Subject: Haying FAQ [6.2]
Supersedes: <haying_824102101@mlfarm.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 04:15:07 GMT
Summary: Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) on growing, harvesting,
. and storing hay, for small producers and hobby farms.

Version: 6.2 <http://www.connix.com/~mlfarm/rural/haying.html>

                                 Haying FAQ
                                 ----------

                            1996 Ronald Florence

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Contents

  1. Why Grow Hay
  2. Mowing Hay
  3. Adjusting Mowers
  4. Drying Hay
  5. Gathering Hay
  6. Small Hay Fields
  7. Equipment Costs & Maintenance
  8. Making Hayfields
  9. Hays
 10. Fertilizing Hay
 11. When to Cut Hay
 12. Haying Weather
 13. Identifying Good Hay
 14. Haying Alternatives
 15. Weeds & Pests
 16. The Value of Haying
 17. Credits
 18. Copyright & Permissions

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Subject: Why Grow Hay

Why grow hay? I can pick up all I need at $2/bale in the field.

There are at least four good reasons to grow hay:

   * control over the quality of the feed you give your livestock;
   * to cut down on feed costs;
   * because you don't want your meadows and fields to revert to woods,
     jungle, or desert;
   * as a business.

Hay as a business is complicated and risky, requiring large outlays for
equipment and labor, and a steady market. When you're buying, good hay seems
scarce and expensive; when you're selling, there always seems to be a glut.
There is an Internet Hay Exchange, but the rumors about hay going for
$160+/ton always seem to apply to a different county or the year when you
reseeded your haylots and have no hay to cut.

This FAQ is for small farm and property owners who want to cut hay from
meadows and fields for their own use or for casual sale. Cutting your own
hay, either alone or in a cooperative with neighbors or a custom baler, may
not pay down the mortgage, but it lets you control the quality of the feed
you give your animals, and if you have access to fields and haying
equipment, can cut down on feed bills. Much hay, especially in the West and
South, is grown by livestock producers for their own use; if your only
source of hay is their excess production, the prices, quality, and
availability of your feed will be volatile.

When you cut and bale your own hay, you know the quantity and timing of the
fertilizer and lime that has been applied to the fields, whether trace boron
was added, the selenium level of the soil, and the palatability of the hay
your feed your animals. You know whether the hay was cut hay early for
maximum nutrition, or late for maximum yield, and whether the hay dried
properly before it was baled. Unless you take numerous test samples from
every load of hay you buy to a lab, or buy consistently from a known and
trusted supplier, it is difficult to know the quality of purchased hay to
that degree.

The economics of haying are tricky, especially if you have to clear land for
hayfields. If you already have fields that could be hayed or used in a
combined grazing/haying program, and if you own or have access to the
equipment, haying can save feed costs. Even if you don't feed livestock, in
some areas builders and landscapers pay $3/bale or more for mulch hay used
for erosion control.

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Subject: Mowing Hay

What equipment do I need to cut hay?

Traditionally, hay is cut with a sickle-bar mower. A haybine or swather,
either pulled by a tractor or a self-powered unit, combines the mower with a
reel that stands grass up for the cutter, a conditioner that crushes the
stems so the hay will dry faster, and a windrower, which can be set to leave
the cut hay in windrows or spread out. Sickle-bar mowers cut like multiple
pairs of scissors. They do a good job on grass and legumes, but are
vulnerable to stones and stumps.

A newer machine for cutting hay is the disc-mower or discbine, which cuts
with small, replaceable, free-swinging knives on whirling discs. The suction
of the spinning discs is said to stand up lodged (toppled) hay, and the
free-swinging knives are less likely to break on stones. Because the
machines are less vulnerable to clogging, you can drive over a field faster
with a disc-mower, mowing more hay in less time. Replacing a knife is a
quick job, and the knives are cheap. Disc-mowers are messy, and usually have
a rubber skirt to confine the splashing juices.

It is also possible to cut hay with a modified brush hog. If one side is
removed from the brush hog housing, the cut grass will fly out instead of
staying under the housing to be chopped by the whirling blades. Flail mowers
are sometimes used to chop hay for quicker drying. A sickle-bar or
disc-mower will do a much better job: it is difficult to keep brush hog
blades really sharp, the heavy blades hack the hay and knock off leaves, and
flail mowers produce short pieces of hay that are harder to rake and bale.

Whether you mow with a 4-foot sickle-bar or a 14-foot discbine, the mowing
pattern is almost always the same. Because the mower is offset to the right
side of the tractor, you mow clockwise in a spiral toward the center of the
field, then mow the last row around the edge of the field counter-clockwise.
Most mowers don't do a good job sweeping around a corner, so you usually
have to either back up at the corners with the mower raised, or take a big
loop around to position the mower for the next leg.

