OT-hay seeding

4010 puller · Mar 20, 2014

Hey Guys, Im located in Ohio and clearing about 5 acres for a hay field. its going to need some lime/fertilizer after I get trees shoved out and roots/saplings out. Im looking for a type of hay that doesn"t need re-seeded each year, can be cut 2-3 times a year possibly, with very high tonnage of harvest that can be baled dry.

I know alfalfa is ok at more than one cutting but what about something that makes a lot of product. Can sorghum and sudan grass be baled dry and does it do well?

Thanks

JMS/.MN · Mar 20, 2014

If you want perennials that give volume, try a mix of alfalfa, brome, and timothy.

Don-Wi · Mar 20, 2014

If you have the right climate, you can get 5 cuttings of alfalfa in a season. Where we are in Wisconsin, we can get up to 4 cuttings. If you put in timothy or other grasses, they're mainly in the first cutting and after that it's mainly alfalfa.

Donovan from Wisconsin

David G · Mar 20, 2014

Alfalfa will provide 4-5 years of good crop without reseeding, but you must add P&K each year to replenish lost nutrients.

acken fromwisc · Mar 20, 2014

Depends as to what you want to do with it, feed or sell. Sorghum and sudan grass takes more than three days to dry. Better to go with what JMS/.MN said.

wisbaker · Mar 20, 2014

I'd go for the alfalfa, timothy and brome grass mix as suggested. First cutting will be grassy, subsequent cuttings mostly alfalfa. One of our neighbors was a dairy farmer that was very much into draft horses. He used a mix like this, first cutting went into small bales for his horses, the rest into big round bales for the cattle and sheep. Worked well for him. You might be feeding something different so go with what ever works for you. If your selling hay this will give you different crops to market.

4010 puller · Mar 20, 2014

Round bale and feed to cattle with a large yield

JMS/.MN · Mar 20, 2014

1988- big drouth year here- had some sudax? Sorghum sudan grass. Tremendous volume, low feed value, took days to dry enough to chop for haylage. Growing up on sand, Dad always planted a mix. Farming on my own, on good clay, I always seeded straight alfalfa. Grass mix would eventually crowd out the alfalfa. and with dairy, I wanted good feed, so never used a mix. IDK if any sorghum or sudan grass is perennial.

donjr · Mar 20, 2014

Reading where you're clearing ground, I'd test and fertilize to recommendation. Then work (something I don't care to do) it up to a moderate to fine seedbed. Then plant it and cultimulch it Ground such as alfalfa ground, will be run over at many points during it's life, and several times a year. It actually pays to get the ground smooth so you will not bounce or fall off the tractor later.

Wheat Farmer · Mar 20, 2014

At 7200' elev For a first year field we plant a mix of Oats, Peas, Orchard, Alfalfa. Remember that a new growth of alfalfa can not withstand a freeze. At this altitude we can't plant alfalfa until Jun 15th. This was irrigated, but planted June and cut in Sept. We will see what happens this year. The peas were a great over crop.

mab570diesel · Mar 20, 2014

if you are just clearing this land then you don't want to mix legumes with grass hay.the reason being you won't be able to spray it you will kill the grass with let's say a 2-4d.if it is freshly cleared you are gonna have some weed issues the first few years and if you want decent hay, you're probably gonna have to spray.or fertilize the crap out of it and hope the alfalfa grass mix beats the weeds up and chokes them out.Myself i like orchard grass that stuff will come back for 10yrs. or better. i am in ohio though and a alfalfa/orchard grass/timothy works good for me. I only make small squares and if i did have small pockets of weeds i would just spot spray.the more you cut it the better it will clean up as well.

4010 puller · Mar 21, 2014

I agree. Probably wont spray as its not easy option for me. Im dozing trees now,then going to drag or root rake or something to get trash out of it. Last 2-3 acre field I did I plowed. It was a drought and red clay, that didn"t work the best as it was too loose for a hay seeding I thought. One thing I want to do after I disk it numerous times is run a spike tooth harrow across it. Will prob lime it then and fertilize/seed at the same time with fertilizer spreader/buggy

mab570diesel · Mar 21, 2014

if you had a cultipacker that would firm it up good.

formenwhogrow · Mar 21, 2014

Sorghum sudan is an annual and no, you'll never bale it dry. Straight sudangrass maybe, but never sorghum-sudan. However, it makes great baleage and it is pretty forgiving on ph. With a little N, it'll give you a pretty good yield for a first year crop. Seeding grass/legume mixes on ground like you're describing will give you a huge crop of weeds the first year and not much else. If you have a way to wrap baleage, I think sorghum sudan would be excellent for getting this piece of ground headed in the right direction. Leaving the remains of the crop standing in the fall makes a good cover crop heading into winter, then in the spring of next year you could try and seed a grass legume mix.

JMS/.MN · Mar 21, 2014

2,4-D is a broadleaf killer, not a grass killer. You can buy MCPA, a form of 2,4-D, which can be used on alfalfa.

mab570diesel · Mar 21, 2014

what i'm saying is when you spray you are going to kill one or the other grass or legume no matter which spray you use.

mab570diesel · Mar 21, 2014

I guess sencor is suppose to work OK on alfalfa/grass mix but I have no experience with it?

OT-hay seeding

4010 puller

Well-known Member

JMS/.MN

Well-known Member

Don-Wi

Well-known Member

David G

Well-known Member

acken fromwisc

Member

wisbaker

Well-known Member

4010 puller

Well-known Member

JMS/.MN

Well-known Member

donjr

Well-known Member

Wheat Farmer

Well-known Member

mab570diesel

Member

4010 puller

Well-known Member

mab570diesel

Member

formenwhogrow

Member

JMS/.MN

Well-known Member

mab570diesel

Member

mab570diesel

Member

Similar threads