I finished rolling the last of my hay today. It only made about 60 percent of what it made last year. Spring came early, we had a late frost, had a lot of cool nights. Not sure which one to blame it on. Now it's turned of dry. I'm hoping for a second cutting, but I doubt it materializes. Spent more on fertilizer than I care to discuss as well.
Hay production down 40 percent
- Thread starter Bigfoot
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Bigfoot, What part of Ky you in? I am in Butler county. Our first cutting has been about average, some fields a little better others a little worse. All of it had chicken litter in the fall and a little urea this spring. Really dry here for the time of year, earliest I have ever finished first cutting as my bottom ground is usually too wet early.
denvermartinfarms
Well-known member
Our hay has been very thin i baled one field that in the first cutting last year made around 50 4x5s that made 9 bales it is 20 acres and we have never fertilized it another one that should make 70 made 20 and there are alot of them this way. it quit raining at just the wrong time for hay. some better fields and bottom land is not quite this bad but still down.
Jogeephus
Well-known member
I'm still trying to figure out how to grow hay without rainfall. :???: This is really getting old.
ozarkbulls
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Quality has been good, but the one field we do normally does 220 round bales, this year only did 172. And now it's dry as all he77 here, burning up the ground!
A
Anonymous
YOu may get some from that tropical system if it tracks the way they thinkJogeephus":38cr1ohb said:
skyhightree1
Well-known member
dun":2uazbq71 said:
i agree dun and this goes back to a post i made earlier this year how the stuff just isnt growing like it did before.. the weather definately has did something because this year the grass is not nomal at all.
Crazy Farmgirl
Well-known member
Same here, very dry and warm. Hay simply not growing. I'm afraid the crazy warm weather back in March combined with rollercoaster temps since and very little rain has screwed the whole system. Hoping things turn around soon, have already looked into leasing more hay ground if ours doesn't produce enough.
Jogeephus
Well-known member
hooknline":1kdy2x7g said:
Something needs to give. We got a bunch of hail the other day and it destroyed a bunch of melons and other crops. Temperature must have dropped 40 degrees in 30 minutes. Ground was white.
bigbull338
Well-known member
i hope yall arnt headed for the drought that we was in last year.it looks like its going tobe dry here as well.an 1 cutting maybe all we will get this year.
A
Anonymous
I hear ya. We were lucky enough to get 4.25" this monthJogeephus":1uzco2e0 said:
You guys need the rain but not the threat of severe weather. I'll keep my fingers crossed for everyone that needs the rain.
johndeerefarmer
Well-known member
I will be baling my first cutting of coastal tomorrow. Looks like it will be about 20- 25% off on production due to last year's drought. Three sides of the field are surrounded by large trees and they wicked all of the moisture out of the ground about 50-75' out from the fence rows, which killed most of the coastal. There are a few sprigs of coastal left- hopefully enough to re-cover the ground, that is if it rains. So far May has been hot and dry. I was hoping that this drought was over but am not so sure now.bigbull338":37cjj6mv said:
I just bought a new 11'6" Kuhn trailed disc mower and SR110 Speed Rake and have two new barns going up (one for machinery storage and one for hay). It would be nice to have enough rain to get at least two cutting.
Seems to be going like last spring. Last May was so wet that I couldn't get the hay to dry so I bought a new Kuhn tedder. After that cutting, it never hardly rained again until October
1982vett
Well-known member
Yeah it is....Looks like we are going to lose the warm season grasses that managed to survive last year.Jogeephus":p3ui5vjg said:
TheLoneRanger
Well-known member
Looks like rain is done for us, but this is normal till Oct,Nov. Pumps started 5 weeks ago, thats how we get by in Cali.
johndeerefarmer
Well-known member
Here in my county they are now making us register all water wells, except for wells that are domestic in use (one well to provide water for a single family house only – no livestock or business use) or that only has the capacity to pump less than 40,000 gallons per day (27.77 gallons per minute). All new wells both domestic and agriculture must be approved by the Red River Ground Water Conservation District before drilling begins.
I have read that they plan on putting water meters on our wells and monitoring and maybe even charge us for our own groundwater. :???:
I have read that they plan on putting water meters on our wells and monitoring and maybe even charge us for our own groundwater. :???:
greatgerts
Well-known member
2 years ago, we had a 25 acre hay field yield over 80 bales. Last year, it produced 65 (if I remember correctly). This year, we only got 18 off of it. Sure can't keep costs down that way. Pastures look good still because we haven't even made a full rotation on grazing, but don't want to take that away from the cows and then have to start feeding hay in August.
We should be ok until late fall with grazing, but hope we can get all of our hay together soon before it starts getting real high.
I am just thankful that we have gone to more of an intensive grazing this year. If we had not, we may have had to start feeding hay in the next 4 weeks.
We should be ok until late fall with grazing, but hope we can get all of our hay together soon before it starts getting real high.
I am just thankful that we have gone to more of an intensive grazing this year. If we had not, we may have had to start feeding hay in the next 4 weeks.
