To top/clip or not?

   / To top/clip or not? #1  

Southernspeed

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Central Virginia
Tractor
Massey Furgeson 2850M
Another newbie question! Do you clip ( or top? not sure of proper terminology!) early in the season to promote growth or just let it grow from winter to first cutting?
Thanks for putting up with all these dumb questions!
 
   / To top/clip or not? #2  
If you are cutting with a mower that has crimping ability you just let it go but try to beat the boot stage when seed heads are formed. That reduces nutrients in the forage (leaf). If you are cutting and have no crimping setup such as a roller on the mower, topping the crop a bit will help, buys you some time, but it takes another run at the field. This only makes sense if you are harvesting early for haylage and wrapping bales for fermentation. Weather will also play a big part of your strategy as will grass / forage type and diversity of the stand. This is just a touch, lots of issues besides these.
 
   / To top/clip or not?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
If you are cutting with a mower that has crimping ability you just let it go but try to beat the boot stage when seed heads are formed. That reduces nutrients in the forage (leaf). If you are cutting and have no crimping setup such as a roller on the mower, topping the crop a bit will help, buys you some time, but it takes another run at the field. This only makes sense if you are harvesting early for haylage and wrapping bales for fermentation. Weather will also play a big part of your strategy as will grass / forage type and diversity of the stand. This is just a touch, lots of issues besides these.
Thanks, good info. What I was trying to ask, but not in the best way!, was more to do with stimulating growth early in the season by just doing a minimal cut (finish mower or brush hog) to level it out, get rid of over ambitious tufts and generally strengthen it? Maybe I'm trying to make this harder than it is though!
 
   / To top/clip or not? #4  
I'm bush hogging now (I in northern Virginia) - gives room for the grass to grow and sunlight to get to the grass. Since I'm not cutting saplings (etc) I sharpen the bush hog blade to something approaching lawn mower blade. Gives a nice cut to the grass blade - rather that beating the end of the blade off, leaving the end of the grass blade shredded and soon to turn amber.
I'm cutting to 4" to stimulate growth (grass doesn't like to be cut shorter than 3"). Reading tells me to bush hog 2 additional times a year - June and August. That there has been no demonstrated improvement over hogging more frequently. Be sure to cut before weed heads go to seed.
One final comment - I'm running my 1000 RPM gear for PTO at 1500 RPM'S, has the bush hog at 625 RPM. I'm getting a nice cut.
 
   / To top/clip or not? #5  
Another newbie question! Do you clip ( or top? not sure of proper terminology!) early in the season to promote growth or just let it grow from winter to first cutting?
Thanks for putting up with all these dumb questions!

I have never and have never seen anybody cut a hay field before they did their first cutting that they baled. Applying fertilizer is what is done to promote growth and yes, that is usually done pretty early. Few run a conditioner as your typical grass hay here doesn't really dry that much quicker with one versus just using a straight disc mower. The few guys making sorghum-sudan or alfalfa hay are the main exception here, but there are few of them. Now, that is specific to this region, your mileage may be similar or very different depending on where you are.
 
   / To top/clip or not? #6  
Thanks, good info. What I was trying to ask, but not in the best way!, was more to do with stimulating growth early in the season by just doing a minimal cut (finish mower or brush hog) to level it out, get rid of over ambitious tufts and generally strengthen it? Maybe I'm trying to make this harder than it is though!
Well I don't like saying it but maybe you are.
First jump out of the gate is saying what you are trying to grow. Like mo1 said above ,I just cut and bale soon as weeds are mature but before they make seed heads. If I'm dragging equipment over the field,I'd like to be producing income. Some years the fist cutting is fair to poor quility,some years it's more weeds than grass but someone always buys it because they don't want to spend money for quility hay. I didn't sell any this year because this area was under drought and truckers were importing hay that had been culled in other parts of the country and getting $125 per roll as fast as they could unload.
Did someone give you a reason mowing and leaving it lay accomplishes what you are after better than if it's cut and baled?
 
   / To top/clip or not?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Did someone give you a reason mowing and leaving it lay accomplishes what you are after better than if it's cut and baled?
I wasn’t suggesting cutting it when it’s ready to hay then leaving it on the ground, but cutting now that it has just started growing to strengthen it like you would a lawn.
It’s predominantly orchard grass.
Usually ( when not growing for hay, just horse pasture) I’d cut regularly to control weed and keep the grass thick for the horses (and green fertilise ) and it’s always worked well.
 
   / To top/clip or not? #8  
Another newbie question! Do you clip ( or top? not sure of proper terminology!) early in the season to promote growth or just let it grow from winter to first cutting?
Thanks for putting up with all these dumb questions!
My experience just happened a few days ago. I have Tall Fescue coming up as it is basically Spring here. I have one spot that I can't bale so I decided to mow it for a couple of reasons. Clipping it returned it to the growth mode and its almost as tall as it was a few days ago prior to clipping.

If you read up on plant cycles, clipping returns it to the growth mode. Clipping can/might reduce your production quantity. For annual crops a lot of times you need the seed pods to sprout next years crops so you let it head out and mature. Course with that, plant attributes....the reason for you growing and harvesting the plant in the first place, take a dive. Again what to do....etc. etc. etc.
 
   / To top/clip or not? #9  
I have tried it a few times and all it did was reduce my tonnage. However, I do recognize different geographical areas present different challenges.

My thinking is to run over the field as few times as possible. What little could be gained from clipping would be reversed and made worse by crown damage and soil compaction. If theres a drought, compaction just causes even faster run off.
Once it’s baled, the hay bale wont show any benefits of top clipping.
 
   / To top/clip or not? #10  
Another newbie question! Do you clip ( or top? not sure of proper terminology!) early in the season to promote growth or just let it grow from winter to first cutting?
Thanks for putting up with all these dumb questions!
It depends on what you are trying to accomplish and the stage of growth the grass is. Most of the nutrients are in the top ~ 25% of the grass because it gets the most sunlight. You'll notice that cows grazing grass without seed heads will pick off the top part of the plant. If the grass has gone to seed, you can clip the seed heads off to try to get it to stay vegitative subject to moisture availablility.
 
 
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