Hay Yield

[ddivinia]

I am planning on baling coastal bermuda near Dallas, TX. What is the range on yield for square and round bales per acre? Figure 2, maybe 3 cuttings?

Thanks,
D.

 

[HayDR]

After the first cutting you can cut coastal bermuda once a month provided you have the rainfall or irrigation. It is up to you if you want to fertilize and get 5+ cuttings. But if you just live with normal rainfall and fertilizing once a year on a good PH soil you should have 3 cuttings.

 

[redlevel]

I have a 30 acre coastal field that yields about 240 1000 lb rolls in two cuttings. That is with an initial fertilizer application of 70N-20P-70K, and another application of 60N-0P-60K between cuttings. This is a dryland field. Increased N applications and good rainfall could raise this somewhat, but this seems to be adaquate to fill my needs.

Coastal yields are directly proportional to fertilizer applications and rainfall.

Usually you can count on two good cuttings. Armyworms and late droughts make a third cutting sort of iffy. Also, coastal needs to have a good store of nutrients in the root system to survive a cold winter, and a third cutting doesn't allow the plant to pull nutrients back into the root system as well.