Think our hay might have gotten torched again

Philip d · Jan 5, 2018

We had a nice amount of rain in the spring after planting and the hay seed germinated nicely. We had almost no rain all July and a lot of it wilted and shrivelled up under the standing barley. Our seed salesman said to be hopeful as long as it started nicely in the spring even though it looked dead the roots should still be alive. We had some rains after harvest and it started to perk up again. Yesterday we got over a foot of snow than it blew very hard overnight from the south and most of it melted. Lots of water and slush laying everywhere and it's supposed to freeze very hard tonight into tomorrow. I expect that will cause enough ice problems to ruin most any new alfalfa just the same as it did last January. Do any of you grow oats peas and barley as a silage crop? If this January ice is going to be the new norm for here we need to rethink our silage crops plan and gear more towards annual silage crops instead of hoping it winters well and will be good the next year. We already grow enough corn for half our milk cow feed.

Bruce from Can. · Jan 5, 2018

Dairy Farmers near Ottawa face similar winter kill problems. So some have given up on alfalfa,and now ?forage soybeans ? . The beans grow to waste high, and are cut with a doc bine , then chopped with forage harvester , and put into a silo, tower , bunk , or bag. This stuff has the same feed values as alfalfa, and will yield similar to three cuttings of hay. The one cut is taken in August. John Deer?s magazine, the furrow, did a feature story about dairy farmer Nick Thurlar maybe two years ago, and how he was doing this very thing, of course with his John Deer equipment. You should try to find archive issues of the furrow on line, and read the story. Bruce

Philip d · Jan 5, 2018

Thank you Bruce! I know a few people that planted oats peas and barley I think I'll take your advice and look into that.

islandgreen · Jan 5, 2018

I don't live very far from you. I don't think this storm will hurt it cause the ground didn't thaw.I would be more concerned in March when you get a few days of mild temperatures then get freezing temperatures.

Philip d · Jan 5, 2018

That's a true point too,we got wiped out right in our area last year hard not to be nervous lol. I'll give it a hard look in early May and if it doesn't look good than I better have a backup plan so we're not stuck feeding grass and weed mixture again.

Richard G. · Jan 5, 2018

A big dairy south a few miles south of us grows a lot of barley for silage.
Richard in NW SC

coonie minnie · Jan 5, 2018

Philip, how long is the stubble out there?? If you have stems up above the ice, it can do a lot to help prevent winterkill- they act as kind of a snorkel!

I've had stuff I thought would never make it do just fine, and the other way around too. The best solution is not to worry about it too much. It won't help, and you won't know til March or April anyway.

Cereal silages can work, but I think you will find them somewhat less digestable than what you are looking for long term. Good luck with all this.

Philip d · Jan 5, 2018

That's what my wife says too lol we have a ridged head combine and usually leave around 6"?

coonie minnie · Jan 5, 2018

So the alfalfa plants are short yet? I've avoided a lot of winterkill over the years by not taking the last cutting if I don't need to. Then, early in spring I cut the dead growth off with the flail chopper so it isn't the first cutting. Not foolproof, but so far so good.

Philip d · Jan 5, 2018

Oh ,that's the grain stubble height ,the underserved hay would have been a bit higher than that come freeze up. We rarely take a cut past late August here,it's usually knee high or close to it late fall on years that we cut the hay.

Think our hay might have gotten torched again

Philip d

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Bruce from Can.

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Philip d

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islandgreen

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Philip d

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Richard G.

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coonie minnie

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Philip d

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Philip d

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