You can't do much to avoid mowing rabbits, snakes, frogs and other creatures
that hide in the unmowed hay. Dogs love to chase after mowers and haybines,
because so many small animals are scared up by the mower. Unfortunately,
long sickle bars aren't easy to stop or maneuver, and dogs sometimes aren't
smart or agile enough to stay out of the way. There are many stories of dogs
losing legs to mowers.

Before haybines (mower-conditioners), some farmers used a separate
conditioner that was run over the field to crush stems and windrow the hay
after it was mowed. They will still work, and are often available at
auctions, but a separate conditioner means another trip over the field with
the tractor, which is time and fuel. Most grass hays dry well without
conditioning. In some areas, like the Intermountain West, horsemen prefer
hay that has not been conditioned because poisonous blister beetles may be
crushed into the hay.

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Subject: Adjusting Mowers

My mower seems to miss more hay than it cuts. How do I adjust and maintain
it?

Sickle bar mowers can be fussy machines. The usual problems of missed spots
and clumping are typically caused by broken or dull knives, gaps between the
knives and the guards, misalignment of the bar or the guards, or the wrong
combination of tractor and PTO speed.

Dull knives can be sharpened, except for the serrated knives, but it is
often easier to replace them. Some newer mowers have knives bolted to the
cutter bar. Most older mowers have the knives riveted on. To remove a
riveted knife, rest the edge of the bar vertically on the top of an anvil
(in the field the front weight support of a tractor works well) and strike
the exposed back edge of the knife to shear off the rivets. You may need a
tap with a punch to drive the stumps of the rivets out of the bar. To rivet
on a new blade, make sure the rivets are the correct diameter and length
(many mowers use two sizes of rivets, for attachments with and without the
blade guides). Rest the flush head of the rivet on the anvil top, align the
knife, and pound the exposed rivet end flat. It takes more than a few taps
to get it right; don't try to set it with the-mother-of-all-hammer-blows.

When the bar is in place, the bottoms of the knives should rest flush on the
guards. If they don't, you can adjust the guards and the bar holders, and
straighten bent guard fingers, with taps of a hammer. Make sure all of the
bolts that hold the guards are tight. Short-fingered guards clog less, but
offer little protection against stones.

The outboard end of the cutter bar with the grassboard should be ahead of
the inboard end when the tractor is standing still. Drag when you are mowing
will bring the bar to a position perpendicular to the direction of travel.
The cutting angle of the knives depends on the terrain. On very smooth,
level land you can use an aggressive cutting angle. Tilt the bar back on
rougher terrain.

There is no one tractor and PTO speed combination that works for all
combinations of forage and terrain. You need to be moving fast enough for
the forage to topple backwards and for the grassboard to clear a path for
your wheel on the next row. In damp grass you may need a slower tractor
speed and faster PTO; sparse, dry grass will allow faster tractor speeds.

Moisture in the grass lubricates the mower in use. At the beginning and end
of the haying season, many farmers like to pour a quart of used motor oil
onto the bar for lubrication and rust protection.

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Subject: Drying Hay

What equipment do I need to dry hay? What's the difference between a tedder
and a rake? How do I use a hayrake?

Drying hay is a race against the weather. A light cutting of grass hay will
dry in one good hot day. In 100 degree weather with 40% humidity, even a
heavy cutting of 3 tons/acre will dry in one day. In the hot, arrid
southwest, hay is sometimes mowed one night and baled the next night. For
most areas, those are rare conditions, and heavy cuttings, especially of
legumes like alfalfa and clover, are hard to dry when the days are damp,
cool, or short.

Some farmers spray special drying chemicals on their alfalfa as they mow it.
In areas with perpetual overcast skies, hay is sometimes dried on temporary
tripods made of three limbs laced together. There are English farmers who
insist that tripod hay is the only really good hay, and in damp counties
they're probably right. On Norwegian hill farms, hay used to be dried on
staked wires. Fans and slatted floors or screened tunnels through the mow
can also be used to dry hay that has been baled or gathered early. Harold
Herron of Live Oak, Florida has developed a 50 foot long, 18,000 pound
machine that uses 210 magnetron units similar to those used in a common
microwave oven to enable a forage producer to cut, dry and bale in a single
day; he is taking orders at an initial price of $150,000 per unit.
Chemicals, fans, tripods, and drying machines aside, most farmers rely on
tedders and rakes to aide the drying of their hay.

