When we raised alfalfa hay, we always got a first cutting, in late June, and if there was a lot of moisture after that, sometimes a much smaller second cutting. Usually after we had hauled the bales off, we allowed the cattle to pasture the hayfields, and they left virtually no late growth. We never had any problems with die out or lower production the next year after pasturing the fields.
Of course we live on the dry side of the state. How much hay we got on the first cutting depended on Spring moisture and to a lesser extent, how warm it got in May and June. In years with dry Springs, we would get half the volume of alfalfa as in years with good moisture at the right times. But that's dryland farming...and in real dry years, we also hayed our creek bottom land, and if we did, it was always a challenge to get the grass hay bales dry enough to safely stack. We found that alfalfa would not survive on the too wet, subirrigated bottom land. Our best pasture, though, it stayed green all Summer.
If I thought I had any chance of the hay getting dry enough to bale and store, and if I though there was enough new growth to make it worth while, I think I would cut the hay. Especially if I was a little short of hay for the Winter.
But our weather has changed from the dry part of late Summer to the damp time of Fall. No chance of making decent hay around here this late.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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