Midlife crisis. we're in a bit of, it seems like a new crisis every week though. New World screw worm was announced to be found in Texas.

So it's officially in the United States.

Officially in the United States.

I mean, it was close.

So, you know, we don't really have to panic right now about it. You know, they are, they're releasing the, but what we do need to do is be getting prepared. You know, have a plan for what are you going to do. How that fly works is it can land on livestock and it can even infect pets and humans. It gets attracted like a wound and then that's where it'll lay its eggs and then that larva is what actually burrows down into the skin. But any cattle or anything coming out of Texas is going to have to be vet inspected and within the, have a veterinary inspection within the last seven days. So they're going to watch it that way. They're going to release the flies. Remember castrating, we need to castrate all them flies over there.

Was that our third episode?

Yeah. Well, they're about to start getting together to castrate them or sterilize. They're going to sterilize a bunch of the males with some radiation and release them. And those new world screw worm, that fly can only breed one time and they breed and then if it's bred with a sterile fly, it won't get pregnant.

Well, that's an interesting way, but what else do you do to combat that?

Yeah, just be prepared. Be watching. You can. If you have found anything you're suspicious of, and even if you're, we've got the Asian longhorn tick too that we're, that is for sure here in Stone County are not confirmed, but it's likely here.

It's all around us.

If you find a tick on something you're wondering, you can, we've got the little tubes that we'll send to the entomologists that we can give out for you to go out and collect ticks. And then just reach out to us if you have any questions. But being prepared and prevention is key to.

So what are some good, I mean, it is a flaw. So what are some typical fly prevention measures that they could be taking. And it also sounds like keeping a good eye on your cattles.

Yeah, keeping a good eye on everything, if you know, what you're going to notice is you're going to notice like wounds that aren't healing or like this fly is a little bit different. Like flies are attracted to like, organic material, manure, stuff like that, where stuff's stinky, that's where flies will be. But this one's particularly attracted to like wounds. So keeping an eye on cattle, if you see any wounds that aren't healing, if you're smelling any, you know, you'll smell that.

Rotten.

Yeah, that rotten smell. And it can be lethal if we don't get, you know, if you don't get it under control, because I've seen some pictures of pretty gross. But Just watching your cattle, using insecticides where we can. a lot of people use any of your typical fly controls is going to be probably a good recommendation, but make sure, that stuff don't last for forever. So make sure you're updating, you know, you don't just spray one time and call it good. So Get your cattle up or your livestock, be checking on them and working with them so they get familiar with you. Use your fly control sprays and just stay updated. You know, this fairly new thing. Curse Dr. Midkiff, she sent out a pretty long e-mail I kind of read through and pretty much it. was keep an eye on things and prevention is key. Being prepared.

It's wild. All the new things that still come up. I think you've seen it all.

I was going to mention like I'm getting a lot of calls right now about people's gardens and it seems like I've been identifying a lot of herbicide damage. So what'll happen is like tomato, they'll bring in, it'll happen on tomatoes because they can't tolerate getting any herbicide on them. They'll twist and curl up. It's pretty easy once you know the symptoms or signs to recognize herbicide damage. But every time, like I'll be like, oh, that's herbicide damage, classic case. And they're like, oh, we haven't sprayed anything. We haven't sprayed anything. Well, this chemical can drift in again, a little amount gets on a tomato and it's going to shrivel up. But also we're finding that a lot of these people are using like livestock manure, horse manure, cattle manure that's grazed on certain herbicides that can just pass right through that system of the animal and be left in the manure and then you use that as a compost or as a fertilizer.

And how long is that an issue?

So If it gets in your soil, the only way to test is doing a bio, say, where you take that dirt, where you put that manure and start seeds in it. And if it, if they grow, great. If not, you still got a problem. Who knows how long it could last. You know, organic to get labeled certified organic three years without any of those type chemicals. But that's not saying it won't still be there. These herbicides, how they decay is with sunlight. So if you can expose it to sunlight, it'll break down a little quicker to speed that process up. But I just wanted to mention, you know, consider, know where your stuff's coming from. If you're getting horse manure, make sure it's from a trusted source. And even sometimes, those trusted sources, they're not for sure what's used, was used on it. But any?

Well, I think a lot of people don't realize that that's a risk that you're taking.

Yeah, even hay, which is what we're going to be talking about a little bit today or what I'm talking about. Even the hay that's been sprayed with that, some of that residues can still be left on it. And again, cattle consume it. pass through them gets left in the manure. So even if you're like feeding hay in the wintertime and cattle are out there, that chemical could still be in there. So you want to be careful. Any what's going on this tomorrow?

We have 4-H Ozark District O'Rama in Clarksville, the University of the Ozarks, or University of, yeah, University of the Ozarks. And we've got 10 kids going and they've outlawed air horns, which we can probably take ownership of.

I think we were one of the first that were using the air horns.

Yeah, one year we went and it was me toddler and two kids. And we're like, all right, when they call out our county, we're going to yell. And they didn't yell. It was just us.

They give a spirit award and we're, you know, we're never going to get anywhere. We're only taking a few kids where some counties will have 30.

We thought we would get a bunch of noisy things. And I think we've had air horns the last couple years. I know I lost my hearing for a second.

They are annoying, so I'm kind of glad.

Yeah, it was fun while lasting. But anyway, so we've got 10 kids going. We've got one competing and instrumental. We've got.

I guess tell folks what it is.

