Unlocking the Power of Hay The Ultimate Cutting Guide

COLUMBIA, Mo. – It's time to make the first cutting of hay in Missouri, says University of Missouri Extension state forage specialist Craig ... How tall should hay be before cutting? · Cut alfalfa and clover at a minimum of 3 inches · Cut other grasses at a minimum of 4-6 inches. The soil nutrients literally walk off the farm in the form of crops, in this case hay. Personally, unless it benefits you in some way, I would ... If you've got both alfalfa-orchardgrass and grass hay, it's often an advantage to cut the alfalfa-orchardgrass first, before the orchardgrass ... For easy keepers who tend to get fat (the ones who get muzzled on grass), they should always be fed any type of 1st cutting (timothy, orchard grass, brome) and ... Most single-cut hay, harvested only once in midsummer, will have lower protein, digestibility and general nutritional value than hay harvested ... Wait until you have at least three days of dry weather to cut your hay. It takes this amount of time to cure dry hay for baling and rain interrupts this ... Ideally, grass hay should be cut just before it sets its seed heads. At that point, the nutritional quality of the grass stem will be at its peak. As the seed ... First cut hay is coarser than second cut, this is because the spring growth (rain, etc.) leads to thicker stems and stalks and heavier leaves. This little piece of Vermont summer with you (with a few updates) because the grass keeps growing and farmers are still busy harvesting and storing it.