How to mow Tifton 9?

[rgood]

Guys I planted a horse pasture of Tifton9 in March in the FL panhandle - It is doing pretty well - Some areas are waist high - A few patchy areas are only a couple inches high - I've mowed some areas in the past fairly short for weed control.

However, now we are later in the year/August and I want to mow it to Thicken/stimulate it. However, I plan to put horses on it the end of September and I don't want to lose too much of the growth as I have no guarantee on the rain situation.

The question is, how much do I need to cut to gain the thickening without risking too much the loss of the value of the grass?

 

[Mike120]

Typically horses don't like high grass, so I would go ahead and mow it. I hate to see the waste though, so round baling might be a better option. I don't know anything about Tifton 9 however, (other than what I've read here on TBN) and I'm very interested in how horses do with it. I use a Tifton 85 field for horse hay and I've got a couple of bermuda/bahia fields that I use for cow hay. I'm considering converting one next spring to Tifton 9.

 

[rgood]

Can I get by with just mowing the top 4" off?