Windrow Field Manual — notes and re-checked jobs https://windrow.top/ Dated judgements, checks and disagreements about windrows of hay, snow and compost. Objects are not syndicated: a definition does not change. en 2026-09-16 09:00:00 +0000 Should I cut hay today? Two numbers and one forecast https://windrow.top/jobs/decide-to-cut-today/ https://windrow.top/jobs/decide-to-cut-today/ 2026-09-16 09:00:00 +0000 Deciding whether to cut hay needs two numbers and one forecast: the crop's moisture, tonight's dew point, and whether rain is due inside the drying window. Where to put plowed snow: four placements to avoid https://windrow.top/jobs/place-your-snow-pile/ https://windrow.top/jobs/place-your-snow-pile/ 2026-09-16 09:00:00 +0000 Plowed snow has to go somewhere, and the somewhere decides what happens at melt. Four placements fail, and each fails in a way that is visible before spring. Two bulletins, two dew-point thresholds, one field https://windrow.top/notes/2026-09-08-dew-point-lie/ https://windrow.top/notes/2026-09-08-dew-point-lie/ 2026-09-08 09:00:00 +0000 Two extension bulletins give different dew-point thresholds for hay. Both are defensible, they were measured in different climates, and they differ by 4 C. Two probes read four points apart on the very same bale https://windrow.top/notes/2026-08-30-two-probes-differ/ https://windrow.top/notes/2026-08-30-two-probes-differ/ 2026-08-30 09:00:00 +0000 A resistance probe and a capacitance meter read four points apart on one bale. The gap is not error: the two instruments measure different parts of the bale. Where the 50% snow-fence porosity figure comes from https://windrow.top/notes/2026-08-21-fifty-percent-porosity/ https://windrow.top/notes/2026-08-21-fifty-percent-porosity/ 2026-08-21 09:00:00 +0000 The 50% porosity figure for snow fences is repeated everywhere and traces to a small set of studies. Here is what it controls and where it stops working. Denser bales cut storage loss and raise the heat risk https://windrow.top/notes/2026-08-12-bale-density-tradeoff/ https://windrow.top/notes/2026-08-12-bale-density-tradeoff/ 2026-08-12 09:00:00 +0000 Density buys storage life and narrows the moisture band you can bale in. The two effects are measured in different units, which is why the trade goes wrong. The rule says five turnings, and practice says two https://windrow.top/notes/2026-08-03-turn-count-argument/ https://windrow.top/notes/2026-08-03-turn-count-argument/ 2026-08-03 09:00:00 +0000 The pathogen rule for windrow composting names a number of turnings. Operators turn fewer, and the gap is about what the rule is trying to guarantee. What an inch of rain actually costs a curing crop https://windrow.top/notes/2026-07-21-rain-damage-arithmetic/ https://windrow.top/notes/2026-07-21-rain-damage-arithmetic/ 2026-07-21 09:00:00 +0000 Rain on curing hay costs dry matter and soluble nutrients, and the loss scales with how much fell and how dry the crop was. Here is the arithmetic worked.