Hay Making

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steerhorn

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Logan Co., Ohio
I have a question regarding pasture and hay making that I was hoping all you expert cattlemen/women might help me out with.
I've raised cattle, on a small scale, most of my life, but not until recently, maybe 4 yrs., have I been making my own hay.
I'm sort of new to the whole hay making process. I have a small hay field, approx 8 acres, that I take 2 cuttings off of during the summer. The second cutting is usually around the middle of August. I then let the hay grow, stock piling the grass and clover the rest of the summer /fall for winter pasture. Dividing the field into 2 acre paddocks or so with electric fence, I graze the cows (approx 10 head) on this field through the month of December. May even get a week into January, which means I don't have to start feeding hay until then, depending on how much snow we get. At this time I move the cows to a feeding area where they spend the rest of the winter. You can probably imagine how much manure I accumulate on this hay field in that 4 -5 week period, really noticeable when the grass isn't growing back. I'll frost seed some red clover and timothy near the end of Feb. In the spring, sometime early May, I clip, or mow, the field. The manure is pretty well broken down by this time. Then I'll take my 1st cutting of hay near the end of June.
I've done this for 2 years now, and it seems to be working pretty well.
My question is, (and sorry for the long explaination) , If I were to summer graze this field, of course the cows wouldn't eat where they dropped all that manure, so then is it okay to make hay off this field? I mean, I've been doing it, but always wondered if I should be concerned with anything.
 
there's probably a conciderable amount of manure which is fine.. free fertilizer.. but i would run a drag over it in the spring to break it up plus knock the flies back. but you can over graze during the summer months and cause alot of unwanted weeds and sedge grass to compete. are you fertilizing the stock piled grass?
 
Thanks for the responses,

No, I don't fertilize other than what the livestock puts on it, and I do apply Lime every so often (maybe 3 yrs)

As far as the type of grasses, I'm not real sure. Need to get better at grass identification. I know I've planted some rye, and blue grass in past years. The grass is not so strong. My hope is that the red clover will eventually help the grass situation. I do frost seed a little timothy every year along with the red clover.
 
There is no real definate answer for you without more details. Most summer grasses send all nutrients to the roots once the cooler cycles start. My guess is that your cows are getting grass in the early winter months that is pretty much void in nutrition. You'd be better off cutting and baling it while it is still alive. Hence, a third cutting. Your cows would get more nutrition that way.

You really should do some soil tests, figure out exactly what grasses you have, and determine what fertilizer should be applied. That would help all the way around. The correct fertilizer will add nutritional value to that grass.

The cows natural fertilizer in those fields is the only benefit I see to your situation/program, based on your description.
 

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