Early May small bales for horses?

lundi 29 avril 2019

Good morning all,

I am new to haying and to this site, although I have read a lot of great informative posts on here before joining. I live in Grants Pass, Oregon and hoping to get some advice from others in my area experienced with horse quality haying in this climate. One of my fields looks like it is ready to cut now. It’s seeded primarily with orchard grass and seed heads are up and starting to open on a stand about 24-30” tall.

We have had sunny dry weather in the low 70’s this last week and the forecast is for it to continue for the next 7-10 days with temps getting into the mid to upper 70’s. Humidity mid-day forecast in the 30-40% range and 50-60% range over night. We have had frost the last couple mornings and expect it will continue for a couple days longer.

Most people around here wait until late May to start haying. That could be due to weather conditions or because most fields around here are in the river valley bottom and potential mud bogs if accessed to early. I can drive on my fields year round, so that's not a concern.