Hows your Hay

[oldmanriver]

My wife and I spread fret and seed clover orchard grass les and a few other about a mouth ago on 3 arces and we got nothing . i went back today and cheched the old hay field (about 25 acres ) well the clover there has gone wild we have not seeded clover in that field in over 20 years but the whole field is covered in it . what gives ??

[willow_girl]

It seems clover is going crazy this year! My flowerbeds are chocked to the gills with it. Well, the bees should be happy, anyway!

[Bearfootfarm]

what gives ??

About half of all clover is "hard seed" , which means it won't germinate for a year or more.

It also spreads from rhizomes, so once a plant starts to grow, it sends out runners underground to make new ones.

It dies back in Winter, but the roots can keep spreading underground, and take off when it warms up in Spring.

Your other plantings may come up in time.

[oldmanriver]

other farmers here are saying the same thing neer seen a year where clover has grown so much so fast must be the weather these are old time farmers

[springvalley]

so your point is? Clover is good hay, if you get it up right. The grass you seeded will take a bit more than a month to really show up. Don`t give up yet it may take awhile longer than a month to show up. Good luck and happy haying, I cut some today. >Thanks Marc

[Joshie]

What's wrong with clover? We have about 10 acres in grass hay. The horses love the fact that there's a lot of clover in it. Yummy. They're thriving.

[Bearfootfarm]

What's wrong with clover?

Nothing is really "wrong " with it.
It CAN cause bloating, and some types don't really grow tall enough for cutting hay, but it makes wonderful pasture in the right proportion with grasses

[oldmanriver]

i did not mean there was anything wrong with the clover it makes for good hay . better to square bale it the post was about how much clover has come up this year in this area in places where there has beed no clover seed spread in over 20 years . Just kinda weird thats all .

[Wisconsin Ann]

cold wet weather can reduce things like timothy and alfalfa. It prompts the clover to come out in droves. Gives it more of a foothold. Then, during a hotter or dryer summer, the other grasses will take over again.

Last summer was nasty hard on lots of fields.

Hay up here is wonderful tho, I must say. We had an early spring, and no killing frosts. Now, after a wet week, it's promising quite warm and sunny this week.

[Welshmom]

I've got quite a bit of red clover coming up in my hay fields, too. Some very thick, 100% clover stands. I've heard it's hard to get clover dry. Got a guy coming out to custom cut and bale this weekend. How should I deal with the clover? Just hope it dries in the same time as the rest of the alfalfa hay?

Many years ago, I bought some clover hay at an old farm auction. It was actually black in color. But my cows went through it like it was candy, and no problems with it. I heard a guy say clover hay turns black naturally. Anyone know if that'strue or not?

[Jalopy]

Welshmom--Yes it is treu that clover turns dark naturally.
One reason clover is hard to manage as hay is that it can go from being just a little to "tough" or moist, to crumbly dry in a couple hours on a sunny dry day. So while you wait for it to get dry enough to bale to start, by the time you get done with the field it will be crumbly dry and you loose a lot of the leaves and thus the nutrients compared to the first part of the field. However if it is mixed in with grasses such as timothy and orchard grass if you bale it (the clover) a tad bit damp and the grasses dry the moisture can migrate among the hay varieties and you keep more clover leaves and thus more nutrition.
One caution if you are talking by chance of the (tall) yellow clover it has a nutrient that will cause the blood to thin so if you are feeding it to animals that will have surgery or are prone to injury they can bleed to death from a minor injury. This plant is distinctive from red or dutch clovers but worth mentioning for those that are buying clover hay.

[Welshmom]

Thanks, Jalopy, that was very good info!
I am sure this is some kind of red clover, most likely medium red, planted by a neighbor last year without telling us. A different neighbor is coming over today to cut the field for hay. There are some thick, pure stands of clover in the field, so now I'll know better what to expect. Sounds like we may lose some in the process, but that's not as bad as not cutting it at all.