A tedder turns hay to expose green surfaces and speed up the drying. The
early tedders were ground driven, and gently flipped the hay; newer tedders
are driven off the tractor PTO, and do a more violent job of airing and
scattering hay. Too much tedding, especially late in the drying, can knock
the leaves off alfalfa and clover, losing much of the nutritional content of
the hay. If you're buying a tedder, try to get one that matches the width of
the windrows left by your mower. A fourteen-foot wide tedder will take in
two windrows from a seven-foot mower. If hay is rained on soon after it is
cut, running over the field with a tedder will shake the water off the hay
and minimize the damage.

If you are blessed with spells of dry weather, and if you take light
cuttings of hay from unfertilized or moderately fertilized fields, you may
not need a tedder. You still need a hayrake. Before hay is baled, it needs
to be raked into windrows that the baler can follow. The most common rakes
are ground-driven pinwheels or side-delivery rakes. Pinwheel rakes do a
terrific job on long straight rows, but are less effective on corners. Hay
is normally raked twice. On the first run, you rake the hay `out,' which
with most rakes means driving the field in a clockwise spiral. The tractor
and rake end up in the middle of the field. A few hours or even a day later,
you follow the spiral back out, driving in the opposite direction so the hay
is raked `in'. The final raking leaves room for the baler and tractor
outside the last row.

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Subject: Gathering Hay

How do I gather the hay? Is there an alternative to baling?

Before balers, hay was routinely gathered loose, pitched onto a wagon or an
elevator (conveyor), and stored loose in the mow (loft) of a barn. The loose
hay would continue to dry in the mow, and was fed out by pitching it down to
the animals below. Loose hay is a labor-intensive process and takes up a lot
of space in the mow. It still works, and there are old-timers and books that
can describe how to build a hay-lift, using pulleys, a two-pronged fork and
retractable arms to lift an entire wagon-load of hay up into the loft, where
a trip rope dumps it. It takes a tractor or a good team to pull the load up.

You can also stack hay in the fields, in the traditional haystacks of Swiss
hill farms and fairy tales, or the enormous haystacks of Montana range
country. The bigger the volume of the haystack, the better the hay inside
keeps. Haystacks look great, but they're hard to build, the hay is rarely
high quality, and tossing a bale in the feeder is probably easier than
building a fence around the stack and feeding animals with a pitchfork.
Range haystacks are built with custom-fabricated beaver-slides; huge
tractors with grabbers feed out the hay.

Most small farms today forsake the picturesque haystacks for square balers.
The baler can be adjusted so bales weigh anywhere from 35-60 pounds for a
`two-string' bale or 80-180 pounds for the big `three-wire' bales favored in
California. Wire bales can hold more hay, and wire never rots, but if you
are buying a baler remember that wire is more expensive than twine, and the
spools of wire weigh close to 90 lbs. and feel even heavier late in the day
when a storm threatens and you have to get the hay baled.

With the smaller bales, you can let the bales drop on the field and go
around later to pick them up; or bale with a chute behind the baler, so that
one or two people on a following wagon can build a compact load of 120-200
bales without bending over to pick up bales; or use a kicker behind the
baler to toss the bales into a wagon with sides and a back. A kicker and
special wagons make square baling a one-person operation, but the equipment
is expensive, and getting the wagon to fill well may require soft, shaggy
bales.

If you drop bales in the field, you can pick them up with two- or
three-person crews and pickup trucks, low trailers that let you stack from
the ground, or sleds low enough to let you sling the bales on with hay
hooks. There are also automatic bale stackers that will pick up ~160 small
bales and deliver them to your barn in a single operation. Look hard enough
at auctions and you may be able to find an old bale-picker that picks up
bales onto a pickup-mounted elevator.

At the barn, you will probably want an elevator (conveyor) to carry bales up
to the mow from your wagons or truck. Some are driven by electric motors,
others by the PTO of a tractor. For a large mow, a second elevator rigged
horizontally can be a big labor saver. Some farms use a permanently
installed horizontal conveyor near the peak of the mow; as the bales move
along the elevator, an adjustable diagonal knocks them off into an empty
section of the mow. Rigged well, elevators can make unloading a wagon a
one-man job. When there is a lot of hay to be brought in and threatening
weather, even a mechanized setup is no substitute for lots of hands and an
extra tractor or big pickup (be careful with an import or 1/2 ton pickup on
loaded hay wagons) to haul wagons back and forth from the baler to the barn.

