Who's ready to make hay?

It's looking like it will be right on time (around Memorial Day) or perhaps a week early here.

And I'm scrambling trying to find someone to do mine this year! The guy who cut and baled for me last year acquired another field of his own, so I found out last week he will not have time to do mine

Trying to get ahold of the local farmers right now is near impossible; they are all out plowing and planting their fields.

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Kris
http://thislittleplacehere.blogspot.com/

The weather here has been very wet and unseasonably cold...
If the weather doesn't get back to normal, do not know if we will be able to hay at the end of June or not.
Can only keep my fingers crossed.

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Shari

What would be the point of having hay with poor nutritional value? Why not cut that hay at its peak nutritional value instead of way past it? An animal eating hay does not mean that the hay was nutritious just means the animal was hungry. Hay with little nutrition to me is crap. Hay with mold throughout is crap to me. Alfala hay that is as stemmy as straw and leaf shattered so its a powder and falls to the ground and wasted is crap to me.

We were taught that you wait until 50% of the grass has seed heads. But not mature seed heads. So as soon as they start making heads, we get the equipment ready. Well, no. As soon as the snow melts, my hubby it out there dreamily staring at the haybine. But I digress. There are nutrients, vitamins & such in the seed heads that you want. You just don't want it to mature to the point of straw! But, when you're waiting on the weather, sometimes you don't have much of a choice!

And like FarmBoyBill said, you want it as high as it can get before going to seed. WHen we only had goats, we just did one cutting a year. Now that we have a little of everything, hubby wants to squeeze 3 in!

I'm already making appointments for the chiropractor & accupuncturist!! I think I'm gonna need it!

Usually cows don't use all the nutritional benefit from any thing they eat. So a lower nutritional food is ok as long as it is not too low. That is why many farmers feed grain to cows sometimes.

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God must have loved stupid people because he made so many of them.

We cut when the alfalfa field is about 3/4 budded.
I am green chopping some alfalfa/grass in a field that will be plowed next week and it is almost knee high.
A lot of folks are predicting an early hay season around here....

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

We have some to bale this afternoon. We have been short on rain, not having but about 3/4 inch in the last 5 weeks. Everything is dry and the clay is cracking open where you can put your fingers down in it. Grass is holding out, but not a lot of leaf yet. I went ahead and started cutting so that it doesn't all come in at once. My wife and I do all the hay work, though if my dad is feeling ok he will help some. You can't find anyone willing to help with square bales, which is why most farmers have gone to rounds, though from a selling standpoint square bales bring a better profit. Together we got up 5,000 square bales last year and are expecting more this year as we are cutting about 25 acres more than last year.

The reason most farmers wait until seedheads are coming out to cut is that with the first cutting it takes that long for the blades to grow long enough to bale, cut it too soon and all the leaves will just fall through and you'll lose them. We also set aside hay that has 'gone to seed' and use it in winter to thicken the stands in our pastures, by feeding that hay in bare or thin places the seed will fall out as the cows are eating it and it will germinate in spring making a thicker stand. If you cut off the first cut then the next cutting will be primarily leaf, that's the best hay, if you get the rainfall.

A pic of our place...the clover is very thick...