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Applying lime and fertilizer to hay fields

We have approx 12 acres in hay, which we sharecrop with a neighboring cattle farmer who has baling equipment. We’ve just baled the first cutting last week, yield sucked, and due to very dry conditions, will not get another cutting this year.

Our hayfield really, really needs some attention to improve yield or it’s not going to be worth even baling. I had the soil tested and the lab recommendation was to apply 3 ton/acre of ag lime to raise pH, 100 units of potash, and fertilize with 50-20-80 NPK.

I know ag lime is usually applied in the fall, but given that the field is essentially done for the year, any reason not to go ahead and apply it now? Any experience to share on choosing pelleted lime vs powder?

For the fertlizer – I’m unclear why the lab would recommend a separate potash application-- I wonder if there’s a limit to how much potash the soil can incorporate in any one application or something. Does the fertilizer application have to be in the spring, or will the soil benefits be durable enough that I could apply it this year?

I’m trying to be creative/flexible, because as a small farm, it’s difficult to get on the schedule when you’re competing with 500+acre crop operations for the same rental spreaders and pile of lime at the co-op. At the same time I don’t want to throw money away on soil inputs if it’s useless to apply them at the “wrong” time.

I’ve been tempted by lots of ads for liquid calcium but I’m glad I found this extension office article debunking the marketing claims.

Ugh, I find soil chemistry really hard and in our ag community the topic seems to be used as some kind of a “Idiot Meter.” You either know it or you don’t. But honestly, the farmers around me do give me good advice when I ask for it. It’s just that sometimes you need pretty thick skin about how the advice is offered. :wink: From yesterday:
Me: "So, Joe, I’ve been having a hard time finding someone with a lime spreader who has time to do my field. I saw something about applying liquid urea, do you know anyone who does that?
Joe: "Well, sure, you could give it a try. Be a bit tough to get their boom sprayers through your gates. 'Course it’s all gonna just aerosolize within a day, but hey, it’s your money. "
Me: <sigh. Makes mental note to go research aerosolization time of liquid urea>

I have 15 acres of grass pasture --too hilly to make hay, but I treat it like a hay field (divided into three pastures). Like you I got a soil sample and had it analyzed. But I had mine done at Helena Chemical who then sold me the chemicals and spent a lot of time going over application and safety. For ease (remember I have hills) I chose a liquid application using my 25 gallon sprayer pulled by my Kubota tractor. I use on one-pass application which applies my fertilizer and broad-leaf herbicide at the same time. With my little set up it takes me about 6 hours to do the whole place, but I break it up into three days, so do able.

If you don’t have a chemical company like Helena where you can get good advice, my suggestion would be to go to local hay sales and see who has beautiful hay. Find a time to ask the hay maker what he’s using and how he’s applying. (or her). I buy hay from my horse shoer. He has really nice hay. We chat often about what and when we are applying chemicals. His current opinion is that I can back off on the liquid fertilizer (after 20 years of annual application) as my pastures are lush. That would cut my cost in 1/2. I put one application on in the spring, usually late May.

I may run that by the Helena chemical people.

With 15 acres, you may find buying your own sprayer or spreader is a cost saver and gives you better control over application. I had mine done once, years ago. I noticed the guys spreading really cut the corners --I carefully get every inch. My sprayer was $300 (20 years ago? Replaced the motor once). I spend about $30 to 40/acre on chemicals. However, husband is a CPA and he figured out I saved on hay as I can keep horses on pasture longer and put out earlier. And honestly, I LOVE spraying my pastures --sitting on my tractor, the smell of Trimec in the air . . .kind of the first sign of summer where I am.

Maybe also reach out to your county extension agricultural agent for their advice and suggestions.

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I second the county extension office suggestion - mine was enormously helpful!

The only information I can offer is that I was told to apply lime as soon as you know it is needed because it can. I don’t think it matters when it is applied as much as the fertilizer does.

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Firstly, what is your location? I would give different information to a person in a dry location than a place with plenty of rain.

I would say to both locations to use Ammonium Sulphate over any Urea for my source of Nitrogen. Hooved animals can get into trouble eating things fertilized with urea. Google Urea Poisoning. Very scary information! Plus as your farmer friend said, urea vaporizes if not rained into the dirt quickly, so you wasted money buying urea. The price is about the same for urea and Ammonium Sulphate in my location. No vaporization with the ammonium sulphate, even if the rain skips you for a few days.
Do follow the recipe to the mixer guy, TELL THEM again you want ammonium sulphate, NO UREA!! This is for HORSES. Almost all mixes call for urea, so they can get automatic about adding urea instead of the ammonium sulphate. My fertilizer folks are nice about my being persistant. Ha ha Better than lamanitic horses!