You will find no end of theories about the right way to stack bales in a
mow. Whatever pattern you use, it is a good idea to stack bales on their
sides, with the stems of the cut hay running up-and-down, which allows
maximum convection ventilation. The greener the hay, the looser it should be
packed, to allow cooling and curing without danger of mildew or combustion.
If you are stacking bales on the ground, you can cut down on losses by using
pallets under the first row, or at least a layer of dry straw.

Round bales are a one-person operation. Years ago there were round balers
that produced bales of 60-100 pounds. Today, most round balers produce bales
of 600-2000 pounds. The bales are either left in the field until they are
used, sometimes covered with a machine-applied plastic sleeve and lifted off
the ground on old pallets or tires, or they can be moved to a covered
storage area with a bale spike on the bucket-loader or three-point hitch of
a tractor. Round bales are labor-saving, both in baling and feeding, but
even when the bales are stored off the ground under cover it is hard to get
the same quality hay as small square bales. Recent experiments suggest that
the cost of constructing inside storage for round bales can be amortized
quickly with the reduction in waste; an alternative, for beef cattle, is to
spray the bales with beef tallow. For animals that trample their hay, like
sheep, round bales require some thought in designing feeders.

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Subject: Small Hay Fields

What about a little meadow of less than an acre? Can I get hay off it
without a major outlay for equipment?

A small meadow can be hayed with no more equipment than a scythe, a hand
forage rake (wooden, with wood pins for teeth), and a pitchfork to gather
the loose hay on a cart, pickup, or wagon. Cutting hay with a scythe takes
skill: an old-timer can show you how to adjust the scythe and keep it sharp,
and how to cut hay without exhausting yourself. For a slightly larger
meadow, a walk-behind sickle-bar mower would do a good job of cutting hay.
Some European manufacturers make small two- and four-wheeled tractors with a
sickle bar cutter in front, rather than extending to the right, which makes
them ideal for smaller fields. French and Italian companies also produce
some excellent small sickle bars (4-6 feet), disc mowers, and small
hayrakes, like a 3pt mounted pinwheel.

If you have too much hay for a forage rake, you could gather loose hay with
a home-built buckrake on a bucket loader or three-point hitch. Books of
older farm implements can provide ideas, or you might be able to adapt an
older horse- or mule-drawn dump rake by shortening the drawbar, tinkering
with the hitch, and rigging a trip string that you can operate from the
tractor seat (unless you have a willing 12-year old you can plunk on the
rake seat to trip the rake at the end of each windrow). Northern Hydraulics
sells a miniature pinwheel rake (advertised for dethatching lawns) small
enough to pull with a lawn tractor. If you have a cooperative neighbor, you
might be able to cut and rake your meadow when he is haying his fields, and
arrange custom baling of your meadow. Most custom operators are reluctant to
harvest a small meadow, unless proximity to other haylots or some favor tips
the balance.

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Subject: Equipment Costs & Maintenance

How much is the equipment going to cost me to buy and maintain?

New haying equipment is expensive. If you're handy with tools, or buy
carefully, you don't need new equipment for occasional haying on a few
fields. Many farms have part of the equipment they need, like a tractor big
enough for a baler. A 25hp tractor can run a PTO-driven square baler. An
even smaller tractor, or in some terrain a pickup truck or jeep, can pull a
gasoline-engine baler, and many Amish farmers do well with horse-drawn
gasoline-powered balers.

If you're planning to pull wagons behind the baler, especially on hills, you
will need a more powerful and heavier tractor. A live-PTO is a good idea on
a tractor driving a PTO-powered baler. You can usually clear a clogged baler
by stepping on the clutch and letting the baler catch up, or if the clog is
too great, by backing up, but if the PTO stops when you clutch, it may take
a full-scale dismantling to clear the baler.

Used rakes, tedders, and balers are often available at auctions or at
implement dealers. You may find some odd-balls that are no longer made, like
three-point hitch side-delivery rakes and ground-driven tedders. They will
often do a good job, as long as essential spare parts, like rake teeth and
knotter parts for the baler, are available. Even if you're an experienced
mechanic, it is probably a good idea to try to get the manual with a used
baler, to try it on some loose hay before you buy, and to examine it
carefully for wear on the knotter, the flywheel bearings, and the knife. Get
the owner or another experienced user to explain the adjustments. Old balers
are often sensitive to build-up of dust, seeds, stems, and string shavings
around the knotter; stopping and cleaning it out with a whisk broom every
100 bales or so will often prevent a breakdown later. Other areas to watch
for are keeping the twine and hay knives sharp, and filing any rough edges
on twine guides that can chafe or weaken the twine. Chafed or old twine not
only produces weak bales, but is rough on some knotters.

