BALING PASTURE GRASS ??

[Silkie Sue]

Good Day all,
this is my first visit to this site and i look forward to spending hours and hours on here ...
my question is does anybody know why it is not a good idea to bale up a pasture and keep the bales for feeding in the winter?
i have 10 acres with 1 horse, a pony, llama and billy goat . they are on the pasture full time during the summer and there is way more grass than they can eat and i have to cut it every year.
we have an old haybine and a square baler and this year we got it all working and just finished baling it up... the herd is eating the bales right off the wagon, i've heard it is not good to do this but i don't know of a reason why.....

 

[DonnaBelle]

You know, this is a very good question, so I am posting and hoping someone sees this and posts that has more experience with pasture hay than I do.

I have acquired some large bales myself, it is just prairie grasses with some small brouse baled in it.

DonnaBelle

 

[Silkie Sue]

the only reason i can think of is that the animals put manure in the field ...
and it might get into the bales but i found that it was not cut that low as to disturb the poo...
anyone else have an ideas?

 

[TGreenhut]

I know you're not supposed to feed tractor/mower cut grass because it gets gasoline in it which can be fatal if the animals eat it, but I don't know much about this stuff so if you have tools specifically designed for cutting and baling hay I don't see why not.

 

[kstaven]

No reason you can't feed it. Only place I have seen an issue is with grass cut with a conventional lawnmower and fed. Those short green pieces are not chewed and can ball in the digestive system.

 

[goodhors]

I guess it would depend on the quality of your pasture grass. Baling stuff that has gone to seed, dried up, includes tall weeds, does not have much in feed values as hay. But that could be good pasture for the few animals you have, so they don't get obese!

At this ALREADY late time of year, I would mow the pasture NOW and get any old stuff cut down. I would make the cut area into more than one pasture if you don't have that done. You don't want your grazing animals out in what will be hay. So maybe some electric fence run to reduce their grazing area into a couple paddocks you can rotate the animals between, would be a good start.

Then I would watch the cut area grow. Depending on WHAT exactly is sprouting, you may want to cut it for hay or not. Grasses may have gone to seed earlier, so plants will be dormant, not growing. Clovers can make good hay in a blend, but they get brittle or can be hard to dry so they don't mold in the bales. Any old Alfalfa from previous plantings?
With a mixed field, you may just have to choose a height for "finished product" and cut everything then. Can't let the grasses go to seed, maybe the alfalfa is not budding out yet, but it will never be exactly right to cut with mixed plants, so you "average" it out.

If you don't have much sprouting, good regrowth, you may want to try next year, but start the process lots earlier. Here in MI early hay is late May or you chance being rained out if you wait much longer. Other places start baling earlier or later, depends on your local weather. With cutting early, you have better regrowth with rain (you hope) to get a second cutting and perhaps a third.

If you decide you want to continue using the pasture for hay, you will want to get soil samples, then fertilize according to what the sample says your dirt needs. I would get my fertilizer thru the local fertiizer plant so they could mix exactly what the soil test says I need. Buying fertilizer on sale, from the box stores is wasting money, because they are not going to have the correct quantities of what you need for the dirt. They deal in "general" terms for "average" home lawns. Unneeded fertilizer will just wash away, not stay in the soil. That extra fertilizer runoff is a burden on the water system where you live. Buy exactly what you need, in the quantity you need, so your money gives you the best value in fertiilzers.

You might want to seed the pasture if your growth is thin, not containing food plants that will make good hay. I have not had good luck with broadcast seeding, very little in visible results and with the price of pasture seed, I consider broadcasting to be a waste of my money. I disc my fields to slice open the dirt, fertilize, then use a drop seeder to put seed right where I want it in the cuts, then drag over it with a chain harrow, hoping to cover the seeds. I try to do all this when there is rain forecast, so everything gets off to a good start. Seeding and fertilizing can be done here, in either spring or fall. Both have advatages.

I buy a pasture mix seed, so I have plants growing in every season. But I need pasture for all our horses. We have 6 horses and 2 calves this year that all graze, so keeping new grass coming is my goal. I would not get enough hay off my acreage to be helpful. We buy all our hay, don't have to worry about losing the crop or invest in haying equipment.

 

[cluckfan]

I also see no problem in using your pasture for hay. We have done it for years. We usually take the animals off of it for awhile so that any poop issues will be resolved. We have saved tons of money this way. As long as it is baled properly and early before it goes to seed. We used a spreader to fertilize our back pasture. It ends up being ice and green and full of clover. If you can't put your animals up, use electric to block off access to the area that you want to bale. I would love to have your equipment! We have to hire someone to cut our hay... Good luck

 

[LauraM]

I also see no problem in using your pasture for hay. We have done it for years. We usually take the animals off of it for awhile so that any poop issues will be resolved. We have saved tons of money this way. As long as it is baled properly and early before it goes to seed. We used a spreader to fertilize our back pasture. It ends up being ice and green and full of clover. If you can't put your animals up, use electric to block off access to the area that you want to bale. I would love to have your equipment! We have to hire someone to cut our hay... Good luck

Yep, this is exactly what we've done for years, too (except we've got our own equipment).

 

[twentynine]

I know you're not supposed to feed tractor/mower cut grass because it gets gasoline in it which can be fatal if the animals eat it, but I don't know much about this stuff so if you have tools specifically designed for cutting and baling hay I don't see why not.

The mower attachment and the engine/fuel tank are a long way apart. No piece of power machinery I know of operates with out fuel. POLs do not contact the grass being cut.

Hay baler? Hay rake? Hay cutter? All pulled by a fuel burning tractor.

 

[zzGypsy]

the only issue I can see, other than the late-season quality of the hay you'd get, would be parasites. you'll be picking up grass they'd normally avoid (because they've pooped on it), and you'll be recycling some parasite eggs with the hay. keep an eye on the worm load, have your vet do a fecal egg count before you start feeding it, and again in a month or so - you'll know if you have a problem.