So the word O'Rama is confusing for some reason, but it's really just basically a contest day. And the goal is for you to have a project that you've worked on throughout the year. Of course, most everyone has multiple projects they're working on throughout the year and trying to improve. And the culmination of your project is going to County O'Rama and then District O'Rama. And if you're a senior, which is ages 14 and 19, then you're going to go to State O'Rama if you win. But then there's also some state-only contests. But anyway, so we have one that's in the Music Roots program and he's playing banjo, instrumental. We have a couple going for wildlife, a few livestock ID, public speaking, entomology talk, horse talk, bait casting. I think that's all the contests that we're going to have that day. So they'll go and the one that's doing instrumental, of course, play a piece. And then entomology talk, they'll give a talk about a particular insect or multiple. And the bait casting crew, they'll have to they'll have to throw out a few casts. And then there's also test with that one.

Yeah, there's a fish ID, there's tackle ID and then like ethics and like.

A little bit of safety and fish.

You know, what do you do?

So it's fun and so they'll compete in the morning and then we'll eat lunch and then we'll have award ceremony and Should be a good day.

Yeah, we're in charge of me and my, Amy and Danny, me, Amy and Danny, we're in charge of the wildlife. What did you say?

I'm instrumental.

Doing instrumental.

That's the only one I've ever had.

I've done bait casting, BB gun. This is my first time doing wildlife. We're kind of nervous because there wasn't like a specialist is usually in charge, but there wasn't nobody listed.

Oh man, leaving you in charge.

Not a good idea.

Be good. We're not the judges, we just help with the contest. They have other judges come in and all the agents will be there and it'll be good to see our friends and our kids compete. And then last week I was at the EHC state meeting, so that was a fun week.

How'd that go? Any wild stuff happened?

Nothing too wild. Dr. Hendricks did give us a shout out at one of the luncheon so I really appreciate that mentioning our podcast and we appreciate all the support we get and we hope that more will listen as time goes and.

And that it is educational.

I think it is educational. There's always some educational elements.

I do have kind of a drama story.

Drama.

Yeah. Like so last week.

Shirley homecoming. No, I'm just kidding.

Yeah, no, that wasn't too dramatic. Me and pretty much me and Matt just went fishing there at the Little Red River.

That was your Shirley homecoming.

My grandpa did get bit by a turtle. They do the turtle races. He got bit by a turtle and he's bleeding pretty bad.

Where did he get bit?

I know.

So I know, have you ever heard that saying, they're not going to turn loose until it thunders? Did it?

I guess it wasn't a snapping turtle. I think it was like one of them river turtles.

Brandon's cousin got bit by a box turtle. He didn't have a shirt on and it would not let go. And it was like a sod and it literally took a chunk of flesh.

I thought that would hurt.

And that was just a.

Yeah, they got little heartbeats.

Yeah, well, don't be shirtless and think they won't bite.

Well, no, this drama happened at the Central Delta and Central Horse Show. You're really gonna tell this. Yeah, it's a little bit, it's always dramatic, but people need to know that you gotta...

Be calm.

You gotta act right when you're out in public.

I don't think people know that.

Well, one guy got, it's kind of high intense a lot. It's competitive deal and they're doing like the speed events. And one guy like thought that his granddaughter, I guess, went through and said that during the flag race, the flag was placed wrong. And so our horse specialist went and talked to him. Apparently this guy's years and years of complaining about this and that. the horse specialist asked me to kind of go over there and be a witness.

Can I get a witness?

Yeah. And the horse specialist goes and he tells him, listen, we're our, you know, shows him the rule book. This is our rules. We follow this. And that guy was like, well, if there ain't something in there that says exactly where to put it, then you don't have any integrity. And horse specialist is like, you could tell it went all over him. But he's like, I put it the same place every time. And the guy's like, I know you think you're human. You think you're doing that. But no, he's like, well, if you don't think, if you think that we don't have integrity, then maybe you should just find new organization. If you, know, if you're saying that.

We're, truly, if you do not think.

If you think that we're out here cheating a little kid.

And it truly doesn't matter to me who wins anything.

No, but it was just kind of dramatic. That guy kind of got.

Got sideways?

Got sideways. It wasn't too bad. It was just kind of like.

You were like, I'm having to be the wicked. Yeah.

But no, pretty much Mark was like, no, I think we're done. If you don't think, if you don't think I'm fair, then.

Yeah, I'm not gonna present a case. Yeah, well. And I shouldn't have to.

Yeah.

It's hard to defend yourself.

But there's always, I mean, I've had people from Stone County be the ones that are acting up.

Not Stone County.

At the horse show. Something about the horse show is I like working it. It's a lot of fun. Kids have a lot of fun, but it's always, there could be something that happens that is extremely stressful.

I think you could probably say that for all the shows involving animals. I think it's the I think what it is the years of working on a particular thing and if you feel for some reason that someone has caused a disadvantage then I think people get pretty fired up quickly. And I mean, I've seen things that I've thought have caused disadvantages before, but not at a 4-H event.

What they do is like there's on the arena, there's on the barrels that they go around, there's like a bucket with sand filled and a flag that sticks up and then there's a timer. So as soon as they cross the timer, their time starts, they grab the flag, run around this barrel, and then plant the flag. And you have to stick the flag to get an actual score. And I guess when she started, she missed it. And he said it was because it was placed different.

Well, that's a shame.

Yeah. we're not out here trying, we're out here trying to help kids and teach them life skills and find, the hobbies and things that they're good at to, explore.