Haybines generally require a tractor with auxiliary hydraulics, and many
sickle-bar mowers only fit a particular model of tractor because they
require some special link to the drawbar or three-point hitch to control the
raising and lowering of the cutter bar. A sickle-bar mower can be a
versatile implement for trimming fence rows and clipping pastures as well as
mowing hay. Make sure you can get replacement knives and stone guards for
the mower.

Used hay wagons (hayracks) are also available, especially if you're willing
to replace worn tires and rebuild wooden beds. It is not a good idea to save
money by putting auto tires instead of heavy-duty implement tires on a
wagon: a load of hay can weigh six tons.

Cost? You can probably find a serviceable used baler for $500 to $2500,
depending on your mechanical skills, the area of the country, and the season
when you shop the auctions and implement dealers. A used sickle-bar mower
could be as cheap as $200; new ones cost $1000 and up. A used hayrake can be
had for $500. If you hay with a friend or neighbor, you may not need even
the minimal equipment.

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Subject: Making Hayfields

What does it take to convert my overgrown lot to a hayfield?

Hard work and patience. See the Pasture FAQ for some general information on
land clearing. Once the field is clear of stones and stumps -- which may
require a bulldozer with a grubber blade or a backhoe, and hours of
stone-picking -- do a soil test and add lime as needed to bring the pH up to
whatever your planned hay crop requires. Lime migrates slowly in soil, so
adding more than 2.5 tons/acre may require a year or so of alternate crops
before the pH is at the required level. Heavy applications of lime should be
disced in; surface application initially affects only the top 1/2 inch of
soil. Once the pH is where you want it, you can either disc the field
thoroughly before seeding, or kill the existing vegetation with Round-Up (or
2,4-D or atrazine) and plant no-till.

A heavy drag behind the disc harrow will help level the field. For areas of
the country where the hayfields must be irrigated, the efficiency of
irrigation will depend on the care put into leveling the field. Large fields
may require laser leveling equipment, a theodolite, or a leveling plane. In
dry areas, steep grades may cause washouts of seed from heavy rains after
seeding.

To control weeds, it sometimes works well to plant an interim annual crop,
like buckwheat, oats, rye, or dwarf rape that you can later disc in, perhaps
with a heavy application of manure, before you seed the hay. A dense stand
of buckwheat will choke out weeds that would overwhelm a hay seeding, and
add to the tilth of your soil when you disc it in. Temporary crops like
rape, turnips, rye, or oats can provide pasture for animals or a quick
cutting of hay while they're helping get the field ready for seeding hay. In
some areas, broadleaf herbicides (2,4-D) are sprayed on young oats to
control weeds.

On a disced field, after you've applied the needed fertilizer, a Brillion or
other heavy seeder will do the best job with small seeds like alfalfa or
timothy; a drill will work well with larger seeds. If you can't borrow a
seeder, you can broadcast from a hand-carried Cyclone seeder for small seeds
(alfalfa, timothy) or a three-point-hitch fertilizer spreader for orchard
grass or oats. Increase the application rate over the seed bag
recommendation if you are broadcasting. Rolling broadcast seed will probably
provide the highest germination rate. If you don't have a roller, disc large
seeds lightly after broadcasting; a pass with a drag or branches will cover
small seeds.

For no-till seeding, you may be able to borrow the needed machine from a
local agricultural extension or soil bank office. It is important to follow
the instructions for early mowing or grazing to control weeds after no-till
seeding.

In some areas, fall seedings work well, and provide hay the next spring. In
general, planting time is site and crop specific. Talk to knowledgeable
local people, including extension or soil conservation service agents and
other farmers, to find what works in your area. Some farmers like to plant
oats as a cover drop with spring or late summer seedings. The fast-growing
oats are supposed to keep down weeds. Be sure to inoculate legume seeds to
increase the nitrogen-fixing ability of the alfalfa or clover.

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Subject: Hays

What kind of hay should I plant?

