Lambsquarter Mixed Grass Hay????

Bill VA

Well-known Member
I’ve got some small fields that are not really intended for hay, but have an abundance of thick undergrowth of grass, but also massive amounts of lambsquarter. We called it stick weed around here when I was a boy.

Anyone bale up this type of lambsquarter mix grass for cow, goat and/or sheep hay?

We have a lot of inquiries for “goat” square bales of hay and I think I can get quite a few bales given the August rains we’ve had. Even if it’s a few bucks a bale, I’ve cleaned off the field and maybe gleaned a little more revenue for the farm.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
 
It’s tough to sell people weeds.

I’d make it for my own use.

Older lambs quarters tend to be kind of stuff and take over the look of a bale, so I guess you have to know your customer, if this would bother them or not, or how bad the weeds are really.

I had 2 fields of small grains this year, sold the straw off he field of one of them, and wasn’t saying anything about the other field. It was full, I mean hair on a dog full, of green foxtail. Could hardly see the stars in the fluff behind the combine. Neighbor drove up on his 4 wheeler, and wondered if he could buy any straw off that field I wasn’t getting for my own.

I said, well, have you looked at it? He said yes, little pigeon grass in it, looks like it would make great steer feed.

Ok, great, you can have 75% of i! Just wanted to be sure you knew what it was!

So, it all depends. I’d sure like the idea of getting it cut off as you say, just would want to find the right customer that appreciates it for what it is.

Paul
 
Without a doubt we can sell it, at a discount of course. I’m just wondering if anyone bales up this stuff and what the potential feed value of it might be. I think some of the organics assert that many weeds we routinely spray to get out of our fields are in fact very nutritious, just unsightly compared to a bale of Timothy.

Thanks!
 
It adds no value, and will all but stop horse owners from feeding it. Like most other plants (it feels like it at least), it can be toxic to horses in some instances. Thats all horse people need to hear. Cows will eat around it.

If you havet cut the fields yet this year, dont mess with baling this late in the year. Selling Sept made first cutting square bales will just hurt any chance of selling hay in the future. The nutritional value is very poor in most cases.
 
Look Lambsquarter up in an old Morrison Feeds and Feeding its right up there with alfalfa in feed value and better than most so called hay grasses.Cows and goats (horses too) are smarter than most of their owners they'll eat your hay mix and do good off of it.Of course like other plants if you cut it while its still tender and growing its a lot more palatable.
 
Guess I should reword my reply. It has nutritional value if eaten, but it wont be. They just eat around it. So unless someone is grinding the hay, its not adding anything and its very noticeable. So people just see weeds.
 
I baled a couple fields that were full of briars , horse nettle and golden rod. Goat owners bought a bunch of it. Also this late in the year I sold 50+ bales for fall decorations. Should be an easy sell. Especially if it's cheaper than straw for decorating. I wanted to clean the fields up so it got baled.
 
Have these areas not been cut this year? If not the lambsquarter will be all stem and stalk and not much good for feed. It will show up as the predominant species in the bales and probably make the bales dusty. I wouldn’t bale it to sell unless you have a customer that you want to get rid of. Later cut weedy bales are not good feed for anything. Do you notice how animals won’t eat mature old weeds in a pasture? Imagine those weeds all dried out and most of the leaves off leaving dry stems. That kind of stuff is tough on animals mouth to chew and very little value for feed.
 
When I made the field of weeds post, after we mowed the lambsquater, those spots are dead at the moment about a month or more. For us the lambsquater seemed to smell. We fed a few bales to the cows (they took 10 bales off the trailer) and they ate it up. We ended up tossing a wagon and had a few people buy some bales for their gardens. A week later we gave the cows the rest and they ate it all while there was plenty to eat.
 
There was an article in Grassland Farmer a few years ago about cattle eating habits,author said its a learned thing on what they eat that is learned from the herd while growing up.I believe it, my wife bottle raised an Angus calf and kept it with the goats no other cattle up until she was about a year and half old.That cow is now over 5 years old and still knock down saplings to browse off of like a goat.
 
Ive seen cows devour a bale of first crop first cut alfalfa that had more weeds in it than hay they really like kochia
 
Lambsquarter is good feed, don't dry well, but is very rich in vitamin A and some minerals, plus it tastes good, I eat it myself!
 
Guess no one realizes that its September. Go ahead and sell some Sept first cutting squares, see how customers like it.
 
Cut it and bale it sell it cheap for goats 🐐 or whatever just don’t advertise it as dairy hay .
 

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