CntryBoy777 - The Lazy A** Acres Adventures

[frustratedearthmother]

they say that PawPaw's fish is the absolute Best....so, I can't say no to that....

No - you can't! Enjoy!!

 

[CntryBoy777]

We are FINALLY getting 4 dry days in a row. Al cut a good amount of hay today, don't know if he is going to ted tomorrow or cut more. He has lots of acres left.

I have to get the grass cut this wknd before temps go back up. I've gotten behind on fields 3 & 4 and they could be cut for hay if I had the equipment to do so. I will probably have to let those go, because I'll have to work in a couple of more fishing excursions in before the boys head home....

 

[Mike CHS]

This may have already been asked but is there enough grass there to benefit somebody to come cut it for hay for themselves? They get the hay and you get it cut.

 

[CntryBoy777]

The 2 fields that I don't cut regularly will produce about 3 rolls. The man that used to cut them quit a couple of yrs ago and we don't have anyone close that has animals....nearest is about 10 miles away.....mainly coporate farmers growing grains in the fields across the road. In the past 5-10 yrs many in the area have quit because of age or got out all together...3 rolls would only be about $105 worth because it is mixed grass....mainly johnson and broom sedge. I'd do it for myself if I had the equipment....the goats don't eat very much at all and we use it mostly for duck bedding. Around this area the return on animals isn't great, so most have given up on it....and the younger generations aren't interested in the lifestyle. I'll end up cutting it or getting the neighbor to bush-hog it for me and then finish it with the mower. I don't seed back there for winter.....just field 1.

 

[Bruce]

Too bad it can't be cut for a purpose. But if my fields are any indication, you NEED to cut them or you will have weed fields, not hay fields, after not too long.

 

[CntryBoy777]

My thoughts are to attempt to work it into the routine of cutting and seed it with bermuda or another lower growing grass and allow it to choke out the sedge and johnson grass. That way in the summer when it may get cut every 3-4wks it won't be the head-high stuff that it is now.

 

[farmerjan]

Good luck choking out johnson grass....never happen here. Johnson grass grows faster and taller than anything there is and it will take over in weeks. It makes good feed if not stressed....I think a couple of steers for those back pastures would make you a few dollars and keep things at a manageable state.

 

[greybeard]

Put a couple of pasture ready weaned steers on that JG in early spring. They'll get fat on it. Just have 'em off it before first frost--prussic acid danger after it gets frost on it. Move 'em or sell them in the fall. Repeat next year. JG won't stand heavy grazing or mowing, but will come back spotty for a year or 2 from the seed bank if it's been there a long time.
Good luck getting bermuda to crowd out JG, and bermuda is hard to get started and established anyway.
You'll have better luck with Bahia or Fescue, if you know how to manage fescue and if fescue will grow in N. Miss. It's a cool season grass for the most part, but it will stockpile and decrease your hay needs in winter. Won't grow in my area and besides, the neighbors would burn me out if I brought any in. Learn about endophytes and ergot before planting fescue, unless it is one of the endophyte free varieties.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I was wondering about Bahia here, but the bermuda is prolific in this area along with Dalis grass. The goats love the Dalis, but the thin blades of the bermuda they pass up. All the hay for sale here is Tifton 44 bermuda, so I'd like to grow something else. I'm still toying with the idea of getting 2-3 steers, but there is work to be done and my sister dropped a bombshell on me last month that will take much of my expendable cash away from my projects....but, where there is a Will there is a Way. So, I'll just have to see how that goes. Until ya posted in another thread about JG @greybeard , I didn't ever realize that JG was of the sorghrum family....but, it sure turned the "Bulb" on in my head. I had researched pasture grasses before I got the goats and learned about prussic acid dangers with those plants. The past several yrs they grew milo in the fields across the roads and after they harvested the spillage would regrow and I would pick some for the goats, but not after frost.....they loved it. Guess I will do some research on Bahia and see what I can find out about it......

 

[greybeard]

You probably will want to research 'dallis grass staggers" too.
Another malady caused by ergot. I know lots of folks a little further west and north of me feed it both in hay and growing forage, but it too has to be 'managed'.

https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/files/library/67/FenceJULY-SEPT12.pdf