And it's funny too, because, not saying integrity, I can't tell how many times I've like had to send stuff in like you didn't mark off enough, like I've caught, things like that for our own kids. And it's just not, I don't feel that a child is benefiting from being held back or any kind of disadvantage, or no one's truly benefiting when they're not winning against the best or competing and following the rules. And it's a shame that people don't always see that.

This just seemed more like a, I want to complain because we didn't win.

Yeah. Well, maybe, they'll think on it a little bit. Or they won't.

Just, you put it out there and we'll talk about it. People are people, but we talk about.

Yeah, people get fired up.

People don't act right.

Gosh, I always act right.

Man, me too. I'm a perfect person. Never make mistakes.

I never act up. I never say anything I shouldn't.

Man, I'm extra sleepy. I don't know why.

It's the 2pm fade.

The 2pm fade.

That's when, that's why I started drinking coffee when I worked at the construction company and I was reading the spec book because that's how I had to make sure I had all my submittals correct. And that 2pm fade was hitting hard so I started drinking coffee in the afternoons. But now I drink coffee all the time and it doesn't really help anymore.

I had to cut, I'm cutting back on the coffee just because I think that's why I was throwing up. Like the not eating anything and then the hot coffee.

What about it being the not eating anything?

Hell, and then drinking the hot coffee. I think that's what.

Was hitting you.

Just make that pushes it over the edge. It's like.

Have you been better since?

I mean. Maybe. No. I haven't thrown up again, but there were, what, two weeks in a row. I got real hot.

We're going to talk a bit about that too.

And got up.

Get to my part.

Got up **** stomach. I don't know if I've talked about them on the podcast.

I don't know if you have.

Because they are kind of funny, I guess.

Your throw-ups.

Well, yeah, they come at the most terrible times.

The first one, the first one's the funniest one to me.

Like the Ozark Folk Center did their, I forget exactly what they call it, but like their herb seminar and they asked me to come talk about.

Oh gosh, that's not the first one. That's like your third one.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. You're talking about when I threw up because I was sick.

Yeah.

These were more or less not like caused by sickness, but more.

Nerves and lack of eating.

Maybe not so much nerves. Lack of eating and hot and drinking coffee all day.

What caused the one when we had our subcommittee? Not eating.

When was that?

In the fall.

Was that the one where I was real loud in the bathroom?

Well, that's been more than once.

I don't remember.

Yeah, you did in the fall. It was when we had.

I feel like that was probably just.

I think that was because you hadn't ate anything.

Yeah, maybe. It's a mixture of things, but these most recent ones, the Ozark Folk Center, Ozark Folk Center, the Ferk Center, Ozark Folk Center was doing their a herb seminar and I went over that morning, talked about soil health and then they had me come back in the afternoon for like the hands-on portion, teach hands-on. We were going to teach how to do a soil sample. I didn't have many sign up. There were much cooler topics than mine talking about how to pull a soil sample. Like there were how to grow turmeric, how to compost, how to, you know, some really cool options. I didn't expect too many, but I had a couple. And so they're asking me questions and I'm kind of going through it. And my plan was to go through the folk center and actually pull a bunch of soil tests for them. But I went kind of started and was teaching them about soil testing and the equipment. And then all of a sudden I just got real hot and nauseous and I was just like, well, is there a bathroom nearby? Because I think I need to go throw up. And Jeanette was there and she's like, it's just right this way. And I went in there and just had to puke a couple of times and I felt better. And then the most recent one that happened, what, two weeks ago or a week ago was during wet practice. And we're preparing for the national contest and the habitat plan is a big portion to all that. So we're learning that and I'm having them kind of go through reasons. And all of a sudden, each of them had talked and then going through the second set and now it just hits me and I'm just like not listening. I'm like, well, sounds good. I've got to go in here and I couldn't like I barely made it because I started don't even started don't even started happening before I could say I've got to go and so I kind of run Archer he looks stunned he's kind of like I was like well sorry about that.

If he only knew how often this happens.

Yeah I'm not sick or anything this just happens.

Gosh.

But so you're gonna be talking about heat illness today, how to manage for it and be safe, right?

So maybe I'll listen. I'm gonna use you as an example.

