Forages and Pasture

How to Sample Hay

Mindy Ward, Editor, Missouri Ruralist
(Previously published online with FarmProgress, Missouri Ruralist: July 5, 2024)

(Image Source: Hay and Forage Grower)

With the recent drought Ohio and much of the United States has experienced this year to date, analyzing and understanding forage quality will be critical for operation success. Wether you are feeding a few sheep in your back yard or have 1,ooo ewes indoors, knowing what you are providing to your stock in your pastures or in the feed bunks is important. This week, Mindy Ward outlines key steps to follow when collecting a hay sample.

As hay condition comes into question, take a closer look at your harvested bales.

Hay quality is a concern this year, Continue reading How to Sample Hay →

Plan Now to Make your Summer Forage Seeding!

Stan Smith, OSU Extension PA, Fairfield County

With Ohio’s wheat harvest being completed early this year it allows ample time to plan and prepare to do an August forage seeding. Over the next month soil fertility testing should be accomplished, perennial and biennial weeds can be controlled, and ample time remains for selecting and securing the desired forage species for seeding.

During the winter of 2021 the first session of the Ohio Beef Cattle Management School focused on making quality hay for beef cattle with an emphasis on soil fertility and seed species selection when doing a new seeding. The first video embedded below is the 38 minute presentation from that first Beef School session when Noble County Extension Educator Christine Gelley discussed considerations for selecting species for a new seeding and other critical considerations when establishing a new stand of forage. Beginning at about the 14 minute mark of the presentation Gelley spends a few minutes discussing the specifics of seed species selection for new seedings.

Also, posted in the second video below, Jason Hartschuh, OSU Extension Field Specialist for Dairy Management and Precision Livestock, discusses soil fertility practices that will prolong the life, quality and productivity of hay and forage stands.

What’s Wrong with Stacking Round Bales?

Amber Friedrichsen, Associate Editor, Hay and Forage Grower
(Previously published in Hay & Forage Grower: July 2, 2024)

(Image Source: Hay & Forage Grower)

Moving round bales out of a field and under cover may seem like one more item on the to-do list of a busy hay season, but rushing to complete this step may result in improper storage that can squander the forage yield and quality farmers worked so hard to achieve.

In a recent article from the Midwest Forage Association’s Clippings newsletter, Sarah Bauder with South Dakota State University encourages best storage practices to conserve dry matter and quality in round bales. The forage field specialist suggests bale storage is just as important to product value as plant maturity, harvest management, and pest control.

Dry matter and quality losses occur when water is trapped in hay and causes spoilage. This can be exacerbated by several factors, including hay binding, storage structures, bale stacking, and time.

Densely made bales are Continue reading What’s Wrong with Stacking Round Bales? →

How to Take Hay Samples

Allison Lund, Indiana Prairie Farmer, Senior Editor
(Previously published online with FarmProgress Indiana Prairie Farmer: June 14, 2024)

Get into the routine of sampling after every cutting. Here are tips for how to access a probe and how to take proper samples.

“I know my hay” is a common reason folks give for why they do not sample their hay. However, environmental factors can alter nutrient levels and create a scenario where what you think you have and what you do have for hay do not match.

A solid habit to form is sampling hay after each cutting, according to Nick Minton, beef systems specialist at Purdue. He echoes the sentiment that nobody can know the nutrient levels of their hay without testing.

“The most-skilled producer will look at a hayfield and say, Continue reading How to Take Hay Samples →

Hay Barn Fires a Real Hazard When the Rain Keeps Coming

Jason Hartschuh, Dairy Management and Precision Livestock, Field Specialist

Mother nature has been at it again, hardly giving us enough days to make silage or balelage let alone dry hay. There is a risk of pop-up showers every afternoon it seems like. The ground is also wet so the forage laying against the ground does not dry very well. These conditions are very dangerous for hay harvest since wet hay does not just rot it may also burn. Hay fires are caused when bacteria in wet hay create so much heat that the hay spontaneously combusts in the presence of oxygen. At over 20% moisture, mesophilic bacteria release heat, causing temperature to rise between 130 F to 140 F with temperature staying high for up to 40 days. As temperatures rise thermophilic bacteria can take off in your hay and raise the temperature into the fire danger zone of over 175 F.

