Mystang's Homesteading Circus

[CntryBoy777]

If ya have blisters that haven't popped yet....ya can get a sterilized sewing needle and prick it close to the edge of it, ya can absord the fluid with gauze or TP is what I use, and then push the skin down to the raw....they will seal together and ya can work with it without bandages....just wear gloves....if they have already popped and the skin came off already.....just think of that tire and shed the tears as ya shove your hands in as warm as ya can stand hot water and salt....ya can put em in and take em out as many times as ya wish, but keep doing it til they don't sting anymore.....with the first one, the skin will grow off and by that time the raw will toughen.....

 

[farmerjan]

A few suggestions on hay cutting. Depending on the grass type......For optimal nutrition you want to cut just as it starts to make seed heads. If it is alfalfa or clover, cut when 10 % is in bloom. CUT earlier than later for better quality. Our orchard grass we try to get cut first cutting as we see the first "heading out". It never happens that way due to the weather/ rain almost always puts us behind. For us, we start when we get the first window, and the hay is usually knee high or more. We just cut a field of orchard grass that had headed out and was brown. Way over mature; but it did scatter alot of seed back on the ground so the reseeding was not a waste. There was alot of 2nd growth coming up through it so it was still palatable but definitely NOT optimal nutrition. We cut alot of places, rented, given to us, whatever. So we start with the first place that is getting heads and work from there. If you have a small number of acres, you can do a better job of getting it at the right time - IF THE WEATHER CO-OPERATES. I am sure the guy you got the hay equipment from will tell you that. Any hay that is not moldy is better than snowballs in the winter. Sure better quality is the goal. You can supplement their feed with alfalfa pellets and/or some grain... but they need the hay/roughage so over mature is better than none.
For second cutting, you need to determine the type of grass or forage. OG we cut 2nd cutting when it just looks tall enough to make cutting worthwhile. It does not get the seedheads for 2nd cutting. I will try to measure the height on ours to give you an idea when ours is close to ready to cut. The same principles apply to alfalfa with the bloom. Do not cut alfalfa close to frost. Wait until after the first frost for the last cutting so the crowns and roots are going into dormancy.

 

[mystang89]

Thanks for the info @farmerjan ! Quick question. Why not wait for the grass to get seed heads for the second cutting like you can for the first? Why is there a difference in the nutritional value when, in my mind, everything seems the same?

I'd still like to find an expert to help figure out what the majority of my pasture is but just my limited research makes me think it's a mix of Timothy, clover and tall fescue. Grasses all look the same to me in pictures though (except clover, that one is pretty easy lol).

Any hay that is not moldy is better than snowballs in the winter.

Words to live by!

I truly do appreciate the knowledge shared by members here. It's unfortunate, but many of the old timers that are repositories of knowledge around here are doing off and the people who came after them didn't want to soak up that knowledge, deeming it useless. This makes finding things out much more difficult and it's in large part thanks to the charity of persons like you all that I have even this imperfect knowledge. Hopefully I can pass that on to my children and they can perfect it in time.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to share this epic race my son and I are privileged to see. I think if we had blinked we probably would have missed it.

 

[Bruce]

Which snail did you bet on?

The tractor tire is low and I'm REALLY hoping the bead broke. I'll try to air out up again them keep an eye on it. If it sinks again I'll take it off, break the bead completely, then seal the bead again and air it again.

Maybe a stupid question but why do you hope the bead broke rather than there be a pluggable hole??

I have more blisters on my hand than I've had in a while and they're in spots I didn't know I could get them lol.

I take it you don't have a backhoe on the tractor. That's a long way to dig through gravel and clay.

 

[mystang89]

If the bead is broke I figure it'll be about as easy to fix as a car tire that's bead is broke. As for the plug, I had read that they don't last long at all. All of this is just stuff that I've read though which as we all know can be very different from reality.

I just finished cutting the pasture. MANY questions forthcoming tonight lol.

Edit. Oh and nope, no backhoe or ditch witch.

 

[Bruce]

I don't know about tractors but plugs in the tread (can't fix sidewall holes) can last many many many thousands of miles.

 

[greybeard]

If anyone has ag of wisdom they like to share about how to know if you're grass is ready to be cut feel free to share. One person told me that when the grass gets a bit below your knees it's ready. I'm sure that depends on what grass but it's a starting point for me.

One word.
Boot

 

[Baymule]

You need some ducks to eat those snails, they are hosts to developmental stages of liver flukes.

 

[mystang89]

One word.
Boot

Boot... Like a boot to kick some sense in me?

 

[mrs.mystang89]

Check out what I saw crossing the road on my way to work this morning. I love this neighborhood we call home