1st cutting hay finished

[TwinWillows]

We beat the weather & got our hay done this past weekend. 750 small squares off 12ac. Most done on Sat but it was overcast & some of the field was not drying well so we had to finish it Sunday afternoon.

It was sure nice to get it done then as we just finished before it started raining Sunday night & all morning Monday - we ended up w/over 1.5". The hay field is already greening up

 

[WTA]

That's good news. I'm glad you lucked out on the rain. Almost every cutting here last year was followed by rain storms within hours after we got it all in the barn.
This year I think it's mostly wishful thinking on the part of the weather men forecasting the rain. We've had 30-40 % chances of rain all week so not many people here have been cutting yet. The one big alfalfa field I did see cut got rained on and they still sold it to the feed store. They are selling it for 10.50 a bale too like nothing is wrong with it. We're going to wait another week and see how the weather looks on the first before cutting.

 

[flusher]

We beat the weather & got our hay done this past weekend. 750 small squares off 12ac. Most done on Sat but it was overcast & some of the field was not drying well so we had to finish it Sunday afternoon.

It was sure nice to get it done then as we just finished before it started raining Sunday night & all morning Monday - we ended up w/over 1.5". The hay field is already greening up

That's about 1.5 tons per acre (assuming 50 lb bales). Not bad for (I assume) dry land farming.

My neighbor got about 0.5 ton per acre (non-irrigated). We haven't had measurable rain here since 28 Feb.

What did you plant?

 

[TwinWillows]

Flusher - you are right - no irrigation here. My hay field is primarily orchard grass w/some clover scattered throughout. As far as we can tell the previous owner had not fertilized or seeded for many years prior to our purchase in 2004. For the first year all we did was mow/bushhog it to knock back all the weeds. Then we started fertilizing first w/commercial stuff & then the last 2 yrs w/chicken litter & broadcast seeding Red Clover.

I found a good old JD drill & drilled in OG (Persist variety) last fall - w/all that work the 1st cut yield has been pretty steadily increasing. Last year no 2nd cut due to a severe drought which looks to have broken this spring (nice & wet earlier & now almost 3.5" rain over the last 3 days). Hope to have a 2nd cut this year around the 4th of July.

 

[jimg]

Ah, someone who's growing Persist. What do you think so far, is it living up to the sales claims? Im going to replant my largest field w/ it this fall.

 

[TwinWillows]

So far I'm liking it. I drilled (about 18#/ac) it in last fall in late Sept (the UKY recommended window is 1 Sept to 15 Oct). We had a nice gentle shower not long after I drilled it in & had visible grass w/in 10 days & about 3" going into the winter. It came up nice this spring & I think contributed to a better hay yield in the areas drilled. After cutting hay you can really see where it was drilled as it's much greener than what's between.

I'm going to drill in some more this fall in the rest of my hay field.

Where are you located? I ask because Persist, from what I read, was generally engineered for the KY, TN regions.

 

[jimg]

Thanx for the reply! Glad youre liking it so far. Did you fertilize this spring and if so how much N/ac did you put down?

I going to replant right at the beginning of Sept. so I have no first hand experience w/ Persist just yet. My seed distributor recommended a rate of 25#/ac which I think Ill follow.

Im in E TN between Knoxville & Chattanooga.

 

[flusher]

Flusher - you are right - no irrigation here. My hay field is primarily orchard grass w/some clover scattered throughout. As far as we can tell the previous owner had not fertilized or seeded for many years prior to our purchase in 2004. For the first year all we did was mow/bushhog it to knock back all the weeds. Then we started fertilizing first w/commercial stuff & then the last 2 yrs w/chicken litter & broadcast seeding Red Clover.

I found a good old JD drill & drilled in OG (Persist variety) last fall - w/all that work the 1st cut yield has been pretty steadily increasing. Last year no 2nd cut due to a severe drought which looks to have broken this spring (nice & wet earlier & now almost 3.5" rain over the last 3 days). Hope to have a 2nd cut this year around the 4th of July.

I'm looking for a good old grain drill with grass box attachment myself. Want to plant orchardgrass/rye/clover mix in Sep. People tell me that the grass box makes the job easier with small size grass seed.

Does your JD drill have a grass box attachment?

 

[burnetma]

I got all my first cutting horse hay in over Memorial Day weekend also. Not bad for NY State. Really windy and low humidity days got the drying done quick.

 

[TwinWillows]

jimg - we fertilized w/chicken litter so it's kind of hard to answer your question abou the # of N..

As to the #/ac amount. I've found my seed distributor & chemical distributors always "recommend" application amounts greatly in excess of what my county extension agents recommend. I'm not making any accusations but the differences are enough to make me wonder if it's possible there's a conflict of interest w/their recomemndations & their need to make profits.

Flusher - no grass box on my drill, just fertilizer & the grain box. I set my grain box to a pretty low # & ran it over a known area w/a known # of seed in the box. It worked for me. YMMV.

 

[flusher]

jimg - we fertilized w/chicken litter so it's kind of hard to answer your question abou the # of N..

As to the #/ac amount. I've found my seed distributor & chemical distributors always "recommend" application amounts greatly in excess of what my county extension agents recommend. I'm not making any accusations but the differences are enough to make me wonder if it's possible there's a conflict of interest w/their recomemndations & their need to make profits.

Flusher - no grass box on my drill, just fertilizer & the grain box. I set my grain box to a pretty low # & ran it over a known area w/a known # of seed in the box. It worked for me. YMMV.

Thanks for the drill info. The drills I find for sale around here don't have the grass box attachment. Your experience gives me confidence that I can git 'er done without that feature.

 

[TwinWillows]

Flusher - the instructions for my drill said to mix the grass seed w/a carrier like sawdust if there were flowing problems. I had no flow problems w/my drill & the Orchard Grass so no sawdust for me.

Have fun drilling - I'm sure glad I did as the new seed is really growing & improving my pastures & hay field. It's neat to see those rows of green grass shooting up knowing that my old drill worked.