28 days on Bermuda

[ddivinia]

I have been reading about having to cut bermuda every 28 days and I have some questions.

How tall is the grass when you cut every 28 days?

How much rain do you need?

It has been 2 weeks since my first cutting and I have had .28" of rain. I am not sure how tall it will be in a couple weeks. Should I plan on haying every 28 days regardless.

Also, I am not going to put more fertilizer on it right now - would like some rain. I plan on putting more fertilizer down later in the season, but I don't have that all figured out yet.

Somebody educate me,
D.

 

[JESSE1]

Peak protein content is supposed to be at 28 days, after that it starts declining. How high the grass is depends on how much rain it gets. If it's dry the grass might not be 12 inches tall at 28 days. If you square bale you can probably get by with shorter grass. Round baling does better with longer grass. I baled my hay in mid-May and I plan to bale again next week. If we continue to get rain I hope to get 3 or 4 cuttings, the last cutting would be in September or October.

 

[flusher]

I have been reading about having to cut bermuda every 28 days and I have some questions.

How tall is the grass when you cut every 28 days?

How much rain do you need?

It has been 2 weeks since my first cutting and I have had .28" of rain. I am not sure how tall it will be in a couple weeks. Should I plan on haying every 28 days regardless.

Also, I am not going to put more fertilizer on it right now - would like some rain. I plan on putting more fertilizer down later in the season, but I don't have that all figured out yet.

Somebody educate me,
D.

What variety of bermuda do you plant in your hayfield?

At my place, bermuda is an invasive plant that threatens to take over my lawn and garden areas.

It grows really well around here on the valley floor. Maybe I should forget about orchardgrass, rye and oats and plant bermuda in my hayfield.

Do the horse people go for bermuda?

 

[JESSE1]

Coastal Bermuda is the most common grass used for hay in Texas. There are some newer varieties used also. Common bermuda is used for lawn grasses and also is good for hay meadows when a square baler is used. Coastal Bermuda grows tall and works very well with a round baler. Give it plenty of rain and fertilizer and you can make some hay.

 

[ddivinia]

Coastal is what they said they sprigged. Looks like coastal to me.

Need rain...

Jesse1,
Do ou cut every 28 days like clock work regardless of rain?

How much Nitrogen are you throwing on it?

D.

 

[JESSE1]

I fertilize in mid-April with 500#s/acre, usually 21-7-14. This year I fertilized with 27-0-20 due to the high cost of phosphates. I should fertilize again after the first cutting but didn't do it. I TRY to cut every 4 weeks but usually go longer because of my work schedule or weather. I'm going to cut my hay this weekend, that will make it about 5 weeks for this cutting. I'm feeding it to my own cows and they haven't complained yet.

 

[ddivinia]

OK - good deal. Who knows, maybe 3 more weeks and mine will be ready. I am going to see if the weeds are high enough this weekend for me to hit them with my weed wiper.

D.

 

[chetlenox]

Darin,

I'm stuck in the same spot as you. It will be 4 weeks since my 2nd cutting this Saturday, but due to lack of rain my grass is nowhere near ready. I was wandering around out there last night and the Coastal looks green and healthy... just stunted. Maybe 10 inches tall in most places. The good news is that the weeds aren't hitting me too bad. I guess they are hurtin' for water too, and the Coastal is at least tall enough to shade them out.

They are saying some chance of rain on Sunday, I've got my little rain dance goin'.

Chet.

 

[ddivinia]

Darin,

I'm stuck in the same spot as you. It will be 4 weeks since my 2nd cutting this Saturday, but due to lack of rain my grass is nowhere near ready. I was wandering around out there last night and the Coastal looks green and healthy... just stunted. Maybe 10 inches tall in most places. The good news is that the weeds aren't hitting me too bad. I guess they are hurtin' for water too, and the Coastal is at least tall enough to shade them out.

They are saying some chance of rain on Sunday, I've got my little rain dance goin'.

Chet.

I am sitting at 2 weeks on my grass right now. I am debating do some weed wiping. I am not sure they are tall enough yet, I might wait another week.

D.

 

[WTA]

I got a lot of advice from local professors that do research on different Bermuda varieties here and since I have been following their plan, my yields have gone through the roof.

First bermuda needs a lot of rain! SInce I've been keeping track of it, if I didn't get at least 4 inches of rain in a month then I would irrigate it up to at least 6 inches. My well water just doesn't work as good as rain for some reason. If we get over that 4 inches of rain mark during the first three weeks of the month then I can expect the grass to be knee high at least. Sometimes up to my waist. During dry months it won't even get past 6 inches and just goes to seed right off. We keep the sprinklers going round the clock to prevent that in dry times.

Deep waterings are better than shallow ones. I usually put out 2-3 inches at a time with the big sprinklers or flood irrigate it.

Fertilizer needs to be within a few days after you get your bales off the ground every month. Your yields will show you the difference if you skip a month. Trust me. I skipped our fertilizing for the first cutting this year and got 25 bales off my field. SQUARE bales! I'm used to getting between 400 and 500.

Your soil samples may say different for your area but mostly what bermuda needs is nitrogen and that's it for the monthly application. I do a micronutrient package in the fall but other than that I do 60 pounds per acre of nitrogen and water it in as fast as I can. DO NOT use more unless you are planning to have your hay tested. I don't care what anyone tells you more than that and nitrate levels are most likely to be into the toxic levels and you can find yourself in a lot of trouble. Plus it's just a waste.

I grow a mix of giant bermuda and common bermuda. My field is only 7 acres and I have come to expect 400 to 500 bales every 28 days off it. Before I started following the advice of these doctors here I was lucky to get 200. My plant analysis has always come out as high as it gets and perfectly safe for all types of animals too. I can't say the same for some of the coastal I've had tested from the feed stores around here.

My highest yield yet was 700 bales off the 7 acres. We got almost 15 inches of rain that month and when I cut it at 28 days there was still mud out in the field. It started raining again just as we put the last bale in the barn. I got lucky. Rain makes all the difference in the world. Too bad it's not that common around here.