But I'm talking, you know, last week talked about hay, improving the quality of our hay and improving, you know, our hay production generally. Why are farmers out here cutting hay? Well, it's one of our winter feed sources. we bale this, let the hay grow. Hay grows or the grass grows, forage grows too much in the summer that it kind of would get too mature that animals can't graze it. So we cut it and then store it to feed them in the winter. And the quality, the nutrition can vary from, you know, a crude protein can go from like a three to a 23, a TDN from like a low, maybe high 20s to, 70s for just say Bermuda grass hay, so your hay's. Always, each year it's a good idea to test your hay, see what the quality is. Again, routine tests, test dry matter, crude protein, your total digestible nutrients, and your fiber is $20. And then adding on the, if you want to know like the nutrient, the micronutrients, macronutrients, phosphorus, potassium, et cetera, that's an extra $15. So for $35, you can know a complete full panel of what your hay's got that'll help for balancing ration. Mentioned that what goes into making good quality hay? Well, for one species of forage, They've developed over time improved quality forages where they're going to be more nutritious. Bermuda grass, a lot of tall fescue around here. Cereal grains is something we can use. It's like an annual to plant and then plant it, say, early spring and then cut it for hay about this time of year. We can have clovers. lespedezas or that are legumes. Alfalfa doesn't really grow well here in Stone County, but within Arkansas, alfalfa can grow. You really have to have like a deep soil bed, like I think it's like 36 inches of unimpacted soil to where those roots can go off, can get deep. Yeah. So species of forage, How much weed pressure is there? if you've got a lot of weeds in your hay, it's going to be lower quality. And then what maturity you're cutting at really is probably the highest factor that goes into how nutritious the hay is. The more mature it gets, the quality drops. So when the seed heads are forming, it's getting more stemmy. There's less blades of grass or blades of forage. So quality can drop. I was just thinking of something. Oh, so I mentioned kind of last week at the end the process of a lot of the processes we do can have an impact in our, the ultimate quality that hay bale is going to be. So even like the moisture that say we go out and we mow the hay and then we're going to come in and if it's drying good enough the goal is to get it to dry and wilt as rapid as possible to lock in those nutrients. We preferably want it to be Around 20, at least 20%, and we'll talk about why that's important. Once you go to bale, 17 to 20 is kind of ideal. But let's say we go and we're raking. If we're too dry at the point of raking, what can happen is we start knocking off a lot of leaf matter. Like if we've got a lot of legumes, if it gets dry, we knock off that leaf or that leaf shatters, well there goes a lot of our nutrients. Or if we're knocking off a bunch of the blades of grass and we're just leaving behind stems, well there goes a lot of our quality. So the actual process of making the hay, raking, tedding, baling can cause a lot of nutrient loss. I was looking at a deal and it's like the more dry it gets, the higher your chance for breaking off leaves can happen. So with something like legumes, when you're baling them, it's a good idea to somewhere around, 40 to 30%, 30 to 40% moisture. With grasses, it's not as big of a deal. We can get them again. We want them down around 20, 17 to 20 percent moisture. Well, there is There you can find like some videos of how you can like, you're out there and you go say you've got it laid down and it's drying and you're wondering if it's dry enough you go out there and get your handful of that hay and then weigh it and then you cook it in like an air fryer or a microwave to get it to completely dry so you dry it till it reaches equilibrium. So like I'm going to weigh it at the start and it'll be at a certain weight and then I start the drying process and I'm going to keep weighing it every so often and once it reaches to where it's not losing any more weight that means it's completely dry and then you just plug in the numbers to figure out, your moisture percentage or how dry it is. There's videos online or resources online that's available for you. That's one, you know, a quick, easy at home way you can figure out what that hay moisture content is. So why is moisture, why is it important? Well, what can happen if we bale that hay at too high moisture? it's, that moisture is lacked in there, but that those cells are still going to be trying to respirate. So there's going to be a lot of processes going on through that respiration where the carbohydrates, the sugars that are trapped in that grass get converted to like carbon dioxide and water and oxygen and heat. and your hay bale will go through a spontaneous heating. And what they found is like the, what, a higher moisture, 30 to 40%, that as that goes through a spontaneous heating, it could reach the internal temperature of that bale may reach, 140 degrees. It could cause, if it gets too hot, it could cause a fire.

Which we've seen.

Which we've seen. But it also cooks out a lot of your nutrients. It'll cook out, like I mentioned, those carbohydrates. If it gets too hot in there, it'll cook up some of the proteins and then convert some proteins to an indigestible form. And so we're losing a lot of our nutrition just by bailing at the improper timing. So what I'd like to, I guess, say for guys as you're going through and you're making hay, really start thinking about, you know, that's kind of the goal is you're a grass farmer. Even if you, know, we're raising livestock, that's how we see ourselves is we're cattle farmers, but kind of our mindset needs to be forage base is the better quality forage we can have out there, the better our animals are going to perform, the better they're going to breed back, the better they're going to raise a baby. So we want them to perform as good as they can. So we want to provide them with high quality nutrition. So, you know, cutting our hay at the proper height to keep, from cutting out that stored carbohydrate, cutting into the crown, which is going to lower our stand overall the more we take that away because grass isn't going to come, you know, going to be able to grow back and then weeds are going to take over. Also as we cut hay, we're taking all those nutrients, say we went out and fertilized, well we're taking all that away. We need to add that back. Guys that are getting sagegrass and having sagegrass issues, that usually pops up and it's pretty much an indicator that something with your soil fertility is off. It may be that your pH is off, it may be that your potassium's too low, your phosphorus is too low, and there's nothing there to outcompete that broom sedge. And so you end up with a bunch of undesirable out in your hay field and then that's all you're making is pretty much undesirable hay that's really of no quality. So some of these processes and management practices we talk about, it's time to... adopt to make better, to help our production.

Yeah.

You have any thoughts? You thought of something funny, I think, because you kind of giggled.

No, I have heartburn right now. No, one thought I was having is I don't remember seeing as much Broomsedge used to as we do now.

Well, used to, they're chicken.

Maybe it's cost?

Well, cost has a lot to do with it.

And there's a chicken house in Everyhill and Holland.

So used to, it seems like chicken litter qual, like everybody had chicken houses and everybody was spreading litter over their property and we still see that today. I can look at a soil test and I can tell that it's been chicken littered because that phosphorus is still pretty high, but everything else is low, or at least the potassium is low and that's kind of a classic indicator of years of chicken litter applied. But That used to be a cheap, everybody had it cheap, everybody able to get it.

And we used to do clean outs.

