Site Menu:
This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below: |
HorseAdvice.com » Horse Care » Horse Pasture, Fencing, Barns » Trees, plants, and grasses » |
Discussion on New hay quality | |
Author | Message |
Posted on Wednesday, Jun 14, 2000 - 1:25 pm: The last two years our hay has been brought into the barn months after it has been hayed. It has come from many fields around town and when we get it from the barn where it is purchased, I end up with some real nice hay and some coarse and brown hay. It all depends which field it came from. This year i would like to check the hay as it comes from the field to determine what one field I want my hay from and get it directly from the field. how can i tell this before the field is hayed? also,will the hay looked great when it comes right from the field if it is good stuff or will it look course and brown/dry as soon as it comes from the field if it is bad stuff? Kim |
|
Posted on Wednesday, Jun 14, 2000 - 2:49 pm: You want to cut your hay right before it heads out into seed, this is when, what old farmers around here call the juice is the highest in the stem. Look for alot of good under growth(the shortest of the hay)this will be your clover, alfalfa, grass, etc.. Make sure after the hay is cut, that it is given time to dry in the field before it's baled, around here it generally takes three days of low humidity, temp. in the 80's at least. Some people use hay bines and they can put it up in two days. The only problem with hay bines is that it squeezes all the juices out of the hay. Hay will turn brown if it is allowed to lay to long or if it's rained on after it has been allowed to dry. If it's rained on right after it's cut it will not hurt it, but if its gets rained on for any length of time after its allowed to dry your best bet is to feed it to the cattle. |
|
Posted on Wednesday, Jun 14, 2000 - 6:20 pm: Stephany's correct about the proper time to cut but usually the first cut will be the worse cut since the weeds have grown up with the grass and it may not have been fertilized. If the hay is alfalfa, clover, or bermuda you should see an abundance of that in the field. If the weeds are as plentiful as the grass you are probably not going to get really good hay. The best time to check this out is after it is baled. If the seller will allow you, break open a bale and look at it as well as smell it. There should be some green and a clean smell. Personally I don't want any hay that has been rained on after cutting or any hay that has been bailed inside of three days of the cutting. Unfortunately many times you have to take the word of the seller as to the time frame. Remember if it is bailed to early before drying, you stand the risk of mold and other problems. |
|
Posted on Wednesday, Jun 14, 2000 - 8:51 pm: I checked one of the fields that is up the road from us and there is plenty of very tall grass and the stuff close to the ground is health looking clover. Unfortunately the tall stuff is seeding and the clover has lots of purple flowers. We have been having rain off and on all week, my quess is they haven't had a chance to cut it.So if the hay is brown and not sweet smelling (not moldy but not that wonderful hay smell) when I open the bale in the winter it most likely looked and smelled that way right out of the field? Also, I did have some moldy bales last winter and some greasey ones, too. We wasted alot of hay, my manure pile has a lot of hay to compost! Kim |
|
Posted on Wednesday, Jun 14, 2000 - 11:26 pm: Buying hay is always a risky business but if it doesn't look or smell right after it's bailed, it isn't going to improve with age.Do you know what the "tall grass" is? In my area, Northwest Tenn. it probably would be fescue which make perfectly fine hay except you wouldn't want to feed it to mares expected to foal within 60 days. Some hybrid forms of bermuda is close to be cut now and of course simple grass hay is being cut. You need to know the primary grass or legume of the hay in order to make a proper judgment call on its quality. Have you checked on the HA as to this problem? |
|
Posted on Thursday, Jun 15, 2000 - 7:13 am: Hello Kim,To answer your first question, "how can I tell before it is hayed what type quality it will be", the simple answer is: you don't. The single most important factor affecting quality is how it is cut and bailed. Next most important is the variety and stage of maturity. DrO |
|
Posted on Thursday, Jun 15, 2000 - 8:13 am: If you open a bale out in the field that has just been baled and you see "alot" of bright green, (looks like grass you just mowed), chances are that it's going to mold and turn brown after it cures. The clover flowering isn't going to really hurt anything but it sounds like they are getting a late start on cutting. Also, if you buy alfalfa make sure you are getting it from someone who cuts there hay frequently. Alfalfa must be cut more frequently in most areas of the US to prevent blister beetle from invading the crop. If you can, you can check the hay right before they start to bale and know whether or not it's to moist, and going to risk it molding. If you pick out some of the hay from the middle or bottom of the winDrOws and it feels wet or overly moist it's not dry enough to be bailed. We like to fill our barn with the first cutting, just because you never no whether there will be a second cutting. But your second cutting(usually done around August in these parts) is your best hay for horses because there is more leave than stem. If you do get second cutting hay and have some first cutting left in the barn, make sure you finish feeding all the first cutting before starting to feed the second cutting. Once you feed second cutting and then try to feed first cutting most horses will waste alot of hay just because it's not as tender. |
|
Posted on Thursday, Jun 15, 2000 - 9:45 am: Stephany,I definitly have a problem with him wasting the coarse hay and i may have very well gotten some of the 2nd crop in our batch as i got more hay in March. (due to wasting and more than a few bad bales, we ran out) Also, where i'm getting the hay from has a girls camp with 35 horses and that is why they go all over town cutting hay but unfortunately they end up short handed for haying as camp is starting. We are friends so I hate complaining and the hay is reasonablly priced (esp for the nice bales). I volenteered our family to help with haying in hopes that I could get hay from the fields that gets a good timed haying and also hoping that more help would improve the chance of getting it cut promptly and it not going to seed. We've had a great spring for growing grass (northeast) so there should be time for a second cutting. I'm willing to pay more for good hay and am still looking for a more reliable source. Thank you for all the info. Kim |
|