Hay field full of Fox Tail

[Little General]

The farmer that used to hay my 16 acres passed last year and I let his son cut the hay last spring. The day after he baled in June a fertilizer truck came and sprayed liquid nitrogen on my field and my fescue kind of went to crap and the foxtail has nearly taken over. The locals say it just filler for the cows. All I know is my house sits in the middle of a field that looks terrible. I took my sickle mower last week and held it up high enough to cut the seed heads off hoping they didn't have time to mature. Maybe I will get another cut in late Oct if we get some rain. I'm pretty sure the cold will kill the foxtail and I guess next spring I need to spray the fields with Pre-M to prevent a new crop of foxtail next summer. Or , do I let it go and cut hay next June and then spray roundup on the entire property a few times and reseed with quality hay seed next fall. By the way, the son has fallen ill and may not even do any more hay cutting. I just bought a new Kubota M7060 and my neighbor said I could use his hay equipment if I wanted to try cutting it myself or he would do it all for some of the hay. Usually we get about 80 round bales 2 times a year. These weeds just piss me off.

 

[dieselscout80]

Foxtail is a annual grass if you keep it from going to seed it will die out, but it will take a while to get rid of it completely.

In our case the place next to us has Foxtail too and don’t manage it to get rid of it.

I’d like to find a chemical to treat foxtail, but I haven’t found anything that doesn’t kill all grass.

What’s Pre-M?

 

[Little General]

Premergent Herbicide. Like fertilizer with crabgrass preventer included in the bag. I already spray 2 acres of Bermuda / zosia lawn to keep the weed seeds from germinating I guess 16 more acres is doable.

 

[dieselscout80]

Premergent Herbicide. Like fertilizer with crabgrass preventer included in the bag. I already spray 2 acres of Bermuda / zosia lawn to keep the weed seeds from germinating I guess 16 more acres is doable.

What I find in those products are only rated for lawns not pastures/hay. Another issue is these products are cost prohibitive in larger acreages.

Do you know of a product rated for pastures and hay rather than just for lawns.

 

[5030]

Chop t and call it good.

 

[D2Cat]

A few years ago I had just bought a different baler, and the field across from the farm had foxtail about 18" tall. The owner was getting ready to spray it when I called him asking if I could cut some and bale it to test this baler. I made about 40 bales. The cows preferred that hay over anything else I fed them! It was cut at just the right stage.

Let someone bale it.

 

[Little General]

So maybe a good plan is to top off seed heads or tail bloomy thingys and let it go until haying time. Foxtail is a grass and it痴 too close to the fescue family to spray it out without killing the good grass.

 

[ddbackhoe]

The farmer that used to hay my 16 acres passed last year and I let his son cut the hay last spring. The day after he baled in June a fertilizer truck came and sprayed liquid nitrogen on my field and my fescue kind of went to crap and the foxtail has nearly taken over. The locals say it just filler for the cows. All I know is my house sits in the middle of a field that looks terrible. I took my sickle mower last week and held it up high enough to cut the seed heads off hoping they didn't have time to mature. Maybe I will get another cut in late Oct if we get some rain. I'm pretty sure the cold will kill the foxtail and I guess next spring I need to spray the fields with Pre-M to prevent a new crop of foxtail next summer. Or , do I let it go and cut hay next June and then spray roundup on the entire property a few times and reseed with quality hay seed next fall. By the way, the son has fallen ill and may not even do any more hay cutting. I just bought a new Kubota M7060 and my neighbor said I could use his hay equipment if I wanted to try cutting it myself or he would do it all for some of the hay. Usually we get about 80 round bales 2 times a year. These weeds just piss me off.

2 guesses here;
1) wrong time of year to fertilize; fescues are cool season grasses which usually means spring or fall application time.
2) Urea, calcium or chicken litter based ? Chicken litter applied at greater than 10 tons per acre can decrease fescue production. Side note, from our experiences, horses do not feed well with litter based hay.

 

[Little General]

Yes. Wrong time of year ( June ) for liquid nitrogen. Plus the guys hydraulic pump broke and he lost all his oil down my gravel driveway. Still looks like crap...but weed free.

 

[powerscol]

Just don't feed or let horses grease in the stuff - big vet bill. Believe it or not I take a shovel and dig every clump that shows up on my place, and even hop the fence to get it on my neighbors. If the ground is wet it pulls up easily.