Yeah, and it was higher quality. Now chicken litter can be so various. And if you're using chicken litter as like your fertilizer source, I'd have that tested. And it's like a $27 test and it'll test the fertilizer, you know, how many pounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium are per ton of that chicken litter. What you're actually getting. And chicken litter also, it's like a slow release. There will be some inorganic forms of say nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that are going to be immediately available. But what I've read and some research about it is only about half of the nitrogen is inorganic. So say you put out two ton per acre is what the rate usually guys do chicken litter. Let's say it was, 30 pounds of nitrogen per ton, which is pretty common from what I've seen. So essentially we're putting out 60 pounds of nitrogen if we're putting out, you know, two ton. About half of that is what we're actually going to get benefit of now for this cutting of hay. Then the other say the other half of that is a slower lease, where over the next year you may get a third or a part of it re-released into that, but it's gonna be more slow release. So we, you know, thinking about that.

You may need something more immediate depending on.

Yeah, and then commercial fertilizer got super high, like used to, you know, maybe $100 a ton for stuff. Now it's, you know, near $1,000 a ton. So guys aren't able to afford to put out fertilizer like they used to could. And so that's the reason probably you're seeing a lot of the... And then people are bringing in new stuff all the time. There's always new weeds or somebody brought in some landscape plant and then it escaped and it wreaks havoc.

Speaking of that, I know this isn't a hay topic, but the mimosa trees. So I've noticed that they're really blooming. Do you know, I mean, I didn't really think about it, but they are invasive. But do you know what year or century they came into the United States? Because they look so established and they look native. They were brought over in the 1700s. And from...

Thanks, pilgrims. Now we're dealing with it.

Yeah, and they just kind of can take over. Because I mean, in my mind, I almost thought they were native because they just they look so established.

In the wild, but they're mimosas, Chinese privet, Bradford pear.

Silver maples are kind of, they're invasive a little, but they're not.

I don't know if they're quite invasive, but they are, in my opinion, a junk tree. what is that? Tree of Heaven, Royal Polonias, another couple of invasives. The Tree of Heaven kind of looks like sumac.

Look around like mimosas everywhere.

That's what happens with them invasives.

Yeah, they're just nothing to keep them held back.

Yeah, don't plan anymore.

Don't bring any new ones in.

Yeah. So haven't made a good point. I don't know.

I feel good about the hay.

So mentioned spontaneous heating. So yeah, making hay at the proper, you know, we want it to be dry and it's easier said than done. You know, we've had rainy weather this past week.

It's been tough to get everything dried and baled and before it rains again.

So weather conditions have a huge play. I will mention, so let's say this probably gonna happen to a lot of guys. So let's say we've cut, we're gonna make a cutting of hay. Well, oh no, it's gonna rain on it before we can bale it. Yeah, if that does happen, you might, it depends on how long, like but say it rains, we cut and it rains, there could be a little bit of loss, but let's say, okay, our grass is at the proper maturity for, it's just at that boot stage, it's at the best, yield to maturity ratio, good maturity, we're still getting good yield, and we can cut it today, but then it's going to rain on it tomorrow.

What's the better option to let it get too mature or cut it now? I'm assuming that's where you're going.

I get that's where I'm going is cutting it now versus letting it get too mature would actually you're probably going to lose more points from our new over maturity. Yeah from it being over mature than say getting a rain on it. Now let's say it's going to rain the next few days.

Then that may be too much of A gamble.

Too much of A gamble. But if it's like, okay, it's going to, I need to get it cut now, but it is going to rain on it, but then it's going to be dry. You're probably not going to lose too much. I just, something had popped into my head that I was going to mention, but then I forgot what it was.

I think you'll have to talk about hay storage too.

Yeah, I was going to do that. The next one is talking, because that's, you know, leading up to maturity goes into nutrition. And then how we bale it, if we bale it too dry or not at the proper dry or it's too wet, that's going to affect quality. And then when we bale it, if we're knocking off a lot of leaves, that can affect quality. And then once we make the bale, how we store it is also going to be important for quality. So yeah, a lot of factors. But hay is one of our cheapest options as far as a feed. Think about, you know, I mentioned last week, if you spend $1000 on fertilizer versus $1000 on feed in the wintertime, it's hay is probably your cheapest option as far as forage, say a winter forage. Compare that to how much, if you can make a good quality hay versus compared to buying, you know, a corn byproduct like DDG or corn gluten feed or something. How much, you know, how much more?

Well, and an interesting thought too is, you know, I'd kind of rather put more into what I have.

Then what I'm purchasing. If we're wanting to be sustainable, what can we sustain on our front?

Or can we do on our own place?

Having said that though, if you don't have hay equipment, buy your hay, buy it.

Or you can have someone, you might have to pay somebody to cut it for you.

Yeah, have somebody to cut it for you. Yeah, no, but we can get, that's what some people, that's what they do. They make hay. They make a good quality hay and they sell it. And we can, sometimes we can purchase a high quality hay for a lot cheaper than say we could make it ourself. And then, but it's farm by farm basis.

Yes.

You have to.

Each place is unique.

Yeah, you have to figure out what works for you. And we're just talking, you know, some ideas. But some things that I've seen that I would definitely implement is trying to get it cut at the proper maturity Making sure it is dry enough. Also cutting at a good cutting height. Leaving, you know, don't cut it right on the ground. Maybe raise your cutter, you know, to two to three inches. That'll allow, especially in droughty years like we've had in the past, that'll allow that grass to green back sooner. Say we get a little rain on it, you may get a whole nother cutting off of it just because, you know, you didn't scalp the field. Yeah. So you're going to talk to us about heat stroke?

