Turning Forests into Hay Fields

**highlands** · #1 10/28/08, 04:57 PM

I am considering creating a hay field so we will eventually be able to cut hay from our own farm. I've been looking online for articles on the topic of "Turning Forests into Hay Fields" but haven't found much. Any suggestions for reading? Advice?

Cheers,

Walter Jeffries
Sugar Mountain Farm LLC
Pastured Pigs in Vermont
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http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog
http://hollygraphicart.com
http://NoNAIS.org

agmantoo · #2 10/28/08, 11:52 PM

Here is some very marginal land turned into pasture. I cleared this myself with an old Cat trackloader. I know very little about farming in your area but I am familiar with the basics of establishing rolling hills that were wooded into pasture and I do know how to grow some grasses and clovers.
here you can see the changes as rain water was available
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...wground006.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...d/P1010042.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...iscpics025.jpg
This is what it looks like now
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...iscpics015.jpg

**highlands** · #3 10/29/08, 12:07 PM

Looks great. Details?

How you went about it?

How long did it take?

Have you hayed it at all? If so how much do you get per acre per year?

Cheers,

-Walter

agmantoo · #4 10/29/08, 02:37 PM

Looks great. Details?

How you went about it? I sold the timber off roughly 22 acres for a clear cut. The land was prepared and sown. I always delay harvesting new grass as it is essential to get good root establishment. It will take 3 years to get to the position shown in the last pic. The yield of the timber covered the conversion cost with a little leftover. Nothing for my labor except the satisfaction from the results. I will graze this during the Winter provided the ground does not get overly wet. We seldom get a hard freeze and the frost depth is only 6 inches. With mud, the cattle can destroy in days what it took months to obtain.

How long did it take? It took nearly 2 months to get the timber cut from the area. It was a small mechanized crew that worked on average 3 1/2 to 4 days a week. The trees were mostly hardwood with a few good loads of large pine. I hired the stumps ripped from the ground and left in place. That work was done with a large track hoe and a super skilled operator. (This was the best money I spent) He pulled every stump in 37 hours. I had already pushed, with my Cat 955, the area clear of all tree laps and burned most of them. As a guess it took me around 2 weeks to do that. It took me another 2 weeks not working full time to move the stumps into a windrow and the bury some of them. At this time I pushed the stump holes full of dirt as I went. I then for maybe 2 days I used my 100 HP tractor and a hydraulic lift drag harrow to level and to drag the roots into long piles that I later piled with the Cat into a mound to burn. Following that the ground was rather smooth and free of debris. I hired lime spread and I used my smaller tractor with a 3 point mount seed slinger and a small homemade drag to distribute seed and to cover same. The drought hit full force and I hand fed and nursed the seed that emerged and survived until late Summer 08. I overseeded again with more on farm harvested fescue seed and recently sowed some bought clover and the results is what you see in the last pic linked above.

Have you hayed it at all? If so how much do you get per acre per year? I do not make hay as I am a rotational grazer. I pasture cattle the year round.

translplant · #5 10/29/08, 09:15 PM

I know we're not allowed to curse on this site but every time I see your photos Agmantoo I have to mutter something akin to "un-bleeep-en-believable".

Seriously.

Skip · #6 10/29/08, 09:48 PM

That is too funny Transplant. I am going to show the pics to my sweetie and then head into the shrubs to start working. Agmantoo the pictures are beautiful and inspiring.

wineglassmtn · #7 10/31/08, 09:25 AM

Wow, that was a major undertaking Agmantoo, you rock. There is different ways to do it if you don't have big equipment. I cleared a couple acres for a food plot working for the DNR one year using just one backhoe and a chainsaw. Luckily I was working with a crotchety old timer that knew what he was doing. We cut all the trees at about 4 feet off the ground. Then starting on one end we pulled the short piece of tree out with a medium sized backhoe. It actually wasn't that hard with the 4 foot piece to tie onto. That gives you extra leverage when pulling and will pull out one side first and then the other side. If you cut the trees down to the stump you had better have a big hoe like was mentioned above. You can't get any leverage if you cut the tree down close to the stump. After we had everything cut and all the stumps 4 foot trees and trees pulled out of the way we smoothed the area with the backhoe filling in holes etc.... We then drug it with a an old drag and seeded it. It took great and within a year had seeded in nicely. If you are doing a big area better plan on using big equipment etc.... I would have never thought of leaving the trees with a 4 foot stump on them for leverage, but thanks to the old timer it only took us a week to get the 2 acres cleared and seeded. Good luck with your project.

wineglassmtn · #8 10/31/08, 09:25 AM

Wow, that was a major undertaking Agmantoo, you rock. There is different ways to do it if you don't have big equipment. I cleared a couple acres for a food plot working for the DNR one year using just one backhoe and a chainsaw. Luckily I was working with a crotchety old timer that knew what he was doing. We cut all the trees at about 4 feet off the ground. Then starting on one end we pulled the short piece of tree out with a medium sized backhoe. It actually wasn't that hard with the 4 foot piece to tie onto. That gives you extra leverage when pulling and will pull out one side first and then the other side. If you cut the trees down to the stump you had better have a big hoe like was mentioned above. You can't get any leverage if you cut the tree down close to the stump. After we had everything cut and all the stumps 4 foot trees and trees pulled out of the way we smoothed the area with the backhoe filling in holes etc.... We then drug it with a an old drag and seeded it. It took great and within a year had seeded in nicely. If you are doing a big area better plan on using big equipment etc.... I would have never thought of leaving the trees with a 4 foot stump on them for leverage, but thanks to the old timer it only took us a week to get the 2 acres cleared and seeded. Good luck with your project.