Depends on location, climate, soil, and the intended use. Some general
observations:

   * Alfalfa (Arabic for `best fodder') is a high-yielding, highly
     nutritious, and highly palatable legume hay. It requires well-drained
     soils and a neutral pH. In some climates alfalfa hay may be difficult
     to dry well without a haybine or conditioner to crush the stems, it may
     be susceptible to weevils and other pests, and for some livestock, like
     horses, alfalfa hay may be too nutritious except as a supplement.
     Alfalfa can have disease and insect problems that make it uneconomical
     to grow, especially in the South. Alfalfa fields generally have to be
     reseeded every 4-6 years; it is often grown in rotation with corn or
     other crops. The corn will probably produce a spectacular crop on a
     field that has been in alfalfa.
   * Clover hays (Red, Alsike) are highly nutritious and often highly
     palatable. They are hard to dry well and usually require fairly neutral
     pH. Clover is often planted in combination with a grass such as
     timothy, orchard grass, or bromegrass. For the first few years the
     clover will predominate; as the clovers thin out, the grasses take
     over. Ladino clover makes terrific pasture, but is low-growing and hard
     to mow. Palatability can be a problem with clover hays, because of mold
     and dust from the drying problems. There is some evidence that red
     clover retards ovulation in sheep, so it may not be a good hay to feed
     breeding ewes. Molds on red clover can cause photosensitivity and/or
     slobbering in equines. Clover, like alfalfa, does not do well in acid
     soils. Alsike clover grows in poorer soils, but should be avoided for
     equine forage.
   * Grass hay is generally grown in long-term fields. Some grasses, like
     reed canary grass, will grow in less well-drained soils, but may be
     less palatable to fussy animals. Timothy, orchard grass and bromegrass
     will turn brown and dormant in the middle of a hot dry summer. Grass
     hays generally dry faster than legumes, so they may be a better choice
     where haying weather is iffy. Some recent research suggests that with
     proper fertilization and timely cutting grass hay can yield protein
     contents as high as legume hays.
   * Oats and other annual grasses can produce high yields of nutritious
     hay. Oats may be more advisable as a rotation pasture: oats are
     susceptible to many diseases, grain hay attracts mice and rats, drying
     hay in early spring may be a problem, and baling oats can be the
     hottest, itchiest job in the world. Japanese or Hungarian millet and
     sudangrass are also seeded for quick annual hay crops. Select varieties
     of sudangrass with low prussic acid content.

Extension and soil conservation service agents can often suggest a good seed
mix for your area and soil, or you may be able to find information for your
area on the Forage Information System. Unless you have a good reason to do
otherwise, you may want to follow the lead of your neighbors. If they grow
mostly orchard grass, it may be because timothy doesn't do as well in the
area, or because local buyers aren't interested in timothy hay. Trying to
beat the odds -- alfalfa in a heavy acidic soil -- rarely works.

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Subject: Fertilizing Hay

How much should I fertilize hayfields?

Depends on what kind of hay you're growing and how high a yield you want.
Each cutting of hay robs nutrients from the soil that need to be replenished
if productivity is to be maintained. Fertilized hay is also higher in total
nutrients, and feeding your animals fertilized hay can avoid some mineral
deficiencies. A soil test from a state agricultural extension office or
university lab will tell you the exact blend of NPK and application rate to
achieve best yields on your soil, and whether you need to add lime or
micro-nutrients. If you buy your fertilizer in bulk from a blending plant,
you can get the exact mix you need, and save the extra cost and
inconvenience of paper-bagged fertilizer.

Grass hays need plenty of nitrogen. For highest yields, fertilize grass hay
twice, when growth begins (early spring in the east, late fall in
California) and again after the first cutting. Typical New England
applications for grass hay would be 60-30-40. In the South, hybrid
bermudagrass may receive 100-60-90 in the spring, then 100 lbs. of N/acre
after each of four cuttings, and 90 lbs of K/acre in July. Soil tests are
the only way to determine the optimum fertilization for your own fields;
make sure the testing lab understands what hay crop you have planted. Excess
fertilizer is a waste of money, and too much nitrogen leads to lodging --
leggy hay that lies down and is hard to mow. For `generic' hay from native
grasses you may be able to get by with no fertilizer at all: yields and
nutrition will be lower, and may continue to decline, but you probably won't
need a tedder to dry the hay, and lower yields may suit your available labor
pool and hay needs.

For legume hays (alfalfa, clover, birds-foot trefoil), you can usually get
by with one application of fertilizer per year, typically a blend like
0-40-90. Alfalfa and clover often profit from the addition of small amounts
of boron (~9 lbs/acre); because the amounts are small, the boron should be
carefully mixed into the fertilizer before spreading. Mixed hay (timothy and
alfalfa, orchard grass and clover) is usually fertilized to favor the
legume. Again, use soil tests and recommendations specific to the crop and
your area.

Manure is good for a hayfield and will cut down on fertilizer bills. If you
don't have a manure spreader, you may be able to borrow one once a year when
you clean out your barn or barnyard, or hire a farmer to spread your manure.
After the final cutting, or during a dormant period (winter in the east,
summer in California), is a good time to spread manure on a hayfield. Soil
tests immediately after you have spread manure won't be accurate.