A little bit about heat exhaustion. Heat related illnesses.

Heat related illnesses. Have you ever had any?

I haven't, but you've logged a few.

Yeah, several times.

My sister remembers when you about fell out at the cave. So why don't you tell us about that time?

When I worked at the Blanche Springs Caverns as a cave guide, but I also did like mowing and weed eating and different things. And I think this day I was out there mowing and weed eating the parking lot. It was hot, maybe like his.

Was it like July?

July, probably late June, July. So it's hot out there and you have to wear like certain you have to wear.

You're not in shorts and the tank top.

Yeah, not in shorts and cut off sleeves. So it's kind of hot and I have to wear the helmet and the goggles and the earplugs.

You have to wear a helmet.

And then so, and maybe not when you're mowing, but so I was out there and I just cramped up. It was like, got hot and dehydrated. And it just felt dizzy and my hands were cramping up. And so I was like stuck like this.

My sister said you're a really odd color.

Yeah, like.

Beyond pale.

Yeah, I was like, I walked in and I was like.

I think something's wrong. So had you not drink? Did you drink anything?

I think Casey had like a Gatorade.

No, but like while you're out working.

Probably not.

That sounds about right.

Yeah, I just get out there and do it. Just do it. Work.

Yeah, you pick the hottest part of the day. You won't drink anything while you're out there working. Then you come in the office and you look like you're about to pass out. When we were on our way to pick up the poultry chain chickens, you hadn't drank anything and you started drawing up.

Well, I was on a probably an extended fast. I'd only ate pretty much like 2 hot dogs the day before and we were on our way down there to pick up the poultry chain and then it started cramping up.

You were like, I'm not well.

So we just swung in this little gas station. It's like, you're going to have to go buy me something to drink.

But then I don't think you had faith in my choices. So you showed me.

And then I went in there and picked, I got like one of them Gatorades that are supposed to have more electrolytes and it was coconut flavored. Ruined my whole, I didn't even.

Ruin the vibe.

Yeah, run the whole day. Cause that was, I don't know. Sometimes coconut's good, but then sometimes it is gross. And this was one of the times that coconut was gross. I was like, I'm dying literally here. The last flavor I'm going to have is coconut.

This is what I'm going out on. The sad thing is, you've not learned from any of these times. You continually making bad choices.

Yeah, so what can I do to do better?

Yeah, you are kind of the inspiration for this talk. And so this is an article the University of Arkansas put out that I'm taking my information from and you can find it under the healthy living tab on our extension website. And it was written by Rachel Hall and then Dr. Maders, the one who provided the information for this. So it's important to take precautions to prevent heat related illnesses such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat rash, and heat cramps, which I've seen you one of the days you come in here and you hadn't drank anything, you had like the blotchy, which I don't know if that's exactly what it means there, but so obviously that's preventable. And what worries me is that you've done this and that, you know, the next steps like heat stroke, you know, you get to a point where you may have to be hospitalized. So that worries me about, you know, not drinking anything and being out in the heat too long.

I kind of go till I pass out. So I about feel like it.

Yeah. And that's also worrisome because if you're getting in a vehicle and you don't want to pass out while you're driving somewhere, you're going to have to do better. So another thing, so, why is this happening? And we sweat and I think, did you quit sweating too that one time?

I don't know.

You don't even remember.

No.

So, you know, our body sweats to help cool itself, but at some point it can, we can get too hot too quickly. And so sweating's not gonna not going to keep us at that point. And that can cause damage to your brain and your vital organs.

That's what happened.

That's what happened. That's why my brain's been foggy. I was wondering what's going on.

I was wondering what's going on. It seems like I used to remember how to do that. Now I don't.

Now we know you're damaged from, which we joke about it, but it is damaging.

It is serious. You can't have any fun.

No, I'm not saying don't laugh. I'm just making sure to point out that it. Sure.

You're saying don't laugh.

I'm a chronic laugher, but just know that my laugh could mean any set of emotions. Like I laugh when I'm mad, happy, sad, anything like a laugh. But But anyway, so in some cases your body temps just rising faster. Then it can cool itself down and that can seriously cause some damage. And I've had family members that end up in the and I don't know if this is a fact or not, but it seems like when it happens once you may be more prone to it. Like I said, I don't know if that's a fact, but it seems like the people I know who've had it one time they've and maybe that's because they make bad choices.

Who knows? I'm good at it getting too hot out there and kind of like.

So obviously anybody can get a heat related illness, but who do you, what groups do you think might be more sustainable?

Probably people working outside.

People working outside, people over 65, little kids, pregnant women, And then anybody with a lower immune system, whether that's from, chronic illness, cancer, different things. So they're going to be more susceptible. And it seems like the older population, from what I've studied before, is their body has a harder time of understanding what temperature they're at. So they may not realize they're getting overheated. And so my grandma was one that would wear like a sweatsuit in July because she couldn't fully fill her temperatures. And I thought that was wild. But I'm a very hot natured individual. So and then athletes, this happens to young people or middle-aged people out there working out in the hot temps and muggy temps. So you got to you got everybody needs to be careful. And so kind of what's the difference? So we hear heat related illnesses and there's like heat stroke and heat exhaustion. So the difference in those. So heat stroke is when your body temps greater than 103. And that does happen. I mean, think about it. It's been 112 outside before. And even if it's not quite that hot, you could still, your body could get overheated. So you're gonna have hot, red, dry skin, fast pulse, get dizzy, nausea, confusion, and loss of consciousness. So that's What you're getting into with heat stroke. He checked all of those, but the last. I was confused. You weren't confused.

