hay field and temp fencing

[BryanM]

I would like too utilize my hay fields at the end of the year for some pasture, does anyone else do this?

I was thinking on using tposts and smooth wire to fence the hay fields in temporaraily. I was thinking on putting 2.5in galanized pipe filled and set in concete for corner posts and adding bracing out of t-posts. and using t-posts for line rests and elecrtifying the wire, the wire 14ga smooth either 4 or five strands was the plan. O the corner posts will be perminant set in concrete.

Any opinions or thoughts/do's or dont's welcome!!!!!

 

[urednecku]

I will graze my hayfield some this winter, I'm sure. Just be careful & don't graze too close. I've known of ranchers using 1 strand electric fence to "rotational graze", once the cattle are trained to the electric fence they will respect it. One used I think 3/4" PVC pipe cut to about 4' length with a sharp angle cut on one end with a slot cut about 1/2 way thru about 6" from the top. Put the line thru the slot & used a length of wire bent over down thru the pipe holding the line in. Made it real easy to move & work with, and PVC pipe cost less than the store-bought post.

 

[dun]

We use stepin posts in a couple of places but mostly 3/8 sungaurd fiberglass posts and a single strand of polywire. But all of our cows are broke to hotwire. The accursed deer aren't and that can be a problem. If they happen to run through polywire it's usually only the work of a couple ofminutes to put the fence back up. If they plow on through hightensile it takes a lot more work to get it back up. We currently have 2 15 acre hay fields fenced with cows on them. One runs off the backbone of hightensile the other off of a battery powered charger.

 

[BryanM]

We are small time, only having 3 to 10 cattle at a time. Are cattle are broke to electric fence although we are located on a state route which at times can get a bit busy and want too be a bit over cautious to keep the cattle of the road to prevent any accidents. ( yes we do have special insurance that does cover this sort of accident).

I am just looking too get a bit more grazing for a small time before winter and could not get a window for 4th cutting, so we have a good amount of hay that could be grazed!

Do you think the corner pipe will be ok?

 

[dun]

Remember that in a lot of states in order to qualify as a "fence" it has to be at least 4 foot high. If you used less along a road and something got out your insurance may not cover it because they weren;t behind a fence. Happened to a neighbor a couple of months ago.

 

[Suzie Q]

We don't graze where our crops are unless they are just eating it off before we replough. We don't want cow manure in our hay and the weeds from the cow manure are not wanted in our crops either.

As above ours are broken to electric fence, so all I use is pigtails and orange tape or braid.

 

[BryanM]

Dun thank you, I will check on that, very good point.

Suzie Q - also good point I thought of that but I figured the winter would handle any manure in the hay feild, I would think with all the snow and rain it will break downclose enough it would not get in any hay. :???:

 

[Suzie Q]

You would know more about that than us Bryan. We don't get any snow here.

 

[JSCATTLE]

I know some times we are forced to graze the hay meadows .. but I try not to .. seeds from weeds are transferred by manure . And trampling the grass isn't good ...

 

[AllForage]

There is no real reason not to graze "hay" fields. As a grazier or grassfarmer, hay should be looked at as prepping pasture paddocks that have gotten out of control for return to the grazing plan. The by-product of that is winter feed. Removing forage as hay continually is probably the largest drain of fertility in all cropping situations. Grazing at least allows some nutrients to return along with spreading compost or other stuff. Getting manure in hay is not a real concern after a winter. Wheel rakes are the only piece of equip. that would probably increase the incidence of it getting into hay. Grazing as long as you can into winter is the most profit boosting thing that can be directly controlled.

 

[hayray]

If you are along a state route you might want stronger wire then the 14 ga. smooth. I agree with the others in using polywire and step ins but along a main road I would go with high tensile over the 14 gauge low carbon wire, that stuff is cheap and breaks real easy and most of the time cost you alot more to put up.

 

[Rob30]

I don't have any idea why you wouldn't graze your hay fields. As far as weeds go , the only seeds available for the cows to spread are already in the field, if they are eating them and crapping them out. The hoof action from the cows help work in manure and crop reidue and add oxygen to the soil. The only time that is bad is if the soil is very wet and muddy. The manure adds fertility. Every day a cow drops 50lbs of manure, and only eats about 30-40lbs of forrage. That math seems pretty good to me. Especially with fertilizer prices as high as they are. As far as manure in the hay, you can drag the field with harrows at first. But after a few years of grazing the soil critters (worms, bugs etc) will start breaking the patties down very quickly. When we first started grazing cattlethe patties took 3 years to break down. Now they are gone by the end of the season.

 

[Suzie Q]

Not in our situation Rob. We cut every 3 weeks and the floods mean that soil critters are wiped out quite often. So as I said we only let them graze before we replough.

 

[MistyMorning]

I do this almost every year with the exception of real wet summers. We also live along a state highway and have that stretch of fence as pemanent, than run stringers off of it and rotational graze the fields. Our cattle are trained to one strand hot wire with the exception of "Bubbles" who is now in the weaning pen.

This PVC dealy urednecku merits some looking into!

 

[JSCATTLE]

The reason I don't graze my hay field is because some of my pastures and some of my hay fields are bahaia. My good hay meadows are Bermuda grass.. I won't let a cow or baler in those fields unless they are bahaia seed free ... Also compaction is a problem here ...

 

[Caustic Burno]

Bahia is poor man's coastal, I love it. Gave up on coastal years ago can't fight mother nature.

 

[Suzie Q]

Also our crops are lucerne and cattle can die from bloat if they graze in there.