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Subject: When to Cut Hay

When do I cut the hay? How many cuttings a year can I get?

The quality of hay, particularly the all-important protein content, is
determined in large measure by the stage of growth when the grass or legumes
are cut. For most hay, the later in the bloom you cut, the greater the
yield, but the lower the protein content and palatability. Alfalfa hay can
range from 20% protein in a late vegetative state (before bloom) to 11%
protein at the end of the bloom. Timothy can go as high as 18% protein just
before bloom to as low as 6-7% protein in late bloom hay. For mulch hay or
livestock on maintenance rations, a late cutting is fine. For
high-production dairy animals, late-term or lactating sheep, or hard-working
draft animals, you may want the highest possible protein, which means early
cut hay. Unfortunately, weather and other commitments don't always let you
cut hay at the optimum time.

In most areas of the country, grass hay can be cut twice, sometimes three
times, per year. The first cutting generally has the largest yield. Some
animals, like sheep, prefer the tender stems of second or third cutting hay.
When a haybine or conditioner is used, first cutting hay may be just as
palatable as second cutting. Alfalfa can often be cut four times, even when
it is not irrigated. The last cutting should either be after a hard frost,
or well before the first frost, so the plants have time to push nutrition
into the root system for the winter.

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Subject: Haying Weather

How do I beat the weather?

Pray, and watch the weather channel or pick up weather charts off one of the
Internet sites. In some areas, the NOAA weather broadcasts include special
haying advisories. In many parts of the country, weather systems provide
windows -- a period of 3-5 days of dry, crisp weather between two fronts.
The beginning of a dry window is the time to cut your hay. Sometimes folk
wisdom, like the feel of a coming northwester in an arthritic knee, can
predict haying weather better than the charts.

Given a choice, waiting for dry weather and cutting the hay beyond its peak
is better than the risk of getting hay rained on. Rain is not always the
ultimate disaster for hay. Little harm comes to hay that is rained on right
after it is cut, then quickly dried with a tedder. If your hay gets rained
on late in the drying cycle, either feed it out immediately, sell it to a
neighbor who can feed it out immediately, or bale it for mulch hay.

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Subject: Identifying Good Hay

How do I tell good hay?

Sending samples to a lab will give you exact protein and TDN measures.
Failing a lab, good hay smells and looks good. The best grass hay is usually
silvery green in color. Brown hay was probably cut too late or dried too
long. Green hay is too wet to store in a barn. It can be fed out
immediately, but in a barn it will rot, mildew, or possibly start a fire.
Sheep and goats find alfalfa hay more palatable if it is not too stemmy, and
especially if the stems have been crushed with a haybine or conditioner.
Good legume hay is not so dry that the leaves fall off at first touch.

The smell of good hay depends on the grasses and legumes in the mix; hay
that smells dusty, mildewy, or over-ripe is probably no good. When hay is
curing in the barn, you can and should test it by putting your hand deep
inside bales. It should generate warmth for several days after it is baled;
excessive heating is a danger signal. Ruminants on maintenance rations can
tolerate less-than-perfect hay, although dusty hay may cause respiratory
problems; equines have low tolerance for bad hay.

Before you bale hay, pick up a bunch and twist it tightly in your fingers.
If it is too dry to hold the twisted shape, it is probably too dry to be
really good hay; it may be better to bale it the following morning after a
dew. If it feels wet when you twist it, it is too wet to bale. If there are
trees around your hayfield, the hay on the outside rows may dry slower than
the inner rows. Test different rows, and if the outside rows are too wet to
bale, start baling a few rows in, then return to the outside rows after
you've baled the rest of the field.

If you are buying hay, you probably want to examine and smell samples from
inside a few bales. Check bales from different loads, or different ends of a
load. Everyone who sells hay isn't unscrupulous, but even innocent mistakes
can burn down a barn or leave your livestock sick.

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Subject: Haying Alternatives

Haying sounds too risky and too labor-intensive. Is there an alternative to
get good feed from a field or meadow?

In many areas, unpredictable weather and labor shortages make it tough to
bring in good hay, particularly in the spring. An alternative is haylage,
usually done with first-cutting alfalfa. The alfalfa is mowed, conditioned,
and windrowed by a haybine, then left in the field to dry for anywhere from
a few hours to a day. A hay-chopper (a corn chopper with a haylage head) is
then run over the field to chop and gather the partially dry hay. Stored in
a silo, lined pit or sileage bag as haylage, it makes nutritious feed.
Haylage is probably only workable if you or a nearby custom operator has the
equipment. A round baler and a bale wrapper can also be used to make baled
sileage.