Assessing your risk
If hay was baled between Continue reading Hay Barn Fires a Real Hazard When the Rain Keeps Coming →

Forage Maturity Across Ohio

Jason Hartschuh, Dairy Management and Precision Livestock, Field Specialist

Warm weather this spring especially over the last couple of weeks has rapidly progressed forage maturity. Harvesting forages at the proper time for the livestock you are feeding is critical to farm profitability. Poor quality forages must be supplemented to maintain livestock. In the southern part of the state, many forage grasses are in head while in the northern part of the state, some varieties of Orchard grass and barnyard grass are in head but most are still in the vegetative stage but will be in head within a week.

Many growers may base harvest decisions primarily on alfalfa maturity; however, this method can be misleading due to climatic variations affecting the rate of bud and flower development.

Spring changes of alfalfa %NDF can increase about 5 percentage units each week. Therefore, it is imperative for growers to be monitoring their Continue reading Forage Maturity Across Ohio →

Yellow Flowers of Concern

Christine Gelley, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Noble County

Fields along the floodplain have been turning yellow over the past couple weeks as cressleaf groundsel is bolting and flowering. From a distance, a haze of yellow floats above the field. Upon closer inspection, you will find collections of daisy-like flowers on slender stems waving their sunny faces in the breeze. While it sounds sort of dreamy and whimsical, this plant (also known as butterweed) can cause livestock poisonings in harvested or grazed forages. All parts of the plant are considered toxic in both fresh and dried states.

Cressleaf groundsel is a member of the aster family and displays yellow daisy-like blooms in the springtime on upright hollow stems that have a purple hue. These plants are Continue reading Yellow Flowers of Concern →

Forage and Pasture Planting Calendar

Ed Brown, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Athens County

Throughout the years, I have received many calls as to when the best time is to plant pasture grasses and forages. Farmers and ranchers also wanted to know the recommended seeding rates for either a pure stand or as a forage mix. I would always refer them to the Ohio Agronomy Guide and give them the bit of information they needed. I knew that there had to a more efficient way to get out this information.

At first, I developed a spreadsheet with all the forages and which months they should be planted. This worked to answer questions quickly but wasn’t really a resource that producers could quickly access. This led to the development of the Forage & Pasture Planting Calendar.

(Forage and pasture planting recommendations for April. To view the full calendar, be sure to visit the link provided below.)

I’ve taken the information from the Agronomy guide and put it into an easy to reference calendar that could be hung on the wall or on the side the fridge. The top of the calendar includes information and tips from the Ohio Agronomy Guide. The remainder of the calendar is organized by month with appropriate planting times and seeding rates.

The link to the calendar is https://athens.osu.edu/sites/athens/files/imce/Ag_Docs/Final%20Calendar_1.pdf

If you would like to print the calendar, it’s best done on 11 x 17 tabloid paper.

Use a Grazing Stick to Measure Forages

Christine Gelley, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Noble County
(Previously published on Farm Progress – Ohio Farmer: April 17, 2024)

Sticks help determine an estimate of available forage dry matter per grazing paddock.

Measuring the amount of forage available for livestock to graze is a helpful task for designing and adjusting pasture rotations for grazing livestock.

There are many potential methods for measuring the amount of forage mass growing in a pasture. All of them require time spent in the pasture and repetitious measurements to develop estimations of whole pasture forage availability.

One of the simplest methods for estimating forage availability is using a grazing stick.

What does the grazing stick do?
A grazing stick combines information about forage height, forage density, species of forages growing in the pasture and residual grazing heights into a tool that looks like a yardstick. Continue reading Use a Grazing Stick to Measure Forages →