(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Canary Grass

A

Animal

Well-known Member
Sent a fellow some pictures of hay I have for sale yesterday,, It is fescue and red clover mix, heavy with red clover. He told me he was not familiar with fescue, red clover or lespadesa grasses so when he emailed me back he said my hay looked stemy. What he was looking at was clover. The fellow also stated he baled canary grass, well I have heard of it but what does it look like? Is it a good forage, is it high in protein?
 
our water ways got overrun with it in the 80's, if you can't get it cut before heading or shortly afterwards it gets 4 ft. tall and the stems get about 1/4 inch and cows won't eat it unless you grind it, the problem is that it grows in wet areas and so it is hard to get hayed before it heads. I have been getting it up in June and the cows eat it ok, probably not real great feed value but they get alfalfa also. The second cutting in Sept. is all leaves and makes nice hay. What I am finding is that by cutting it the fine grasses are moving in again as reed canary grass is very aggressive and will choke other plants out. It a tall stem with wide leaves and makes a head with lots of small seeds.
 
He sounds like more trouble than he's worth. I'll second everything thats been said about reed canary grass. Cut it early and its decent feed, cut it late and nothing will eat it. I've got a few of those customers who give me the song and dance about 'stemmy hay'. Any more I just dont have the patience I used to have. I tell them that joe down the road has the non stemmy hay, that he bought from me back early in the season.
 
I hear ya hayman! I have good hay, its not dairy quality, but I had it all tested at dairyland lab. and the fellow that did the testing went over it with me and told me that it was wonderful hay for fat cows and horses. I sent this joker an email that I could fax the test to him and he declined. I will push this hay in a pile and burn it before I let some joker beat me out of it.... I priced it to him at 50 dollars a ton, knowing that trucking was expensive. I felt that was fair, what do you think, am I too high on my price?
 
Sounds like your hay is perfectly good to me. I've sold hay for several years, and have recently quit. Seems like towards the last, every person I sold to had nothing but a complaint. Don't need to deal with that. Now a days seems like most are hoping for a free handout. Here in MN, I bale lots of canary grass for my cows, and also feed it to my horses. Eat it with no issue and stay in good shape. Let a buyer find one stem of canary grass in hay they are buying and you'll never hear the end of it. All just plain nonsense.
 
$50 a ton to high? HECK no!! Let some of these jokers go out and buy $25,000 worth of equipment, fight the hassles of the weather and machine break downs, put in all the time making the hay, and see if any of them want to sell it for $50 a ton? Trucking may be expensive, but that's really not your problem.
 
nice grass hay is over $100/ton around here. I used to sell some hay at the weekly sale at the sale barn. Got tired of watching some idiot pay alot for average hay and have my nice stuff bring less. Dad always said people find the load they plan to buy before the sale and come he11 or high water thats the one they are going to buy. By the time I load it, haul it ,weigh it then go back to get my rack I don't figure I am making much. Got back into cows a few years back and I feed it at home and the waste goes back on my land. There are some hay buyers that are among some of the dumber individuals in society.
 
Fifty a ton is plenty cheap. Certainly package has a lot to do with it but I'd consider that a bargain in any configuration. I wouldnt consider selling anything under 100 a ton (thats where I am on my timothy orchard grass rounds; small squares of the same at 200, all my alfalfa mix rounds left early at 165) FOB unless its round baled fescue stored outside. Thats what I decided a few years ago. I know what it costs me to bale it, what the fertilizer thats in it cost, and what I need to make for my time and investment to live the way I want to; that equals hay price. This year Im not selling much, hay is plentiful and livestock numbers are down, but when it was short I stayed at a fair price. One of these days hay will get short again.
 
Reeds CG is low down by the creek. I leave it all for pheasant cover and they love it. I get 40 bucks a bird for pheasants from hunters and that mkes up for a lot of tons of grass.
We usually take 50 -60 roosters out that creek every year. About 20 acres. Do the math.

Gordo
 
that's great for you, some of us don't have that option. Hunters around here don't want to ask permission then get smart when they are reminded they should have asked so I either farm, graze or hay everything, keeps hunters out. Theres 200 acres of crp down the road for pheasants to live in and another 1000 acres of wildlife land in my township, 800 of which should be grazed with cattle.
 
Apparently Reeds Canary is rich in alkaloids as it matures and this is what leads to lack of palatablility. The new varieties are supposed to be low alkaloid and therefore have a wider window of harvest. Alot of people are starting to plant Canary grass again, even on upland sites. I know on some of my fields it sure comes in good for second cut when some other grasses dont do squat.
 
some of the forage magazines were really promoting low-aklyd rd. canarygrass, I don't have any experience with it myself.
 
I planted a low alkaloid reed canary / trefoil mix on about 15 acres this past spring....will see how it does this year...soil was poor in this area I took over so it got limed, fertilized then planted with an oats cover....

I have cut older seeded canary before and I cut it first due to its rapid growth...nice leafy second cut....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I
cutting Hay
Replies
16
Views
2K
showcrop
showcrop
Steve in VA
Orchard grass field question
Replies
2
Views
659
Steve in VA
Steve in VA
RedMF40
Third Cub's the Charm
Replies
7
Views
744
SweetFeet
SweetFeet
jon f mn
How hot is it where you work
2
Replies
36
Views
2K
sammydwm
S
B
2 ton+ grass with a haybine
2
Replies
22
Views
1K
730virgil
7
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top