Growing hay

[MikePA]

Turns out I packed the camera afterall!

It's interesting to see what is considered hay in different parts of the country. There's very little in the pictures that I'd call hay and what might be hay is way overgrown.

Timothy, orchard grass, plus a little alfalfa and clover is what I pay for and it gets harvested when it's still green, not brown. Hay is a crop just like corn, soybeans, etc., and not just anything that grows in a pasture. I'd have someone round bale the field and sell it as cattle/cow feed.

 

[Duffster]

Hay is a crop just like corn, soybeans, etc., and not just anything that grows in a pasture. .

Not true Mike.

While most of us would agree with you to a certain degree, hay is any plant material dried and made for feed.

The OP's hay is less than ideal but will certainly beat the heck out of snowballs come winter.

hay (h)
n.
1. Grass or other plants, such as clover or alfalfa, cut and dried for fodder

 

[MikePA]

I would not pay $3 or $4 for bales of what was in that pasture nor would I buy hay from anyone who didn't treat it like a crop. It probably has very little nutritional value and horses would only eat it as a last resort, i.e., eat it or starve.

No offense but perhaps 'hay' has a different meaning to horse owners.

 

[tallyho8]

I wouldn't give that hay to my horses if you gave it to me for free. But it would be good enough for cattle though it wouldn't sell for a very good price.

 

[Duffster]

You gotta love horse owners.

 

[TUG HILL ADDICT]

It's interesting to see what is considered hay in different parts of the country. There's very little in the pictures that I'd call hay and what might be hay is way overgrown.

Timothy, orchard grass, plus a little alfalfa and clover is what I pay for and it gets harvested when it's still green, not brown. Hay is a crop just like corn, soybeans, etc., and not just anything that grows in a pasture. I'd have someone round bale the field and sell it as cattle/cow feed.

Best post on this thread I agree completely.

 

[TUG HILL ADDICT]

Not true Mike.

While most of us would agree with you to a certain degree, hay is any plant material dried and made for feed.

The OP's hay is less than ideal but will certainly beat the heck out of snowballs come winter.

hay (h)
n.
1. Grass or other plants, such as clover or alfalfa, cut and dried for fodder

In reference to the statement in bold are you kidding me?

 

[Duffster]

In reference to the statement in bold are you kidding me?

Does it look like I was kidding?

I am not sure what was so hard to understand.

 

[rtimgray]

I can tell you guys from my experience that horse owners vs. cattle owners are very different in their selection of hay. My cows will eat pretty much anything that we put out for them. Now I won't argue that there are definately varying degrees of quality of hay, and I know that my cows have preferred clover and millet hay to the normal fescue/orchard grass and sagebrush/weeds that we do. However, I'm alot more inline with the "It beats snowballs" camp.

We had horses for years and years and years (and still have a couple now). Old Ebenezer (Tennessee Walker) only lived to be 21 eating old grass hay. Think how old he would have been if we had fed him good hay! Of course, I'm a bad horse owner because I keep them running with the cows and contained with barb wire fences!

Good luck and take care.

 

[riptides]

You harvest, you test for "quality", includes "looks", "smell", nutrients, chemical and moisture contents. You don't test on occassion, you don't know what you have.