Austrian winter peas

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5S Cattle

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Anyone ever round baled them? Our sister ranch has about 50 acres of them that they'd give me, all I'd have to pay for is baling. Worried about them rotting though I think... any advice would be appreciated
 
Probably chopping, or wrapping would be your best bet. Although with the right weather you could get dry hay. Gonna depend how tall they are, and how thick.
 
I knew two people in Western Washington who raised them in combination with oats. Huge yields. But neither one made dry hay. One made haylage the other made silage. Mainly because they needed to be cut in May. Long before before there was drying weather in Western Washington. They use to raise a lot of peas in that area. They were harvested for the peas but people baled the vines after the peas were harvested. Made great hay but harvest occurred in July when it was dry. I would sure want them cut with a mower conditioner to crush the vines. That would help the drying process.
 
Ya this would have to be with a conventional round baler. Nobody around here has the equipment to do wet bales like y'all do up north. Not even sure what the difference is really.
 
I am in my 3rd year with them and volunteer Rye. Rye is annual but does a fine job of reseeding. Peas I have to plant in the fall. Nodule development follows plant size so I let them and the rye go till the rye is ready and bale together. Peas are well dried out by the time the Rye is ready to bale (after cutting) so I don't see a problem with curing if you have decent haying conditions in the spring otherwise. If worried run your tedder over them to flip them over. Funny, they are real late in putting on blossoms. I find maybe half a dozen per acre when I bale. They are a super winter cover crop and have really increased my Sorghum-Sudan follow on summer hay crop. Going to make it an annual event.

I roll them with a JD 375.
 
5S Cattle" Anyone ever round baled them? [/quote said:
Yes, dry baled, in summer, when blended with alot of oats.
Wrapping wet bales could work, but I am not sure what the bale density would be. Pretty course stuff.
If you wet baled some every second or third day - - then you could feed them as you go and skip the wrapping.
 
It's pretty wet here right now.ill see if they'll cut 10 acres or so as a test. If the farmer doesn't want to do that, I'm gonna tell them to just shred them.
 
Stocker Steve said:
5S Cattle" Anyone ever round baled them? [/quote said:
If you wet baled some every second or third day - - then you could feed them as you go and skip the wrapping.

With the wet year I've thought about doing just that this spring. I have a real problem getting things dry enough to make keepable bales on the first cutting(s). I have another tractor this year dedicated to the cutter and I could cut and bale and when weather pressed, roll and deliver for immediate consumption. With the hay shortage probably would have interested customers........just might try that. Course if weather didn't challenge me, just keep for fall feeding.
 
Texasmark With the wet year I've thought about doing just that this spring. I have a real problem getting things dry enough to make keepable bales on the first cutting(s). I have another tractor this year dedicated to the cutter and I could cut and bale and when weather pressed said:
With the spring flush we have a pasture surplus in the spring.

I wet bale w/o wrap for supplemental feeding in late August and early September. Damp shorter days seldom produce dry hay, and I am trying to stockpile standing forage for later. So supplement pairs with wet bales in early fall - - and graze standing stockpile with cows in late fall after a killing frost.
 
Stocker Steve said:
Texasmark With the wet year I've thought about doing just that this spring. I have a real problem getting things dry enough to make keepable bales on the first cutting(s). I have another tractor this year dedicated to the cutter and I could cut and bale and when weather pressed said:
With the spring flush we have a pasture surplus in the spring.

I wet bale w/o wrap for supplemental feeding in late August and early September. Damp shorter days seldom produce dry hay, and I am trying to stockpile standing forage for later. So supplement pairs with wet bales in early fall - - and graze standing stockpile with cows in late fall after a killing frost.

"I wet bale w/o wrap for supplemental feeding in late August and early September."

Would you explain exactly what you are talking about please? I think you are saying you are baling with high moisture content in the spring and feeding those twine or net wrap bales in the fall?????
 
Goal is a high stocking rate and an extended grazing season w/o spending a lot of $$$. We have a very pronounced spring flush in the north, so this does take some effort:

Don't need more pasture forage in the spring, so I let it grow. It usually trampled or swath grazed in late spring. Cattle will slick up fresh mineral rich thistle if it is pre bloom, crimped, and mixed in the swath with some sweet stuff. :nod: I think this is more effective than clipping after grazing. If you swath too much at once they will start to graze around the swaths after a couple days.

We do need more pasture forage in the fall. I have some hay ground 1.5 miles away - - where I wet bale every couple days in early fall and haul back to supplement my pasture. I think this is more effective than buying an inline wrapper. Wet bales will start to spoil in two to three days.

Minnesota Method:
- Swath graze weedy paddocks in June.
- Graze wet legume/grass mix bales in late August and September.
- Go hunting while they graze standing stockpile in October and November.
 
Stocker Steve said:
Goal is a high stocking rate and an extended grazing season w/o spending a lot of $$$. We have a very pronounced spring flush in the north, so this does take some effort:

Don't need more pasture forage in the spring, so I let it grow. It usually trampled or swath grazed in late spring. Cattle will slick up fresh mineral rich thistle if it is pre bloom, crimped, and mixed in the swath with some sweet stuff. :nod: I think this is more effective than clipping after grazing. If you swath too much at once they will start to graze around the swaths after a couple days.

We do need more pasture forage in the fall. I have some hay ground 1.5 miles away - - where I wet bale every couple days in early fall and haul back to supplement my pasture. I think this is more effective than buying an inline wrapper. Wet bales will start to spoil in two to three days.

Minnesota Method:
- Swath graze weedy paddocks in June.
- Graze wet legume/grass mix bales in late August and September.
- Go hunting while they graze standing stockpile in October and November.

"Wet bales will start to spoil in two to three days."

That's about what I figured. My JD 375 bales I figure at a reasonable 700# at 18% (for a swag.....obviously wet will be more #) and will do half a dozen various sized stock about 3 days which works out fine.
 

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