# Cutting hay



## farmboy9510 (Feb 16, 2009)

What is your gauge for how low you cut your hay? How low do u usually cut it? Many people have different ideas around here so i was wondering what you guys think.
Alex


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## Erock813 (Jun 3, 2008)

since grass stored most of it energy in the bottom three inches,cut at three inches. Legumes you could shave...but if you leave three inches the hay will lay on top and dry quicker and less dirt and debri in hay


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

It depends on the type of hay and it's use.

Alfalfa cut at late bud stage will produce a true dairy quality hay. 
Alfalfa cut at 10% bloom is the old dairy quality standard. 
Alfalfa cut at 25% to 50% bloom is now horse quality.

Grass hay, for higher quality cut before seed head development. 
Grass hay, figure 50 lbs of Nitrogen per ton of hay. 
Grass hay, for sure cut when the lower leaves start to fall off.

There are a number of tricks that can enhance the quality of hay. The key is on the day of baling to start when the hay is first ready to bale and be finished before the hay is too dry or for the night time baler before the hay becomes too damp. If you are where the humidity never goes below 55% that is to your advantage. If you are where the humidity seldom goes below 65% or stays below 50% you have a problem.

To avoid confusion have each cutting of each field tested for quality.


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## OneManShow (Mar 17, 2009)

We follow the same guideline as Erock. When cut or grazed much below 3" grass regrowth and root development will be impacted. We hadn't paid much attention to it unitl a couple years ago. We installed high stubble shoes on our mower so we cut at about 3 1/4 "-It seems to have given us healthier plants and our yield was up (but was it the highg stubble?) Our hay dries faster because it sits up off the ground-also seems to ted and rake better-because we can raise the tines up a bit more. Try out cutting at a couple different heights and see what works best on your place with your crops.


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