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Stock piling grass vs hay
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<blockquote data-quote="Mark Reynolds" data-source="post: 1809719" data-attributes="member: 43196"><p>[USER=22053]@coachg[/USER] , [USER=24565]@Ebenezer[/USER] is correct about stockpiling fescue, for winter anyway. Your question is valid though if you are talking summer stockpiling fescue, or leave the spring flush (after you have clipped the seedheads off the fescue) for grazing.....during the summer slump. I'm not an advocate of making hay when the livestock can graze it for several reasons. First and foremost I guess I'd want to be lazy. Why spend all my time doing something when the cows can do it for me? There is more to it than just the time factor though. There is the wear and tear on the hay equipment, there is the fuel cost, and then there is the fertilizer value/cost of replacement if the harvested hay is moved off site. There is a way to leave the bales on site and let the pasture grow up around the bales to produce/result in a 'bale grazing' opportunity which I am an advocate for. We can discuss bale grazing as well if you want which could be an opportunity for you here. Baling the forage rather than leave it standing could possibly promote some additional growth of the forage resulting in a slightly larger total production amount for the year, although this would likely be negligible. Conversely, if the forage is baled, and is cut too low and a dry spell/drought follows, having the forage removed could very well result in hotter soil surface temperatures and more sun exposure which will mean a longer period of no/stunted forage growth and a slower recovery after the drought/dry spell as the soil will require more water than it would have otherwise before forage will begin growing again.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mark Reynolds, post: 1809719, member: 43196"] [USER=22053]@coachg[/USER] , [USER=24565]@Ebenezer[/USER] is correct about stockpiling fescue, for winter anyway. Your question is valid though if you are talking summer stockpiling fescue, or leave the spring flush (after you have clipped the seedheads off the fescue) for grazing.....during the summer slump. I'm not an advocate of making hay when the livestock can graze it for several reasons. First and foremost I guess I'd want to be lazy. Why spend all my time doing something when the cows can do it for me? There is more to it than just the time factor though. There is the wear and tear on the hay equipment, there is the fuel cost, and then there is the fertilizer value/cost of replacement if the harvested hay is moved off site. There is a way to leave the bales on site and let the pasture grow up around the bales to produce/result in a 'bale grazing' opportunity which I am an advocate for. We can discuss bale grazing as well if you want which could be an opportunity for you here. Baling the forage rather than leave it standing could possibly promote some additional growth of the forage resulting in a slightly larger total production amount for the year, although this would likely be negligible. Conversely, if the forage is baled, and is cut too low and a dry spell/drought follows, having the forage removed could very well result in hotter soil surface temperatures and more sun exposure which will mean a longer period of no/stunted forage growth and a slower recovery after the drought/dry spell as the soil will require more water than it would have otherwise before forage will begin growing again. [/QUOTE]
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