Your Typical Hay Field Management

[bigbull338]

I'd like to know some of your typical hay field management routines. I'll throw out some questions to guide, but feel free to include whatever you feel is important:

Do you fertilize every year?

Do you graze it at some point in the year?

How many cuttings do you get?

Do you cultivate and sow seed on any given schedule; let it seed in the fall?

Do you spray for weeds annually?

Do you have a constant hay field, or do you rotate with other crops?

Thanks.

ill prolly be the 1 to really throw you a curve ball.
1.no we havent used any fert commor other wise in over 30yrs.our hay is all organic.but not cert as to such.
2.we graze a 100ac meadow only after we know we have enough hay to make it through the winter.we have 40ac meadow thats not fenced thats baled twice if we get the rain.
3.our 1st cutting made 164 5 by 6 bales.so that means we will only bale 40acs twice if we want to.
4.no
5.no
6.yes our hay meadows are constant.they are never put into other crops.
7.the meadows are coastal and native and mixed grasses.

 

[Craig Miller]

Do you fertilize every year?

Sometimes skip a year, particularly if we put on a lot the year before. But usually every spring with our custom blend, 14-17-11-12.

Do you graze it at some point in the year?

Graze majority of fields late summer until early winter. Only about 80 acres never see cattle on them (no fences). Consequently, our most consistent fields are the ones the cattle have access to.

How many cuttings do you get?

No alfalfa in our fields, so only one cut.

Do you cultivate and sow seed on any given schedule; let it seed in the fall?

If the weather looks to hold on decent, we will leave our cutting to August and by then most everything will be in seed when we cut, seeding the fields as we cut. Quality is down, but our cows have never suffered from it.

Do you spray for weeds annually?

Never.

Do you have a constant hay field, or do you rotate with other crops?

Continual hay. Never have had the time to break old fields, let alone rotate. Plus I hate tractor/field work.

14-17-11-12....whats the fourth part?

 

[dun]

Thanks for all the responses. Let me make sure I understand one thing I've noticed. Once a grass is established, like fescue, is it true that you will never need to sow more seed as long as you control weeds and fertilize? I notice some don't even let it reseed itself.

If grass is stressed, even fescue, it will at some time need some sort of reseeding, either natural or applied by you. Grass is a perennial not a foreverennial. Some plants are always dying and hopefully the seed bank will replenish.