Hay and pasture management 65 6 hay and pasture jim morrison rockford extension center. Alfalfas effect on detoxing can help prevent infections to the bladder and urinary tract by increasing urine flow and making urine less acidic. While these may be worthy, i am disappointed for my uses. Alfalfa hay is best suitable for young guinea pigs up to one year of age. This publication describes the horses digestive system and nutritional needs and how. In beautiful, deceptively simple prose touched with humor and affection, klinkenborg evokes a way of life at risk, and weaves an unforgettable story of the richness of rural living. Producers that sell hay on a proteinquality basis may realize greater income from varieties. If there is anywhere that the soft dirt goes above the sole, its too soft. Bad news, hay needs far more fertilizer than you think. The difference between safe, high quality hay and low quality questionable hay containing molds and dust is primarily in the harvesting. Making hay gives us an unforgettable glimpse of everyday life on the family farms of northwestern iowa, southwestern minnesota, and montanas big hole valley. And now that weve all stopped bellylaughing we can get down to the business of making hay in a more realistic setting.
Next year, after you take the wheat off, soilsample it and put on what you need, then go back to alfalfa in september. The many aspects of forage production and use along with the other aspects. A great combination is alfalfa, fescu grass and clover. Alfalfa management guide american society of agronomy. The title suggests this is the focus a how to treatise on the subject. Adverse weather will greatly lower quality and may dictate the use of either or both hay drying agents and hay preservatives.
Timely hay harvest results in leafy forage with high feed value. Alfalfa is included in the rations for young growing animals, breeding animals, and. Multifoliate cultivars, those with more than three leaflets per leaf, can have a. High quality alfalfa hay will not be obtained if harvest is delayed or if leaves are lost during the hay drying process.
Hey, hey, hay a tale of bales and the machines that make. For those who are undertaking haymaking for the first time, this book offers wise counsel and practical advice, providing. The plants in a certain field will make some difference, of course whether its a good stand of alfalfa, palatable grasses or has gone mostly to weeds but poor harvesting conditionsmethods can reduce a good hay crop to poor or even unsafe feed. In drier areas, a nurse or companion crop is seldom recommended. Sometimes also called lucerne, buffalo herb, or medicago sativa, alfalfa is a member of the pea family. Conditioning is important for making dry hay, as the crimping allows additional moisture to leave the stems at moistures below 60 percent. How can new seeds be obtained if hay is harvested before flowering.
It needs a low enough moisture level so that it doesnt mold, without being put up so dry that all its leaves shatter and fall off. Grazing on an alfalfa pasture requires the same precautions as feeding alfalfa hay, plus some additional considerations. Our alfalfa hay is produced in certified weed free fields with computerized, controlled irrigation systems. If you are looking for good quality alfalfa hay for your young guinea pigs, then i would definitely recommend you to try these two options available out there. In a cattle operation, access to adequate hay is vital. Making hay is comprised of a series of steps, each as important as its predecessor. The alfalfa hay section will cover soil condition preparation, planting and harvesting of alfalfa for dry feed. Wellpreserved alfalfa hay should be the foundation of a feeding program for young growing horses, recreational horses, and active horses. Grazing on an alfalfa pasture requires the same precautions as feeding alfalfa hay. From the wonders of alfalfa, the miracle plant, to barbed wire and the myriad difficulties of operating tractors and side rakes, renowned author verlyn klinkenborg paints a stunning and memorable portrait of life on american family farms. Best of all, its goat approved, so id have to say its a. China is significantly expanding its dairy industryaiming to double its milk production by 2015and the growing demand for alfalfa hay on the chinese market is offering some great sales opportunities for.
How to cut, dry, rake, gather, and store a nourishing crop on. Impact of raking and baling patterns on alfalfa hay dry matter and. Harvesting alfalfa with as little leaf loss as possible is the key to making premium hay. It is popular belief that timothy hay is the better and healthier option for rabbits while alfalfa contains too much calcium for a regular rabbit diet. Soils should be deep enough to have adequate waterholding capacity. Alfalfa hay is a highquality forage used in livestock feed, in particular for dairy cattle. How to cut, dry, rake, gather, and store a nourishing. The romans encountered alfalfa hay when they expanded their. Westover, agrononvists, office of foragecrop investigations, bureau of plant industry. Making hay gives an unforgettable glimpse of everyday life on the farms of iowa, minnesota, and montana. I have been kinda curious on how they work and what kind of conditions people use them in.
It ended up being a whole lot better quality than last years, which were happy about. Hay be it grass or alfalfa or a mix responds incredibly well to fertilizer. I am from central california and i do not even know what a tedder looks like other than pictures. Mow it, rake it and bale it in one day beef magazine. Hayrite pellets and complete feeds are forage based, with rice bran and other nutrients added. I was just wanting a little information from you guys that ted alfalfa. With prices already high, farmers are choosing to grow their own hay.