Another alternative to dedicated hayfields is to combine a cutting of hay
with extensive pasturing of the fields. Many farms have too much forage in
the spring flush, followed by shortages during the dry months. If your
pastures are clear of stones and stumps, you can take a cutting of hay in
the spring, then use the fields as a pasture in the dry months. In some
areas you can cut down on hay and manure handling by setting aside a field
or two for succession grazing to extend the normal pasture season.

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Subject: Weeds & Pests

What do I do about a field that grows more weeds than useful forage? What
about pests like gophers and woodchucks?

When a stand of grass and legumes is well-fertilized, properly limed, and
cut frequently enough, the desirable grasses and legumes will crowd out most
weeds. The few weeds that persist are usually controlled by frequent mowing.
When the field has more weeds than useful forage, it may be time for
renovation.

For persistent, deep-rooted weeds like bindweed, you may need spot or broad
application of herbicides. See the Pasture FAQ for recommendations on field
weeding techniques.

Gophers, woodchucks and other burrowing mammals can raise havoc with a
hayfield. Gopher tunnels can reroute irrigation water, and woodchuck holes
can break axles on tractors or wagons. Poison or auto exhausts are used on
gopher tunnels. A rifle with a scope is probably the best antidote for
woodchucks. If you don't want to shoot them yourself, ask around at
gunshops; there may be a varmint hunter who will be eager to do the job for
you.

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Subject: The Value of Haying

Is making my own hay really worth all the work?

Even if you only cut a small meadow and store the hay loose for a pet
animal, completing the cycle of old-fashioned farming -- manure from the
animals fertilizes the hayfield, hay from the field feeds the animal -- is
rewarding. If you own or can borrow the equipment, and if family, neighbors,
and friends add up to the needed labor for timely baling and storage of hay
 -- haying your land or rented land can provide excellent feed for your
livestock at a good price (especially if you're paying $6-8/bale for spring
hay), the pleasures of shared hard work with friends, and the rewards of a
cold beer or dinner after bringing in hundreds or thousands of bales of good
hay. If you have to hire a bulldozer or backhoe to clear the land, buy
expensive equipment to do the haying, can't find the helping hands when you
need them, and have terrible luck with weather -- haying may not be right
for you.

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Subject: Credits

Who wrote this FAQ? I'd like to be aware of regional and other prejudices in
the information.

Ronald Florence <ron@mlfarm.com>, who raises Cotswold sheep in Stonington,
Connecticut is the author. Additional information was provided by

   * James Meade <jnmeade@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu> of Iowa City, Iowa
   * Bernie Cosell <cosell@infi.net> of Pearisburg, Virginia
   * Spencer Yost <yost@ledger.co.forsyth.nc.us> of Winston-Salem, North
     Carolina
   * Mark Kramer <mkramer@world.std.com> of Boston, Massachusetts
   * Mark Barnard <mbarnard@wellfleet.com> of Deerfield, New Hampshire
   * Dale G. Watson <watsond@ext.missouri.edu> of the University of Missouri
     Extension Service
   * Marsha Jo Hannah <hannah@ai.sri.com> of La Honda, California
   * Greg Dean <greg@bush.nsc.com> of South Portland, Maine
   * David Kee <dkee@ag.auburn.edu> of Auburn University
   * Robert L. Lopez <rllopez@lanl.gov> of New Mexico
   * Dana Johnson <johnsond@prius.jnj.com> of Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania
   * Vaughan Jones <jonesv@wave.co.nz> of New Zealand
   * and the ever helpful and knowledgeable contributors to the Antique
     Tractor Forum.

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Subject: Copyright & Permissions

May I use this FAQ in my homepage, book, talk, or article?

This document is copyright 1994-96 by Ronald Florence. Permission is granted
to copy this document in electronic form, or to print it for personal use,
provided that this copyright notice is not removed or altered. No portion of
this work may be sold, by itself or as part of a larger work, without the
express written permission of the author; this restriction includes but is
not limited to print, digital media, and electronic transmission.

The current html original of this document is available, along with html
FAQs on pastures, predators, and lambing, on the Maple Lawn Farm home page
at http://www.connix.com/~mlfarm/. An ascii-digest version is posted by
script every 60 days to Usenet newsgroups misc.rural, misc.answers, and
news.answers.

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Please send comments to Ronald Florence <ron@mlfarm.com>
-- 

....Ronald Florence
