We are getting close to doing some haying. Our main crop is divided into four fields, so we don’t do it all at once. We stagger them, maybe a few days or a week apart, as the weather forecast dictates. Our main crop is alfalfa/grass mix. Then we have these other little bits and pieces of fields, that are of my own doing, had never been hayed before we bought this place and moved here… low pasture, close to the creek, so we don’t irrigate these spots. But they had potential. And they are now little hayfields. DH cuts them for me, and I get the rest of it done, sequentially. It’s all natural grasses, nothing seeded. I have this mare that can’t eat alfalfa (gets colic on alfalfa- it took me forever to figure this one out) and this is done for her. The first of these little fields is/was the dumping ground for the excavation for the indoor arena… it’s all topsoil. But was a huge pile of topsoil for the first few years, which grew all sort of crap and weeds, surrounded by willow swamp, fallen logs, and general detritus, and old beaver workings. Otherwise known as “a mess”. I cleaned that crap up. All of it. Burned what was burnable. Then called in a bulldozer, and eventually we levelled the pile of topsoil, since no one wanted to buy it. So it’s a hayfield now, instead of a disaster area. Eureka! Made me happy!!! So we’ve been haying this little field for several years now, and this year… the grass in there is shoulder high (on me). It’s timothy, orchard grass etc. And my grass hay eating horse reports that it’s just lovely!!! It’s her favourate field to source hay from. It’s only an acre or two. My special potato garden takes up one corner of this area, where I can water it from the arena hydrant. The rest of the grass fields were previously grazed by some cattle I think, there were some cow bones in there from cows that didn’t survive the winter. It was all pretty rough when we started running equipment over it (sitting on the tractor was a bit like riding a bucking bronc) but it’s levelled out a bit over the years. Parts of it are weedy, and I gave the worst of it away last year to a friend who was attempting to survive the upcoming winter (substantial winter) in an RV trailer, semi remote… to fill in and insulate the underneath of the trailer so that perhaps she did not freeze to death. She survived. A tough woman. I’ve used some of it for bedding some years, but the horses eat it anyway, so I feed it if there’s nothing better to do with it. I sold some as fat pony hay a couple of times. It’s not great quality hay, some weeds of different types, but nothing detrimental. Then it all grows back after haying, and my retirees graze it again before winter sets in.
Our good fields are much better stuff, about 30% alfalfa, which we round bale, use for winter feed, and sell the excess. We only take the one cut usually, and graze the second growth in winter. We did take an abbreviated second cut last year, and regretted it. It did not get dry enough to round bale, which pisses the DH off big time. So I small squared it, and picked it up and put it in the barn. Sold some, fed the rest. It was fine, in small squares. Would have rotted or fermented in round bales.
I look forward to haying time of year. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. But I’ve bought hay for so many years previous to this, never knowing what I was buying, trusting a hay salesman, and I really LIKE “knowing” what does, and does not go into each bale. Our hay is truly beautiful.
I’m itching to get going on it!!! A few weeks from now, I’ll be happy that it’s done for the year.
