So one of my alfalfa fields this year was out of sync with everything else and I got 4th cut off it Sept 14, which is usually as late as I wanna go here in MI (from what the old timers taught me anyway), for a general frost date of October 15.
Well, we didn't get a frost, and had ridiculously warm weather all through october/november and the field is now 2' tall and has finally died back for the year.
Owing to the long growth, should I run the brush hog over it to 5 - 6" to clean it up and help spring growth, or leave it as-is and clean it up with first cutting? Not really sure, it'll probably just shatter when the mower hits it - thoughts? opinions?
I had a pretty good year growing teff on 75 acres. I probably should have fertilized the last 2 cuttings. People seemed to really take to it this year. I sold a bunch to a guy in Wyoming. Fairly big market for it in Wyoming. So in my thinking of what to plant next year on the 75 acres my thoughts turn to Teff again and then just fertilize 3rd and 4th cutting to get more off of it. Even the stuff that got rained on didn't hurt at all. I found out that it's hard for Teff to mold in big squares here. I baled some accidently at 30%. It never molded. Should I plant again?
found a pequea 760 rake inverter never saw one was wounder ing how they work man who has it claims he rakes with it behind his haybine
any one ever use or see one work
would like good and bad about these before i buy thanks !
Today we could have lost on of our best keeper yearling heifers. As I approached the hay ring to put a new round bale in it, I noticed that the hay ring was up on edge and a calf was lying on the ground, half in and half out of the ring. Initially, I thought the calf was dead, but when I slightly elevated the ring with the tractor front end loader, the calf moved.
The heavy duty hay ring is the kind with a circular bar at the top, below which is the hay access area, and below this are three circular bars at the bottom with openings between them. The heifer apparently crawled into the hay ring to feed on the remaining hay, and when it tried to exit the ring, somehow its leg slipped through the upper opening of the bottom three bars, around the outside of the middle bar, and back through the lower opening with its hoof wedged tightly against the inside of the bottom bar. It took my neighbor and myself pushing and pulling together to force the hoof out of its wedged position. The heifer was plenty sore, and highly distressed, but it will survive.
These types of hay rings may be okay for baby calves and adult cattle, but not for yearling calves that still can squeeze through the hay access area into the center of the ring to feed. Tomorrow, I plan on purchasing a new hay ring that has a foot tall shield around the bottom to prevent a calves' leg from getting caught between the bottom bars. From now on, I will use this bottom-shielded hay ring to feed round bale grass hay to yearling calves. I hope none of you have had this problem.