Nor did I pass fully out, but I could feel it coming.

So you had you had made it to almost the last two steps.

Yeah, the last two steps.

So heat exhaustion. So heavy sweating, cold, pale and clammy skin, fast, weak pulse, nausea or vomiting, muscle cramps, tiredness or weakness. dizziness, headache, and fainting. So you made it to all but the last step probably on heat exhaustion. And then heat cramps, of course, heavy sweating during intense exercise. You can get muscle pain or spasms. And I've seen that. I mean like cramps.

Yeah. The worst cramps I've ever had was like after like playing in like a softball tournament or something like a co-ed softball tournament. We're out there all day and it's hot and then not like laying in bed. Have you ever had a calf cramp?

Oh, yes.

It's the worst. Like all of a sudden I'm asleep and then cramps. I mean.

Bad ones.

Oh yeah.

My dad, he had a kidney transplant for years, but he's very prone to cramping. And he had a little S10, Chevy S10. And it was back when the stop, it wasn't a stoplight, it was a four-way stop and he cramped up having to shift. So we were like stuck in the four-way stop. I remember that. But when I was pregnant with Whitney, I cramped up really bad and apparently screamed and Brandon thought, you know, it was go time. which would have been even earlier. But anyway, that's the story on cramps. And then heat rash. So red clusters or small blisters that look like pimples on the skin, usually on the neck, chest, groin, elbows, and or anterior side of arms. So that's another thing heat related wise. So what can we do to do better, Tyler?

I'll probably drink more water.

More water. So wear lightweight, loose fitting clothes to improve airflow and aid in natural cooling. So lightweight clothes, so that's good. So like if you're one of those that's a long sleeve wear, try to go with that thinner, thinner material that reflects long sleeve wear. Mikey P. Is he a long sleeve wear ********?

It's like he wears those blue jeans and then one of them like **** nuts.

Well, one thing I've learned that my grandpa should have done. And it's something that I try to think about more now, especially when I go to the beach because I don't do well with the sun skin wise. And those long sleeves are really could protect you from a lot of things. But if you're a long sleeve wearer and you're out in the heat, try to, like I said, go for that lighter fabric. And they have a lot of nice like fishing shirt options that are real thin now. It seems like they used to not have as much or they're a lot more affordable. And then I liked this other tidbit made me kind of laugh. Stay indoors when able. Well, we can't keep ourselves indoors all the time. And instead avoid using appliances that give off heat. I feel that. I don't like to get the oven going when it's super hot outside. But anyway, I don't know what that really has to do with heat related illnesses, but if you're not one that has air conditioning, I guess that's where that would come into play. So you may not want to be baking something. A major thing, and seems like this happens every year, do not leave children or anyone else and cars unattended. So that's a major deal. So double check all the seats in your vehicle before walking away. Do not leave anybody in there. So that's a big deal. A lot of vehicles now have a little light to remind you. Have you seen that? Like check the back seat.

Yeah.

I've seen a few of that. And then schedule outdoor activities with a plan in place. So let's say you're going to go work at the community garden. So you're going to make sure that you take things with you to help keep you from getting overheated. And then maybe you need to take breaks such as water.

Water.

And then maybe you need a drink that can help restore electrolytes. So that's an option to consider. We're not gonna name any brand names, but you know what I mean. Gotta think, you know, water boy here. All right, so, and try not to do things in the hottest part of the day. You know, if you could do that in the afternoon when the sun's gone down a little bit or early in the morning, you know, That would be better than waiting till midday when the sun and everything's the hottest. And then wear sunscreen, hats, long sleeves, anything to help protect you from sunburn too. And I think a lot of people get burnt and I know of a lot of people having to get skin cancer removed. So even if you don't like sunscreen, that's when you wear something to protect yourself. I even bought sungloves the other day. I thought, you know, you're getting older. when you're gonna, we were gonna, we were going to go floating and I thought, I'm not gonna be able to keep enough sunscreen on my hands to make it through the day. And when I go to the beach, I wear long sleeves and pants because I just cannot keep enough on me and reflection and all that jazz. So anyway, protect your skin, drink plenty of fluids, avoid like a lot of sugar and alcohol beverages when you're in the heat. So that's another thing that wouldn't be beneficial for you. Replace salts and minerals such as electrolytes. That's where a sports drinker, maybe if you're not into the sports style drinks or they have a lot of sugar, a little bit of research on what would be a good option for you. Pay attention to the weather. use a buddy system. So if you're going to be outside working, you may text your family member and say, hey, make sure I'm back in the house within a couple hours.

I may not be home this evening. I'm working outside.

I'm working outside, but make sure I make it. Make sure I make it back in. And then as always, check on your neighbors, those who are high risk. That's always a good deal. So maybe we should check on you a little sooner if we know you're over there probably without something to drink. And then There actually is a recommendation for Dr. Mater on how much to drink, and it was much more than I expected. So every 20 or 15 to 20 minutes, how much water should you be drinking in ounces? Every 15 to 20 minutes in the heat.

How many ounces for?

