Hay/Haylage should we be worried yet!!!

[scazza]

just a thought,is anybody starting to worry as the farmers should be thinking about their second cut now and around here there hasnt even been a first cutbecause of this god dam awful weather

 

[Dizzydancer]

We havnt cut ours yet either we only got a single cut for last 2 years and generally been a late September cut due to weather the concern this year is that the grass is now so long with the wind its being blown over and damaged so it may not be alive come September.

 

[Capriole]

Well Im already worried, dont know about anyone else. Nothings been cut around here either.

 

[hayinamanger]

Well, it's not ideal, but there's not a lot we can do. It's still reasonably within the hay making season, so we'll just hope that it stops raining for long enough to get it made. I was out in our mowing grass yesterday, pulling up a few ragwort plants, it still looks ok, not going brown underneath yet. I feel sorry for the contractors, when the weather does come right, everyone will be on the phone, there won't be enough hours in the day.

 

[Mrs_Wishkabibble]

Ours is usually done mid June but hasnt been done yet, still looks good and standing but wouldnt want to leave it many more weeks ideally.

Hopefully the weather may break soon but think everybody will want it doing at once and the contractors will be very busy trying to keep everybody happy so some people will be disappointed.

I think there will be alot more haylage this year as it needs less time to make.

 

[Squeak]

Our farmers already had a cut of haylage in june and I think I saw some hay being cut the other week, so hopefully it is not bad throughout the country and the weather might ease up in time!

 

[mcnaughty]

I was talking to a feed merchant a couple of days ago about this very subject - he did not know of anyone who had cut anything yet. I have to say that I know of one that he didn't but of course the hay isn't really ready yet.

Surely there cannot be much more left up there!!

If/when it does eventually stop we will have more hay than we can shake a stick at so fingers crossed it might actually be uber cheap this winter!!

 

[Toffee44]

I know round here (Chichester/ Midhurst) that a few farmers will be only doing hayledge this year.

 

[MochaDun]

Neither the yard that grow their own or one of the bigger farms that supplies hay/haylage up the road in the village has been able to cut and I think the YO is getting worried.

 

[Littlelegs]

No, farmer always cuts the horses hay late anyway, sometimes September. It's much better for natives & good doers cut late as it isn't as rich.

 

[Dizzydancer]

Round here a lot of farmers have cut a lot of haylage/silage when heat wave end of June but not all there fields. I think maybe seen a few who managed get some hay. But i no a lot of fields which normally cut havnt wet.

 

[marmalade76]

Well we're bloody worried! Our grass was ready to mow three or four weeks ago but we've only managed to make some silage so far. Once it stops raining the ground will need at least a week to dry out and as the time passes, the grass is getting older and the weeds are growing like mad. Not happy

 

[Indy]

The thing is it's unlikeley there will be enough hay to shake a stick at because I would say that a second cut isn't going to happen for a lot of folk this year.

 

[L&M]

Trying not too, but................

This time last yr we had already had out haylage stacked ready in the barn. We had it off the first cut, which hasn't been done yet. The farmer normally takes a second cut for his own needs, and am now starting to worry that he may only be able to get one cut and justifiably keep it for himself.

He hasn't contacted me yet to say there is a problem, so am keeping everything crossed.