Try to plan spreading the day before rain is expected, to get it into the soil. Fertilizer left laying for a while will not be doing anything helpful for the field. So you try to time spreading just before rain is expected.

If fertilizer is a really heavy application, you probably should put it on in 2 applications. The land can’t use a big application all at once, fertilizer could be washed off in heavy rain, getting into the waterways. We put fertilizer on in two applications a couple months apart, with very good results in production the next year. I mowed the hay that second year to improve the root system before we harvested it.

My fertilizer is all granulated. It works fine. Never used liquid fertilizer. They mix all the components together, so you only spread once to get everything on at one time. I rent a spreader wagon from the fertilizer plant, return it when finished.

Granulated lime goes to work faster than powdered. Lime is a helping mineral, aids plants to get nitrogen locked in the soil. We spread sawdust bedding on the fields over winter, which “ties up” nitrogen in breaking the woody stuff down. So the land needs extra nitrogen for the plants, which lime helps happen. Nitrogen is not “lost”, just stuck with the bedding for a while. Powdered lime takes much longer to break down, then show effects, work itself into the plants. Does last longer than granulated, but dusty to apply, wind blows it around sometimes.

I am in Michigan, we get a fair amount of rain in most years, so I have spread in early July, now that the land is in good condition. I spread in early July and early Sept when we first got the land. It had not been fertilized in 20 years! Needed a huge amount of various minerals. I had no colors on soil test results, with the fertilizer guy saying it was the worst soil test he ever saw! He is who suggested 2 applications, not everything needed at one time. We have clay, LOTS of water draining across the hayfield in spring. Too easy to get stuck, make ruts, trying to spread in early spring.

I got another soil test done the next spring, with much better results and a different fertilizer recipe for that second year. Also tested the third year with even better results, needing a third mix of fertilizer to work towards a balanced land for growing hay. My hay test this winter was excellent in results for horse hay. A bit high in sugars, but none of our horses have any problems to react to those sugars.

A really nice feeling to see gleaming horses that ate excellent hay you grew and fed them! Buying hay the year before that looked so nice, great color, soft grassy leaves but no nutrition in it so horses looked terrible in spring. Not what we expected to see! We tried compensating with other forages, were really unhappy about being such poor hay judges. We fed quite a lot less of our own good hay, with much better results over last winter. Also a good feeling.

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Your tax dollars at work. This is what the extension service is for. use them!

Depending on where you are, county soil & water conservation service may also be of help, but extension is where I would start.

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You’ve gotten plenty of good advice, especially regarding using your local Ag agents. They may not be your extension agent, but someone in your Conservation District office. Free, useful sources of information.

Do hear what your farmer friend said regarding access to your fields. You may be too small a set-up for farmers to get their equipment into and to complete turns at the ends of fields. I have a small 60 gallon spray tank I pull behind my 25 horse tractor that works fine on my land.

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3 tons of lime per acre ! Unless you’re going to till the area, limit the application to one ton per acre. Too much at one time throws the Ph too far alkaline.

here’s a good article on liming

https://www.noble.org/news/publications/ag-news-and-views/2002/february/top-10-liming-questions/

Thanks all.
Since posting, I managed to squeeze into the application schedule of one of the
seed/fertilizer co-ops, and they came out next day. Our plan is

  1. light application of N&P now (potassium levels are fine) with a little pelletized lime in the blend to help make these nutrients more available. We applied that on Friday AM, and the heavens rewarded me with a good drenching rain that afternoon and another inch of rain over the weekend. I did a very happy rain dance.
    (Here’s proof that NOTHING escapes farmers’ notice with regard to who’s doing what on their fields: a guy who lives at least 3 miles away texted me “You’ve got to the be luckiest person with rain on your fertilizer that I’ve ever met.” We’re in that lull between planting and harvest where they have too much time on their hands I guess. I will apparently go down in legend as the gal who fertilized in mid-July and managed to get rain same day LOL)

  2. Heavy 2t/acre powder lime as soon as ground freezes.
    3)Then early spring will fertilize again, and lime again in the fall (depending on soil re-test).

Feels good to have a plan!!!