I personally like to drill my alfalfa by itself in the fall about a month or so before. How to make your own animal feeds farming my backyard. Instead, i found that the book is really a pitch for green agricultural practices. The oil and acrylic illustrations by joe cepeda go nicely with the text. To some of you, alfalfa may bring thoughts of a type of hay or a character from the little rascals, but id like to introduce you to the real deal. If you want to get away from buying both premade feeds and purchased grains i highly recommend it. Great longevity of lucerne stands is claimed in some smallscale farming. Long hay, the traditional, ageold form of herbage, mown, turned and carted is the main subject of this book. This is an important aspect of winter survival and stand persistence.
Currently, there is some confusion and misinformation surrounding the use of alfalfa hay and timothy hay for rabbits and even guinea pigs. Make sure you get a little regrowth on the alfalfa or you wont get a good kill. Alfalfa is widely grown throughout the world as forage for cattle, and is most often harvested as hay, but can also be made into silage, grazed, or fed as greenchop. We usually chop that corn, rip and work that ground, then put winter wheat in. Alfalfa usually has the highest feeding value of all common hay crops. Alfalfa hay for horses alfalfa is an important component of an active horses diet. Alfalfa and grasses for hay and silage pastures, 23 duration.
Chopped hay is an option where conditions for drying are good and systems highly mechanized. Figure 2 where alfalfa was put into a wide swath it reached 65 percent moisture in about eight hours and could be harvested for haylage the same day as. Also, alfalfa can be ensiled under harsher conditions than hay. Alfalfa is used as for horses, dairy cows, beef cattle, sheep, chickens, turkeys and other farm animals. The antihistamine effect of the alfalfa enzymes can help. The garden webworm occurs over the whole united states but seldom is the cause of any great amount of damage to alfalfa. No body, as far as i know uses a tedder in our area.
A guide to growing, harvesting and baling hay sustainable. The simple bouncy rhyming text will draw readers in. The oats are baled early, leaving the alfalfa to make its growth. Common plants used for making hay in oklahoma are alfalfa, wild and prairie grasses, sorghumsudan crosses, sudan, bermuda, lespedeza, soybean, peanut, and small grains like. In addition to alfalfa cubes, hayrite developed several alfalfa pellets and complete feeds enriched with vitamins, minerals and fats for horses and other livestock. For perennial grass, alfalfa, and small grain forage crops, field wilting is nor. From the wonders of alfalfa, the miracle plant, to barbed wire, dances. Recommended stages to harvest various forage crops. There have been no recorded incidents of gene flow into organic alfalfa hay in five years, which has turned around some skeptics. Also,how can the challenge of making hay during the raining season be over come. With its high nutritional quality, alfalfa hay is one of the best and most popular horse feed varieties available. Alfalfa hay for sale wagonhound land and livestock. Hay and silage management55 feeding considerations of. The book the small scale poultry flock dedicates a great portion of its chapters to discussing replacing purchased feeds.
Timing of harvest, and the harvest process are both critical to obtaining hay of a desired quality. Alfalfa can be trickier to cure and bale than grass hays. Online shopping from a great selection at books store. Check out this amazing economical hay only at amazon. Our climate is conducive to dairy and horse hay production as a result of annual precipitation less than 12 inches per year with low humidity levels. Overall, the best results in terms of alfalfa hay quality and quantity losses were achieved with balingiii, where the lowest dm losses 2. Univ of wisconsin integrated pest and crop management 10,505 views. Good management and a warm fall may provide a small fifth cutting. The book includes a glossary of haymaking words and a recipe for switchel. How to cut, dry, rake, gather, and store a nourishing crop. Cutting open a bale of hay and doling it out to your horses is one of those. Alfalfa king double compressed oat wheat and barley hay pet food, 12 by 18 by 8inch. A shortened alfalfa growing season in northern regions will make it necessary to combine calendar dates and stage of development into harvest strategies.
Some of the premium alfalfa hay goes to feed the states large equine horse population. Alfalfa hay quality is improved with more leaves and fewer weeds. Making hay is something that is universally anticipated by folks living on the land, but for many small holders, the expense of collecting and maintaining all the power equipment used in the modern hay meadow is just too much. Alfalfa has been identified as one of the crops that is eligible for government payments to farmers as a result of the retaliatory tariffs imposed by china on agricultural crops alfalfa hay among. A young girl joyously introduces readers to the process of making hay as she and her mother cut, use the tedder, dry, rake, bale, and store the hay. A powerhouse among herbs, alfalfa means father of all foods and deserves its name.
1287 1290 71 220 1635 86 766 1649 33 642 1646 1142 442 310 543 82 331 860 783 266 435 1062 528 865 61 678 395 388 687 443 226 952 168 542 977