Posted by ridgeandvalley on July 28, 2020 at 19:35:57 from (184.100.92.221):
Just thought I'd share a success story. Even though I'm REAL small scale, I think it shows what a difference a scientific approach makes in hay making.
I've got about 10 acres of tillable land. I pasture about 3 or 4 and make hay off the rest. For years I had a neighbor make the hay for me. Didn't do much input. Every now and then I'd have a generic shot of fertilizer spread.
A few years ago, I started doing the hay myself with some old equipment and the help of some of my inlaws who grew up on farms but no longer farm. They kind of like "playing farm" a couple of times a year and it's become kind of a nice chance for everybody to come together and use some old equipment. I cut and rake with a Ford 960, and my wife's uncle brings his old Case tractor to bale with.
I finally decided I was going to take my "good field" (about 5 acres) and get a little more scientific about the process. I had soil testing done. Fertilized based on the reports. That helped, but I had a bad problem with weeds due to years of neglect, so this spring I had it sprayed to knock out the bedstraw and other weeds. First cutting was pretty nice. Put another shot of nitrogen on after 1st cutting. Just put up second cutting yesterday. Best hay I've ever put up. Orchard / timothy grass with almost zero weeds. Took 270 small squares off the 5 acres (just a few years ago, before putting some money into the field, I was getting about 100 second cutting bales off the same field).
Next, I'm going to start working on my smaller field (only 3 or 4 acres) and get that producing better as well.
Even though it's just a hobby for me, I find it very interesting.
The last picture shows my 2 boys and their great grandfather who's been battling some health problems this past year, but couldn't miss coming out to oversee the haymaking.
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