Clover and rye hay

[BRAFORDMAN]

Our hay pasture has red clover, white clover, and rye in it.
Since I want to be prepared for anything this year we are going to cut hay early instead of waiting until the end of May.

The clover and rye are over 2 feet tall. Usually there is a small amount of clover in our hay, but this year clover is everywhere.

Does clover make good hay for horses and cattle?

 

[bigbull338]

Our hay pasture has red clover, white clover, and rye in it.
Since I want to be prepared for anything this year we are going to cut hay early instead of waiting until the end of May.

The clover and rye are over 2 feet tall. Usually there is a small amount of clover in our hay, but this year clover is everywhere.

Does clover make good hay for horses and cattle?

you doggoned bet ya that clover an rye grass makes real good hay for horses an cows.but you have to get 5 days clear weather to get it baled without getting it wet.youll be surprised how much hay youll make from it as well.we have 12acs thats ready to cut now of that same mix.but dont know when itll get baled.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

Our hay pasture has red clover, white clover, and rye in it.
Since I want to be prepared for anything this year we are going to cut hay early instead of waiting until the end of May.

The clover and rye are over 2 feet tall. Usually there is a small amount of clover in our hay, but this year clover is everywhere.

Does clover make good hay for horses and cattle?

you doggoned bet ya that clover an rye grass makes real good hay for horses an cows.but you have to get 5 days clear weather to get it baled without getting it wet.youll be surprised how much hay youll make from it as well.we have 12acs thats ready to cut now of that same mix.but dont know when itll get baled.

Thanks!
Same here. Every time we think about cutting it rains. I can't complain about the rain. BUt i wont to get started on.

 

[JSCATTLE]

Just watch it when you feed it to your horses clover is real hard to dry and mildews easy . I bale it every year as cow hay with no problems .

 

[A.J.]

It can make some real quality hay. Clover is also a really good source of nitrogen for your fields.

 

[CJohnson]

There are 2 problems with clover hay, getting it baled without rain in the spring and leaf shatter. When you let it dry completely a lot of the leaves will shatter off and you just bale the stems. I cut the clover at half bloom stage and put it into balage. You cut it one day and bale then next at 50% moisture. Leaves don't shatter this way. I rent an in line wrapper that makes baled silage. Feed like regular hay bale but have to put it on a trailer to take from the stack to the field because it falls apart real easy. Protein content is more than 20%. Extra cost for plastic and machine, bales are real heavy due to moisture (>2000 pounds/bale) so gotta have a big tractor to pick them up. You have to wrap immediately so only bale what you can wrap. However if you do it right it will be as good as any alfalfa. My cost including fertilizer was somewhere around $50/bale and these were 5x6. Not sure what the cost / ton on dry matter basis would be but way cheaper than alfalfa. Too much cost and trouble for plain cow hay. I feed it to weaned calves / yearlings and use it as a protein supplement to plain grass hay for cows.