Hay prices

[promiseacres]

Is the second cutting of a hay crop, later in the year after the first typically as much protein content as the first cutting's protein content?

It should be similar right, but then the amount of sun exposure closer to fall is probably slightly less, so I wonder if that can edge the numbers apart a bit.

Here in Indiana 2nd cutting grass hay is usually in July, and expected to be the best highest quality cut. This year it wasn't.... not for us. Not enough rain. We also can usually get 3 cuttings on grass, 4 maybe 5 for alfalfa fields. Many people wouldn't buy first cutting as it's usually taller, stemmed and less protein. After last few years and higher prices most people aren't as picky. I have seen hay for $2/ bale up to $13 recently. Low Quality weedy hay vs auction prices. That's for 50ish lbs squares.

 

[Baymule]

We got hay coming! We are buying 20 rolls of coastal bermuda for $55 per roll. We are set for the winter now. Russell was texting me pictures of the field as they were cutting, beautiful grass.

 

[Nao57]

Here in Indiana 2nd cutting grass hay is usually in July, and expected to be the best highest quality cut. This year it wasn't.... not for us. Not enough rain. We also can usually get 3 cuttings on grass, 4 maybe 5 for alfalfa fields. Many people wouldn't buy first cutting as it's usually taller, stemmed and less protein. After last few years and higher prices most people aren't as picky. I have seen hay for $2/ bale up to $13 recently. Low Quality weedy hay vs auction prices. That's for 50ish lbs squares.

Very interesting.

Thanks for explaining.

That's neat that you can get that many cuttings in a year.

 

[farmerjan]

First cutting is usually lower protein. The plant is growing fast and furious, in the race to get to the stage of bud and seed production. There is "NORMALLY", more moisture in the early stages of growth. The hay/grass is more "water" than nutrition so to speak. It gets stalky faster as the plant is trying to get fast growth for the seed production. There will normally be more fiber. It can be very difficult to get a good balance in first cutting as it will head out fast and if there is a prolonged wait due to rain, the quality quickly drops.
In alfalfa it is very stemmy for first cutting. Most alfalfa here is chopped first cutting for "silage or actually called haylage. It ferments and makes a very good feed as long as it is tested and the ration is balalnced.
2nd and 3rd cutting alfalfa is less stemmy, and very good protein...
We do not grow alfalfa due to working other jobs and not being able to always to get it made when it needs to be. According to the condition of the land. we normally make 2 cuttings of hay here, sometimes we get 3 cuttings. But it has to be optimal conditions to get the first cutting off early enough.....and our weather often has something to say about that. We make alot of orchard grass.... and mixed grass/pasture hay. The 2nd cutting of most grasses will be more nutritious, if it gets a decent growth pattern and water/rain, and the ground is well fed. The blades are "softer" and will dry well if the air is not humid. It is our preferred hay for calves for digestibility and willingness to eat it.

 

[Niele da Kine]

I'm not sure what variety of hay is at our local feed store, it's the small square type of bale, probably the 50-55# bales and it's $38 per bale so we don't buy any. The bunnies would probably like to eat hay, but they have to make do with fresh forage which we have available all year long.

Nobody is currently producing hay on this island that I know of, although several years ago I saw a small round baler. Not sure who's it was or if they're still using it, though.

 

[mysunwolf]

I'm not sure what variety of hay is at our local feed store, it's the small square type of bale, probably the 50-55# bales and it's $38 per bale so we don't buy any. The bunnies would probably like to eat hay, but they have to make do with fresh forage which we have available all year long.

Nobody is currently producing hay on this island that I know of, although several years ago I saw a small round baler. Not sure who's it was or if they're still using it, though.

You can technically make "hay" from anything. In ancient times in Europe, "hay" was grass mounds delicately trellised, but also piles of branches with the leaves still on them. This also provides nutrition in the form of the bark (of course, they were also feeding goats in addition to cattle).

So if you have a scythe, or even just hedge trimmers, you can cut forage, dehydrate it, and save it for later.

 

[Nao57]

You can technically make "hay" from anything. In ancient times in Europe, "hay" was grass mounds delicately trellised, but also piles of branches with the leaves still on them. This also provides nutrition in the form of the bark (of course, they were also feeding goats in addition to cattle).

So if you have a scythe, or even just hedge trimmers, you can cut forage, dehydrate it, and save it for later.

Wow.

That's a neat idea.

I actually like it when we can do that. We don't actually own something until we can make the whole process ourselves.

So its frustrating if you have animals but you have zero control over what's happening with markets and hay prices, and they are going up a lot with no bounds.

It feels good to be making stuff also. I haven't tried making hay yet.

But the feeling of making and setting up fencing and shelters was really great, especially with the thought of 'now I can control the process more to what I want and need'.

Thank you very much.

 

[Niele da Kine]

There's a few scythes around here, one with a really long grass blade on it, although the shorter blade works better on the grass around here since a lot of our grass is more like bamboo than grass. So we could make hay, but keeping it from mildewing would then become the next problem to solve. The bunnies can just eat fresh greens since that's like hay except not dried. Fresh has gotta have the same nutritional value, shouldn't it?

But, this is a topic about the price of hay. The feed store does sell hay around here, but I think it's brought in from the mainland so it's expensive.