Seeding for hay

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Bill

My other field is Timothy nad it is a nice hay and preferred by the horse people. It is baled much later but you only get one cutting. Either one of these it is the wrong time to plant, you will have too much competition from the weeds. You want to plant in the late summer.

Alfalfa is nice but not sure if you want the expense and unless you"re ready to plant now it is getting too late to get it in the ground, at least in my area, you may be a few weeks behind me depending on how far north you are.

Not adding lime is going to hurt the yields so keep that in mind, not sure what kind of arrangement you have worked out with your neighbor.

It is an annual plant and has to be replanted yearly. That makes it nice as you have to plow the field annually, and reseed annually, so you have weed control and no grassy residue like you would have with a grass.

Costs $21 per ton here and we plant 100# per acre. Make roughly 5 round bales per acre for 5 ton per acre yield.

That and coastal bermuda are the forage of choice in this area (but you don't want bermuda, unless you want your trees to come up in it).

Mark