what to do with field

[GMN]

We have 3 hay fields behind the house, that we fertilizedat the end of March, they were doing great, dark green, clover doing good, orchardgrass growing, then we got a week of cold temps, 3 nights of heavy frost. Since then the fields seem to be stunted in growth. I walked out there today, there is still alot of clover and it is green, but also some of the orchardgrass on top appears to be tannish, but green the rest of the way. I'm wondering if I should turn my cows out on at least one of the fields for pasture, to see if they eat off the tops, if this would hurt the field or help it, or just leave it alone, hope for rain, and hope it continues to grow? What do you all think, any experience with this situation?

Thanks

Gail

 

[Nowland Farms]

Gail,

If you wanted to do something about the brown tops. Couldn't you just run the Bushhog (rotary mower) over the tops enough to clip the brown off? The rest of the grass will grow when the temps get higher at night. You are NW of me, but here in Alabama our temps at night have been mostly in the 40s or low 50s for the last week or two since our 3 nights of frost a couple of weeks ago. The frost killed everything above ground on my costal bermuda. It will put out but will take a while.

 

[GMN]

Gail,

If you wanted to do something about the brown tops. Couldn't you just run the Bushhog (rotary mower) over the tops enough to clip the brown off? The rest of the grass will grow when the temps get higher at night. You are NW of me, but here in Alabama our temps at night have been mostly in the 40s or low 50s for the last week or two since our 3 nights of frost a couple of weeks ago. The frost killed everything above ground on my costal bermuda. It will put out but will take a while.

Do you think that would work, without hurting the rest of the plants? What I worry about with putting the cows (dairy) out there is that they will eat more than I want them too, what pigs they can be , then it will effect the quantity of hay we eventually get off of it. Do you think it will still grow even with the brown on top?

Gail