– Chris Penrose, Extension Educator, Morgan County
My friend and co-worker Christine Gelley had a timely article last week in the Beef Team Newsletter (https://u.osu.edu/beef/2023/05/31/good-hay-weather/) and I want to expand a little more on some of the impacts of getting hay made in a timely fashion. Even though I had some common grasses heading out in early May, the quality is much better than most years and will be more digestible. Last year when we got up a field in early May, we noticed how fast the animals ate that hay last winter. That may need to be a consideration when estimating how much hay we will need for the winter if your hay quality is better than most years. This is a good thing though. Our animals will have better nutrition and should make it through the winter in better condition, reducing birthing issues after the first of the year.
Another issue we need to be aware of is the potential of reduced first cutting yields. How we can off-set this is the potential for an extra cutting or even stockpiling fields after second or third cutting to graze later in the fall or winter.
One other real advantage I noticed from the early cut hay last year was when we fed the round bales of hay, there were no weeds yet in the hay. I also noticed the same this year. The hemp dogbane and ironweed were not there or were just starting to grow.
In the photo above taken on March 2nd of this year, you see where we fed some hay last winter from hay that was baled before Memorial Day in 2022. When we fed that hay we did it by spacing out the bales to minimize impact to the ground. As you can see, the cows completely cleaned up that hay. When we removed the bale rings, there was no waste to remove or need to smooth out the ground. We even grazed those hayfields in early April before we let them grow for hay. We do this in part to return the nutrients where they are harvested and grazed from.
On our farm yields are just a little lower but we have good quality hay. We hope to take a second cutting off some of the fields, then stockpile. The other fields, we will put into the pasture rotation, depending on how much hay we think we will need. With the dry weather we are experiencing, I may try to make some extra hay. Getting it made before Memorial Day and within a week of the most recent rainfall has allowed new growth to start while there was still some moisture in the ground. If we do get some rain, hopefully we can have a second cutting.
And yes, I forgot what may be the most important impact of getting hay done early: I now have the month of June to work on other things around the farm and not worry about when I will be able to get our first cutting hay.