~ grazing on prospective hay field for next year ~ ?

S

shiresrus123

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going to put a couple of acres aside for first attempt at making own hay next year, is it wise to graze it for now so it doesnt grow too long and if so, what time should we remove any grazing animals in order to get decent length for june? thanks
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I am not sure what s farmer would say but I graze my hay field from mid November until end Feb and it reliably produces a good crop each year. (it does get fertilised in April though)
 
I would certainly be looking to have the horses off the grazing by beginning of March to make the most out of spring grass coming through. You will need it harrowing too if you do not poo pick so you do not get rank areas of grass growing.
I do not think it matters overly if it gets too long for hay...depends what type of hay you want.
This year I have an area that I had not managed to get grazed from the previous summer and by the time it was cut it was very stalky and waist high! It has made great hay for me though with a good doer - it gives him something to chew on. The same will happen this year as the bit I had cut for hay in beginning of July has grown back well already, but it will have to be left now over the winter and spring and try to get it cut asap in the spring before it gets waist high! But it can all be cut no problem.
 
We take the horses off in April, then chain harrow. If the grass is left to grow for too long, it gets old and looses it greeness. This means it looses its quality and usually looses its sweet smell. As said before, though, this is fine for good doers. We make hay on some fields that are never grazed, and this hay is never as nice as the that has come from grazed fields.
 
Shils why??

we graze ours from now to end of march in 3 sections and we cut it end of june and got plenty, could have done with a couple of extra weeks if we wanted more but we didn't as had extra and sold some and had to make the most of the nice weather.
 
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Shils why??

we graze ours from now to end of march in 3 sections and we cut it end of june and got plenty, could have done with a couple of extra weeks if we wanted more but we didn't as had extra and sold some and had to make the most of the nice weather.

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Worms.
Also, as a lesser point, I find hay from horse-grazed fields is less palatable for horses, as they won't eat hay from the 'roughs'.
S
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we have about 3 acres, we got 210 small bales this year, we get more if we cut later, bout 250 last year when we cut in septmber (due to weather!)

more than we need!

If we wanted to I think we could just get a cut off it again now, our grass prob has a good couple of foot on it now. But like to keep it long as it cuts up less as their winter grazing,

we graze it in 3 sections, they have just started on the first third and will be on that till november. and then the other 2 do a couple of months each whilst they are only out in the day. Then they shift over to the summer paddock once out 24/7. Because we split it the first 2 thirds that we use start growing quicker as the horses are off it longer so that is where we get most of our cut from.

We like to cut early too as we have no arena so it means we can set jumps and arena out in the field for the summer
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I wouldn't ever buy hay off a field which horses had grazed, if you are planning to sell it?
S
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Don't understand that to be honest. I would prefer freshly grown grass rather than old stalky grass (assuming its nice clean grass of course!)
 
shils

but worm eggs won't survive the drying process let alone the storage time?? unless I'm missing something please enlighten me if I am

we don't really get any roughs, my mum is a religious poo picker, I let her carry on!

We have no trouble selling ours as not sprayed and guaranteed no ragwort and good grass.

(horses currently loving the new cut in the trailer!)
 
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shils

but worm eggs won't survive the drying process let alone the storage time?? unless I'm missing something please enlighten me if I am

we don't really get any roughs, my mum is a religious poo picker, I let her carry on!

We have no trouble selling ours as not sprayed and guaranteed no ragwort and good grass.

(horses currently loving the new cut in the trailer!)

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Obviously if you are poo picking and treating the fields correctly, then more of the hay will be palatable.
Worms can contaminate hay, however, despite the drying and the storage period (obviously if your grazers don't have worms they won't...
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S
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which worms are we talking.

Have a rather emminent (for that read worms are his life!) parasitologist prof at work/uni (I keep calling it work
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) and am sure when he was asked about this he said no it wasn't a problem as they can't survive the dry and haylage isn't an issue due to the anaerobic atmosphere.

Not being fussy, just curious!!
 
*wanders off to have a nose*

maybe I am thinking its because the eggs are still viable but won't become L3 infectives in the hay...........

too much brain work trying to remember
 
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Worms.
Also, as a lesser point, I find hay from horse-grazed fields is less palatable for horses, as they won't eat hay from the 'roughs'.
S
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There are no 'roughs' in our grazed fields , they are topped regularly and cross grazed with sheep and cattle, which also helps to keep the worms down.
 
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