When to cut?

[ddivinia]

I just finished my first haying with my used gear, etc.

100 acres mixed coastal bermuda and johnson grass (going to take a while to snuff it out).

Friday - cut from 8AM to midnight (got it all done0.
Sat - let it dry and worked on equipment
Sun - started raking and bale - got 65 bales 48" * 65" wrapped
Monday - Finished - 107 bales moved them all rowed them up - equipment put up.

Ready to get some sleep.

I can already see the bermuda perking up. The next 28 days will be interesting. The grass will like the sun and I hope we get some rain. I am planning on pulling the weed wiper out in about 2 weeks to hit the johnson grass.

There sure is a lot of timing involved. I am debating breaking up my pastures into smaller tracts. I think it might end up being more work than less. This way I have a long 3-4 days every month or so instead of working every weekend on it.

D.

 

[riptides]

....So to take the original posters question one step further, if you are baling squares and you DO get rained on, are you done for as far as having horse quality hay. Or is there any chance in saving it by running the tedder over it an additional time and letting it dry and re-raking or are going to simply loose too much of the good stuff by doing that. Is it better to do that and offer it up as mulch hay to a contractor for grass seed covering or find a cow farmer to sell it to?....

Good questions, indeed.

Depends on how much rain and humidity. Based on what we had yesterday, I'd say my 20 acres just went to the cows.

Major bummer. This is two years in a row now of poor quality and bad timing on the first cut.

 

[mark.r]

The hay starts breaking down creating a dust. Some people confuse the dust with mold but the dust doesn't have the musky smell or discoloration generally associated with mold. All hay will dust eventually as it gets older and breaksdown, being rained on after it starts drying makes it start to break down faster.

Is this what you were wanting to know?

Yes, thanks!

Bryan M, this was a timely thread. With all sorts of different weather around the country and EVERYONE trying to get there product either planted or cut it is really interesting.

I went out to walk the dogs this morning an thought I heard something that sounded like a good size desiel at full tilt. I walk to the back of my property and realized that someone was cutting my neighbors field. I was bit surprised because this field has set dormant for over a year. It's a bit weedy but for the most part it looks like it has some decent grass in it . . . at least for cattle. 9/10 that is what it's going to be used for. At any rate the grass still had LOTs of dew on it as this was at 7AM and he was a good ways into it so I assume her started at around 630AM. I'll be curious to see how it dries. He was cutting with a NH TS90 and a JD275 disc mower NO conditioner. Weather from what I heard this morning in northern Virginia looks to be 70-80, not real significant chance of rain until the weekend with humidity increase towards to the end of the week. He might just do all right. I haven't seen a rake or tedder yet, but I will be paying attention over the next couple of days.

 

[mark.r]

Depends on how much rain and humidity. Based on what we had yesterday, I'd say my 20 acres just went to the cows.

Major bummer. This is two years in a row now of poor quality and bad timing on the first cut.

Hey Mike, where are located. You must be pretty close to me?

 

[riptides]

Hey Mike, where are located. You must be pretty close to me?

Just a little further south of you. Down 28, past Nokesville a few miles. I sit on the fringe of the USMC base.

 

[mark.r]

Just a little further south of you. Down 28, past Nokesville a few miles. I sit on the fringe of the USMC base.

Oh ok, not too far.

 

[BryanM]

Guys I need to back up a bit. And ask about hay itself and planting and kind of hay.

Last year I planted 3.5acres of TSC ferry Morse all purpose pasture mix. Now that it has grown up I can Identify red clover and some alfalfa and a little bit of grass and a few weeds. After what seems to be months of research I am finding out that this is probably nothing but cattle hay.? Is it true that to much clover is bad? And can I do anything to possibly thin the red clover? and add say timothy or orchard grass?

So early this month I planted another 2 acres with timothy, orchard mix with a few pounds of alfalfa. It looked to be growing after repeated rain and heat and cool and rain. okay so far so good. well I have an aprox 2cres left to plant but didnt get too it, that is right next to the field I just planted. And guess what the field that was not planted is covered in grass or something I can not tell what it is but at this point it looks exactly like the timothy/orchard mix I just planted. So now I am confused are these all weeds or grass or what? to tell you the truth the thought of cutting the first 3 acres and bailing then disking it all up and starting over has crossed my mind! planting in fall and grass with a touch of alfalfa. I am aiming for good quality hay that I can use to feed safely to my kids 4h calves. and possibly sell the rest. when I get home from work tonight I will see if I can take a few photos to show you what I have! Thanks for listening

 

[chh]

I am sitting in OK stalled by the weather again. Still working on he first cutting. Tractor problems have been driving me nuts, but hopefully I have that fixed now.(596 thread in MF forum) Many times I will gamble on the weather if I have a good string of 20% to 30% days. As my dad used to say "ya can't bale it standing". That said I despise having hay rained on. I do mainly grass hay and bermuda hay in round bales and high humidity is a fact of life in Oklahoma and everyday in may and june seems like it is a 20% or better chance of t-storms.

 

[riptides]

Guys I need to back up a bit. And ask about hay itself and planting and kind of hay.

.... So early this month I planted another 2 acres with timothy, orchard mix with a few pounds of alfalfa.... I am aiming for good quality hay that I can use to feed safely to my kids 4h calves. and possibly sell the rest....

Eh? timothy, orchard and alfalfa mix sounds like horse hay.

Yet you are looking for calf feed?

I'd go with a timothy orchard mix for starters.

 

[mark.r]

Last year I planted 3.5acres of TSC ferry Morse all purpose pasture mix. Now that it has grown up I can Identify red clover and some alfalfa and a little bit of grass and a few weeds. After what seems to be months of research I am finding out that this is probably nothing but cattle hay.?
I am aiming for good quality hay that I can use to feed safely to my kids 4h calves. and possibly sell the rest. when I get home from work tonight I will see if I can take a few photos to show you what I have! Thanks for listening

Following up on what Riptide said, isn't that what you are looking to grow . . . or because they are calves do they need something more akin to silage or high in protein like the alfalfa?