Haying question

[Mark T]

With all the rain this year, I've been very slow to get fields mowed. I am now on the last field but it is so grown up in thick stemmed weeds that it gums up my sickle bar. I mowed for four hours yesterday, but because I had to keep getting down to untrip the bar, I maybe cut an acre of ground. No joke.

There are thirty some acres in this plot - unfertilized and weedy as all get out, but I figure that it is probably good for cow hay, which will let me sell the good stuff to the horse people. Since it hasn't been cut this year there is high volume. I'd sure like to get it baled but that's moot if my equipment can't cut it.

I think I'll end up bushhogging it to set back the weeds so I can cut next spring, but I was wondering if it would be worth it to rake after bushhogging and see if I could bale some. I have heard some people say that you can make hay that way, but then others say it is not use. What say you?

[uncle Will in In.]

If you take the side shield off the right side of the bushhog, it will cut it without chopping it so fine. If it gets chopped up too fine, it's hard to bale it and get the bales to stay together. It isn't going to amount to much for feed, but hungry cows would pick through it and get some good out of it. It would make good bedding. Your sicle bar has some issues to be corrected or it would mow right throught tall weeds.
If you mow with the bush hog as I suggested, go around the field so the open side of the mower is next to where you mowed the last round. <>UNK

[Ross]

In alfalfa it will blow off the leaves in weedy native grass the additional breakage will help it dry. Weeds are very hard to get dry. We've baled up bush hogged hay it was as Uncle Will sez (as usual) tricky to bale and handle. If that side shield will come off it might be better

[sammyd]

Why would you assume old overgrown hay is good for cows? Thick stemmy carp this old is worthless for eating.
Brush hog it and hope everything works out next year.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by Mark T

With all the rain this year, I've been very slow to get fields mowed. I am now on the last field but it is so grown up in thick stemmed weeds that it gums up my sickle bar. I mowed for four hours yesterday, but because I had to keep getting down to untrip the bar, I maybe cut an acre of ground. No joke.

There are thirty some acres in this plot - unfertilized and weedy as all get out, but I figure that it is probably good for cow hay, which will let me sell the good stuff to the horse people. Since it hasn't been cut this year there is high volume. I'd sure like to get it baled but that's moot if my equipment can't cut it.

I think I'll end up bushhogging it to set back the weeds so I can cut next spring, but I was wondering if it would be worth it to rake after bushhogging and see if I could bale some. I have heard some people say that you can make hay that way, but then others say it is not use. What say you?

I would look into the mower a bit closer, find out for sure what is causing the clogging. I thought mine was plugging coz the hay was too thick, upon closer examination it was a combination of things, a new set of sections helped a lot, but some adjustments to get the bar up above the crawdad towers helped more, then I extended the stroke on the crankshaft to extend the "throw" a bit over center of the guards each direction and that old mower eats the thickest of weeds, grass and jungle.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by sammyd

Why would you assume old overgrown hay is good for cows? Thick stemmy carp this old is worthless for eating.
Brush hog it and hope everything works out next year.

Hmmm, Please dont tell my cows about this, they think its pretty good stuff when they are looking across a snow covered pasture.

[sammyd]

I guess it's the WI dairy mindset.

[glenn amolenaar]

Back in the 80's I was working with a couple of brothers farmed all their lives, they sent me out to a 40 acre field, similar to op's description. I questioned it as a hay field. That hay was devoured by the cattle. So I would go for it in fact I'm just putting the same stuff up at this time.
Glenn

[Ross]

I do agree with Sammy that weedy hay is poor cow food. Sheep eat it and use it better. Best thing I ever did was research feeding for dairy production and (I forget who) somebody did assure me that feeding for milk production would give me my best lambs or claves. They were right. I have a cow milking once a day with her calf getting the balance, and you can really see the difference in production as the pasture thins out. Its been a help in rotating my sheep onto better grazing. Less milk (and a look at the pasture) means its time to shift to a new growth paddock.

[haypoint]

Cattle will eat sawdust, if hungry enough.
I've seen dairy farmers sell their poorer quality hay as "horse hay", figuring horses don't need the higher protein of their mostly alfalfa hay. I've seen folks feed rain damaged hay to their sheep, since they seem to like it. People feed weed hay to goats because goats eat anything. Then there are those that want to feed over-mature weeds to their cows.

Often times you can get away with few ill effects. Just don't expect to see much growth or milk production.


Seems you could get through the weeds by slowing down and keeping the PTO up to speed.

Could you be using a ground drive mower? They are simple, rugged machines. Their shortcomming is the lack of a way to speed up in heavy crop.


Lots of adjustments on a mower. Is it operating level? Is the bar advanced so when cutting it is straight or a bit ahead of the mower? As mentioned above, are the sections properly registered? They have to move from the center of one guard to the center of the next.
If they don't quite go far enough one way and too far the other, it will plug in heavy crop.

When you let one weed go to seed you fight it for the next ten years.

Can't make brush hogged weeds into hay. Once it has gone to seed, what's the use in brushing it? Around here, we'd burn the field.

[wy_white_wolf]

....Around here, we'd burn the field.

My thoughts too. Let it be and burn it off next Feb. or March and then frost seed it.

[farmgal]

Discbine. ask a nieghbor to run a discbine through it for you.
good luck.