|
SE PA | Martin,
The one PSU guy was asking us about that - if a discbine would shorten the expected life of a stand of grass hay.... His name is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember right now.... We haven't seen it. I don't run the disc machine, but I've seen them cut so close that they were hitting the roots, which is too close by any account. Either way, we have more trouble right here with wild grasses and such coming into our stands and ruining them that way - the wild grasses mature earlier, drop seeds, turn brown, and leave us with years worth of trouble....
Here in the humid east, we have to cut our alfalfa (we dry bale everything, cause it's all for sale) when it's in 25% bloom or better. Cut in the bud stage, or early bloom and it'll take forever to get the hay dry. 12ft cut width, 7 ft swath will be baled the 3rd evening - cut one day, fluff it with the ole tedder the 2nd, rake by noon on the 3rd, and bale that night. Rained on hay here is a failure (in my book), but we've been lucky the last few years. One thing is for certain, what works here might not work elsewhere, or not nearly as well as a different approach. We get more $$$ for alfalfa with seed pods than the CA dairy guys will pay for top choice early bud stuff.... location, location, location....
Rodney | |
|
Benefits of laying down a wide swath of alfalfa
