Advise for hay fields

Hello all, Here's my dilemma, first cutting hay very clean, second cutting is mostly weeds, aka: iron weed, white top, and some other stemmy thing. This is not anything I can sell but could feed to my own animals. What are my options as I have not cut this yet? I could bush hog it all down and hope it comes back better end of season, or cut and bale it and just earmark it for my own use? Friend at church brought up a good point, if I cut it and feed it, I will be depositing all those weed seeds into my pasture. I know that I need fertilizer, and have had it fertilized some over the years, but the cost is prohibitive at this point. Any advise on this issue and or lessons learned from all who have dealt with this issue. Location: Midwest Indiana, Mainly consist of: fescue, Red clover, white clover, timothy, orchard grass....and the weeds mentioned earlier...
thanks in advance!
Devin
 
Too bad you don't have an old hay bucker; you could cut it, windrow it, buck it up in a pile, let it dry and burn it. It's best piled up green so you don't lose too many weed seeds. Those weeds probably wouldn't burn very well if they were baled.
 
FInd someone that will take the second.. Cheap. I two have a hay field that produces excellent hay.. But about sept I cut it again and bale it up, I have a goat farmer down the road that will buy it cheap. He then has me haul his pooo to fertilize with. Goats process the hay better than horses and cows.. so no weed seed spread from pooo when I fertilize and its excellent fertilizer.
 
Get a soil test. Some weeds like different ph than good grasses. May need to spray. And fertilize, if you are selling the hay, put some money aside for fertilizer and lime. Good hay fields don't happen by chance.
 
If it were me, I'd hit it with a cheap herbicide like 2,4-d amine and put some urea (nitrogen) 46-0-0 on it for some growth. Wait for the 30 day application to harvest of 2,4-d and the cut it for sale. One warning - 2,4-d will go a long way to wipe out your clover, however, if you are selling to horses - the dust from the clover will probably be a deal killer anyway. As far as depositing seeds - trust me, they are there, by the thousands. You WILL get weeds regardless. IMHO - you want to bale this stuff, even if it's $2 goat hay, just to get the thatch off the field. Get a soil sample and lime/fertilize this fall as required. You might rent a drill and put in more timothy or orchard grass after cutting. I feel the combo of herbicides, to give the stand a chance to grow and then a thick fertilized stand will choke out most of your weed problem. 2nd cut hay is typically very leafy and brings a premium.

Good luck,
Bill
 
I may be way off base here, it worth what your paying for it. In my opinion, do not let your rake scratch the ground when you windrow your hay. Cut the hay about 3inches plus, rake over the top. You may leave a little in some wheel tracks or low spaces but your not planting any weed seeds into your hay stand. Your hay will recover more quickly for the next cutting crowding out any undesirables. gobble
 
"One year of seeds, seven years of weeds" is what my elders always said, cut and remove if weeds are mature or clip it before they mature. I am fighting wild carrot in all my hay because I left the second cut in the field several years because of the weather.
 
You have not told us what this hay is used for , Beef cows , Horses , or just to sell to whoever has the $$. Myself , I like to grow legumes ,not grass, as there is more protein in the legumes , and they recover faster for 2nd and 3rd cutting. The down side is legumes are hard to dry down for dry hay, but will yield more tons per acre. If you just want to sell grass hay , I would burn down this weed crop with roundup , then plough and replant the grasses you want to grow, instead of just taking pot luck on what comes up,weeds and all. While I am not a big user of round up , I do like the way it will get some relief from rizones like twitch grass , weeds that you don't kill with a plough ,just spread around.
 

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