late hay

My wife's family owns a 10 acre hay field in upstate NY. No one would hay it anymore so we bought a JD 2040 and a new 72" squealer rotary mower. We cut the field last fall. Had some tractor issues and just got it back from the dealer yesterday.

My wife and her aunt are happy that Bobolinks are using the field to nest so we will not cut it until after Aug 1.

So of course a neighbor just asked if he could hay it. Some of the creeks up there are bone dry so I am guessing there may be a hay shortage this year.

They won't let him until after Aug 1.

I think cattle are okay with the first cutting and horses like the 2nd and 3rd.

If this is all true would a farmer want 1st cut hay after Aug 1?

If not and we mowed Aug 1 or so would he want a 2nd cutting in Sept?

There are acres of being abandoned fields there so it's no emergency on this farmers part, no cows will die based on this decision.

Ecology-wise it is probably more important for the bobolinks to have a nest site.

Thanks,
Bill

You could cut 1st cutting in August, it's not a bad thing. Last fall a woman asked me to cut her field, it hadn't been done all year and I ended up doing it in early October. The only problem waiting on a first cutting is that the second cutting grows up underneath it. It won't hurt anything though, a horse farm down the street took it and it was fine.

>>The only problem waiting on a first cutting is that the second cutting grows up underneath it.

I don't get it. I'd of thought a cutting encourages additional growth allowing for another cut.

I bush hogged the field last year so that may help with weeds, no saplings, nothing heavier than milkweed and make it more desirable as hay?

...or the neighbors just saw the 2040 being unloaded and wondered what was up.

Bill

wont hurt anything doubt you would get a second cutting that soon that late in the year though especially an old hay field

You'll see what I mean when you cut it. Maybe it won't be too bad in August, but you get an uncut field in the fall, you can tell the long, brownish first cutting grass apart from the shorter, greener second cutting grass around it. Sounds funny I know.

The fact you bush hogged it last year should defanitely help. Throw some fertilizer down after you bale it and you'll be in even better shape next year. There should be no reason that your hay would'nt be good for horses, they'll eat it right up

I've seen late hay in the last few years around this area, due to the rains preventing it getting done on time, like '04 '05, '06 and it's just lesser quality for the most part. You may get another undergrowth come up through the grasses that have topped out, gone to seed and are now tan. So I think there comes a point where you may actually want that to improve the nutritional content, because you may encounter a stalky tan crop, when drying it will bleach out further horse customers will balk at it, but as long as it's been dried with no rain, most horses will still pick through it, and if in stalls the rest gets mashed into the bedding, makes for more labor to clean and sift through etc. Last year, we contracted 3000 bales from a local farmer, and he had that scenario with it being a late 1st cut, and you could see the other grasses that came up, it seemed to help, also appeared his stand was pretty decent, just the usual, weather, help etc. so it was late. What we got of 2nd cut was nice hay compared to what I have seen grown in that area, 35 miles north of where I am here, the fields don't produce like they do over here, some of the crap I have seen baled, theres a guy who literally bales what I would call 70% weeds and 30% grasses and calls it hay, golden rod, you name it, but it's funny, he bales the 1st cut real late every year, and what comes up is always grass only, just never gets tall enough to make it worth baling.

More suitable for dairy I suppose if late. If you cut that late you may still get a 2nd cutting, depends on the rain, and other variables. I have seen fields that were planted in the last few years, with real nice stands let go, some did not change much, others goldenrod and weeds started to take over.

We just lost out on a nice window of opportunity to bale, we had absolutely perfect weather for 7 days, grasses just topped out, not too stalky, but the guy I have been working with and helping out as needed was hospitalized and is not allowed to work by any means, until further notice, and even then, hard to say what is going to happen, he's got over 150 acres to bale of his own and 3 customers to bale only, + trucking of haylage.

This may turn into a dilemma, as his fields are taken care of, he's got some real nice stands of orchard and similar grasses, once that 1st cut comes off on time, like late May, to around the present + or -, the 2nd cut is just really good quality hay, the horses devour this hay, and even any loose chaff I don't waste. If it is let go and I am not sure what in heck we can do, if his son will have some time, where 2 of us can work on it, how much we can get done, weather etc. I hate seeing those fields let go, as first cut can vary widely in quality depending on when you can get it cut, but that 2nd cut quality depends on the 1st coming off on time.

Forgot to mention if you mow and use that rotary cutter, then want to bale the next cutting, be careful of the dead cut grasses, left in clumps or what have you, you don't want it to get baled up, will also leave dead spots in the field best to get it off the field if you can, or take it down in height by doing a few passes to chop it up better. I cut a small field next to my house, it's all orchard grass and topped out by the time I get to it usually and boy there's a lot of dead, decaying grass that you don't want if you were to bale it, then of course the tire always mashes down grass that does not get cut, so if I cut it low, I end up going around a 2nd time the opposite way to shred it up and get those tire mashed areas to stand up a little and get cut, still leaves a lot of dead stuff, better to rotary cut in early mid May, which I have done in the past on this field, there is not so much deadfall to contend with and it would seem the following cut would be real nice and no problem baling as the left over from the previous cut was shredded and settled out, it kind of resets the clock, and it may not look so appealing for nesting critters being lower. One reason I let my piece go, is the deer always have fawns in it, gives em a chance to make it and a place to have em, there's a doe hanging around right now, should be any time now always nice to see twins, sometimes triplets, never thought that possible, but I have photos of same.

That's kind of strange. We do a lot of haying, starting in June, and continuing thru the summer and we certainly have no shortage of Bob-O-Links. Maybe, over the 115 years they know where we'
re going to cut and nest elsewhere. There is plenty of nest area around the periphery of the fields, etc.

I'm curious, how many tons per acre do you cut? We've already had our second cutting, 3T/acre.

No bob-o-links, but a number of other birds and critters.

Bob