Teff Hay

[Texasmark]

Was at the farm store yesterday and saw a skid full of Teff hay seed. Got on the www this AM and read up on it.

The results seem to speak for themselves in terms of a summer hay crop and volume. What I see as a mountain to climb is their recommendation (Teff www) for planting. Don't know how effectively I can get where they say I need to be.

Interested in your experiences with the crop.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Bigfoot]

Very limited. Went to a forage field day, and the stuff is beautiful growing, and even prettier in a bale.

 

[pricefarm]

I planted it about 2 or 3 years ago. The seed is very small so U have to be careful not to plant it to deep. U have to be sure not to mow it to short and to mow it right when it starts to seed out. If not it will affect the growth of your second cutting. The grass is a very fine blade grass. I planted 2.5 acres just to try it. The horse people around here went crazy about it. I can not remember how many bales I got off of it but I was able to get three good cutting off it.

 

[Texasmark]

I planted it about 2 or 3 years ago. The seed is very small so U have to be careful not to plant it to deep. U have to be sure not to mow it to short and to mow it right when it starts to seed out. If not it will affect the growth of your second cutting. The grass is a very fine blade grass. I planted 2.5 acres just to try it. The horse people around here went crazy about it. I can not remember how many bales I got off of it but I was able to get three good cutting off it.

What did you use for a clipper? How long was your stubble? Just curious as I use a drum mower and I had it setup for 3" blade height over the dirt which produced 4" of stubble....tender stems just bent back as I went over it.

I was in a hurry to cut some real sparse Milo regrowth for hay and literally beat one of the ground skidding pans off....broke the 3ea ⅜" bolts holding it to the axle. In putting it back together I decided to leave out the 1" spacer setting it back to 2" which is how it comes from the factory. Test run with that yielded 1-2" stubble on something other than absolutely flat land.

Thanks guys for answering the question.

Mark

 

[pricefarm]

Mowed it with a disc mower around 4".

 

[Texasmark]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to try it this spring for my summer crop. Will post results next year after I have some.

 

[Texasmark]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to try it this spring for my summer crop. Will post results next year after I have some.

Update on this one. As posted elsewhere. Decided to pass. Looks like it'll be Milo.

 

[bird dog]

so how much was the seed and how much per acre are you suppose to plant it? I would have to buy or build a heavy roller to get my pasture in the right condition to plant it.

 

[Texasmark]

Seed was $140 and planting amount per acre was not much; I forget exactly. Google TEFF and you should get the numbers; that's where I got mine. My recollection is that it's not expensive on a per acre basis. The rub is getting it installed properly to ensure it germinates properly and there is good coverage since the seeds are so small....seed count per # is way up there....maybe like mustard seed. That's the Achilles Heel. I do have a 6' water filled steel roller, drag type, weighing around 500# that packs real well however. Picked it up at a local used equipment lot for a couple hundred or thereabouts; not much.

 

[pricefarm]

I planted mine on ground that had been a corn feild. I plowed under the corn stocks then disc it down smooth. I used a 3 pt broadcaster to spread the seed. Then I ran a cultipacker over it once. I can not remember how much the seed cost. I only did planted it one year and that was about 4 years ago.