Eight. So recommended to drink at least 8 ounces of water every 15 to 20 minutes, which would be approximately 24 to 32 ounces per hour of heat exposure. So that's a lot. of water, but that makes sense because some might be drinking a little water and then you still get heat exhaustion. And it seems like when we've been out working in the heat and you kind of get used to it a little bit and it's like the beginning of this year, it's harder to get used to the heat. But as summer goes along, you get used to it, just kind of like you get used to the cold out working outside, but it's like you'll drink all day and you'll never go to the bathroom because your body's just trying to cool itself down and keep you from overheating.

So y'all are going to be bringing me refreshments.

Well, we would prefer you to have a plan in place, but maybe we need to check on you a little bit since history is continually repeated.

Repeating, yeah.

But anyway.

Anyway, so.

Try to be safe out there.

Try to do better.

But have fun outside. Summer's fun.

Yeah, not too much fun. Get the cops called on you.

Yeah, be careful on those long weekends too. Yeah.

Well, so we'll do our best to avoid heat illness this summer. Maybe not plan programs on the hottest day of the year.

We are very gifted in that effort. If you would like to have to know what the hottest day of the year is going to be, just ask us when we have a field day or an outdoor day plan and you can about bet your money that that's going to be that day.

Yeah. All right, so maybe we won't get, I'll do better, won't get heat illness, or maybe I will, because then I walk in and it's like everybody kind of avoids me, because I look like a zombie. Walking in, all red faced.

Well, we're probably watching you waiting for you to fall over.

Yeah, wouldn't that be crazy if I just walked in and like people are in here and I'm just like walk in all red faced and sweaty and just.

Please don't. Please do not.

It might happen. I can't say it might.

Well, good luck with that workman's comp paperwork, buddy.

Yep. All right. Anything.

That's all I got for today.

All right. Well, just stick with us. Keep listening, like, subscribe, all that mess. Funny wise, yeah. I think the very first time I remember like getting like heat exhaustion or something. We were is like during the summer and was helping dad is after we'd worked in the blueberries and I think he was is in the hay and we were covering up we'd stacked this hay or he did and we were going to cover this hay with the tarp And I remember it was hot because the top of my head was, I remember it being real hot.

Was that back when you had more hair coverage?

Yeah, I had more hair coverage. And so we're pulling the tarp over and all of a sudden, like I just got a really bad headache and nearly thought I was gonna pass out and ran to the truck and grabbed some water and just started chugging it. And then dad, he yelled, he's like, what are you doing? Gosh, you lazy thing. I was like, I don't know, I got a bad headache. He's like, you lazy.

Did he really?

I don't know. Something like that. I got in trouble for not being where I was supposed to be because I was drinking water because of heat illness. So moral lesson.

Don't yell at your kids when they're drinking water.

Before you start yelling, Find out what you're going to be yelling about.

Yeah, because he could have yelled at you for not already having drank water.

And not already having drank water.

Oh man, that's funny. I always get mistaken for heat related illness because I get so red faced when I get hot. So everybody's like, what's wrong with him? I was like, this is just my normal.

Yeah.

Just my normal.

Just my normal.

A little hot face. I'm sorry.

Wow. All right. Orama tomorrow. Hopefully all our kids do good.

We'll have fun either way.

Yeah. Anything Friday, Thursday or Friday? I think I got hay verification.

We've got wet practice Thursday.

Yeah. I told them this is what we're doing this week for WEP. It's like we're going to, it's going to be like a college course. I'm just going to, y'all are going to show up and then I'm going to just start reading this information. Y'all are going to take notes so y'all learn it.

Is that how it's going to go?

That's what we're doing this Thursday.

What's wild to me is that they don't give them a word bank for nationals.

No, and they have to be like they don't get a work bank and they have to spell everything correctly.

And that sounds easy, but you've got how many species and then, some things are spelled odd. That's going to be, that's tough.

Prothornatary warbler. Spell that.

Would you even know if I spelled it right?

Yeah.

Prothornatary warbler. PRO. T-H-O-R-N. I'm lost. I'm lost already. Prothornatary. Anyway, a warbler I could handle.

Warbler.

Warbler. There's some interesting birds. You know, until we had web, there's a few that I'd never noticed before out and about. And they are out and about.

They are out and about.

And they said they had a few sounds last year that were difficult too.

But anyway, stick with us. We'll be talking hay again next week, talking about storing hay and maybe feeding hay.

We should talk a bit about hay hauling safety. This is very irritating to me that every year there's at least one bale in the curve on the way to my house that someone's lost.

Hey, I really can't say nothing because I think it'll be fine.

Well, Brandon, he's really big on tying it down well. And even one year he had multiple straps over. He had every bale with a strap and one still squirted at the back. So it's a scary thing. You got to be careful and then maybe actually have your lights working for once. Maybe that should be a hay hauling activity. Make those trailer lights work.

Yeah. All right. I don't think we've got any more.

That's my safety.

That's your safety. Make sure your lights work. strap them down.

Yeah. And try not to bale them to green and then your whole trailer catches on fire.

Yeah. Stuff like that happens.

Yeah.

Or it's so dry out there, your baler catches on fire.

I've seen that a few times too.

You know, safety baling safety, make sure you have a fire extinguisher.

Yeah, we do. We are overly fire extinguisher at our house.

Fire extinguished.

We've got fire extinguishers everywhere on our side to side and our tractors and that's a good thing.

It's a good thing. Well, be safe. Be safe. See you later. See you next time.