# Teff Grass Question



## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

Teff grass - is there any benefit to running it through a mower conditioner or will straight cutting yield the same dry down time?

My impression is Teff is a fine leaf vs a stem so conditioning might not be as necessary?

Thanks!
Bill


----------



## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

I haven't used a conditioner on mine and I don't think it would help any as it does have fine blades..... might need fluffing some tho....


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I would think there would be some benefit of using a flail mower to scuff the blades of grass.

Regards, Mike


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Vol said:


> I would think there would be some benefit of using a flail mower to scuff the blades of grass.
> 
> Regards, Mike


I agree, a flail should help. I only have rollers so don't know for sure


----------



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I have used rollers on teff and even though the stems are fine they were still crimped in a couple places so I think it had to speed up the dry down some. Flails would likely be the best for teff.


----------



## ozarkian (Dec 11, 2010)

if you have your mower conditioner set correctly, it makes a big difference. The thing about Teff grass is getting it dried enough to bale. We have used rubber and steel roller conditioners on it. Our summer humidity requires us to ted cut Teff grass before raking and baling. Once correctly dried, it makes great hay.


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

ozarkian said:


> if you have your mower conditioner set correctly, it makes a big difference. The thing about Teff grass is getting it dried enough to bale. We have used rubber and steel roller conditioners on it. Our summer humidity requires us to ted cut Teff grass before raking and baling. Once correctly dried, it makes great hay.


I think most everyone tedds the crap out of their teff on here....it's still a royal pia to get dry regardless.

Regards, Mike


----------



## E.Boman (Jun 4, 2015)

I haven't had any issues drying my Teff yet. I have been growing it for 2 seasons now. I fertilize 49N per crop. I have rubber rolls and discbine with flails. I would say if you have access to a machine with flails use it but if you don't don't worry about it. First year I was nervous because everyone says it don't dry down so I went over all of it with a NH 404 crimped to fluff it and crimp it a day after curing. This year I haven't used the crimped and have had no dry down issues. Cut just when fist heads appear and makes 5 4x5.55s an acre and test out around 14-16% protein.


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

E.Boman said:


> I haven't had any issues drying my Teff yet. I have been growing it for 2 seasons now. I fertilize 49N per crop. I have rubber rolls and discbine with flails. I would say if you have access to a machine with flails use it but if you don't don't worry about it. First year I was nervous because everyone says it don't dry down so I went over all of it with a NH 404 crimped to fluff it and crimp it a day after curing. This year I haven't used the crimped and have had no dry down issues. Cut just when fist heads appear and makes 5 4x5.55s an acre and test out around 14-16% protein.


How many days from mowing to baling?

Regards, Mike


----------



## kenanselm (Mar 15, 2016)

This is my first year with Teff, two cuttings so far. First cutting got rained on (,9 inch) and it still tested out at 11.65% protein, I was impressed. It took three days to dry down with two tedders during that time, the rain came when it was almost ready to bale. The second cutting took three days to dry with two tedders and did not get any rain, the test results are not back yet. I was using a disc mower and no conditioning. Problem is lodging and drying time. I just bought a used Case 8330 for the reel and conditioner, will have to wait and see if it makes a difference. I like the potential in Teff though, grows fast, you can cut it every three to four weeks like clock work. I am double cropping with Timothy in the winter.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

kenanselm said:


> This is my first year with Teff, two cuttings so far. First cutting got rained on (,9 inch) and it still tested out at 11.65% protein, I was impressed. It took three days to dry down with two tedders during that time, the rain came when it was almost ready to bale. The second cutting took three days to dry with two tedders and did not get any rain, the test results are not back yet. I was using a disc mower and no conditioning. Problem is lodging and drying time. I just bought a used Case 8330 for the reel and conditioner, will have to wait and see if it makes a difference. I like the potential in Teff though, grows fast, you can cut it every three to four weeks like clock work. I am double cropping with Timothy in the winter.


Have you tried selling it yet? It doesn't sell very well here. People are afraid to try something new. My first cutting was 14.1% protein. Also it uses less fertilizer then orchard and brome grass, but not even close to the production of an established field. Though at least if you screw up and have a rough field (this is me) you can start over the next year. It is a good rotation crop for alfalfa fields though. Better then wheat, oats, or some other annual. I don't think I would grow it year after year on purpose though on the same field.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Vol said:


> I think most everyone tedds the crap out of their teff on here....it's still a royal pia to get dry regardless.
> 
> Regards, Mike


I've decided tedding it is a waste of time. But that is here. First cutting tedded some until the tedder broke. Both was ready to bale at the same time. Much like alfalfa.


----------



## kenanselm (Mar 15, 2016)

To Teslan's question; no I have not tried selling it yet. I went into it expecting to have a promotional problem in selling it. Horse people are really set in their ways until they cannot get what they want. Anyway I expect I will have to practically give it away for awhile until people get to know it. It's an experiment full of trials and errors like many other things in life.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I had one lady tell me yesterday that her horse doesn't like Teff. I suspect what she fed the horse really wasn't Teff.


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Teslan said:


> I had one lady tell me yesterday that her horse doesn't like Teff. I suspect what she fed the horse really wasn't Teff.


Yeah, I heard that from two people here. Not sure I believe it either.


----------



## ozarkian (Dec 11, 2010)

I had a horsey lady tell me that my Teff hay made her horse fat. I asked her if she ever rode her horse. She said no. I told her give it exercise. Have it tested and teach them the value of nutrition. Most of my horse customers think alfalfa is all they need to feed their horses.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

ozarkian said:


> I had a horsey lady tell me that my Teff hay made her horse fat. I asked her if she ever rode her horse. She said no. I told her give it exercise. Have it tested and teach them the value of nutrition. Most of my horse customers think alfalfa is all they need to feed their horses.


 alfalfa would really fatten up a horse that stands around all day.


----------



## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

ozarkian said:


> I had a horsey lady tell me that my Teff hay made her horse fat. I asked her if she ever rode her horse. She said no. I told her give it exercise. Have it tested and teach them the value of nutrition. Most of my horse customers think alfalfa is all they need to feed their horses.





Teslan said:


> alfalfa would really fatten up a horse that stands around all day.


I had a window shopper horse customer, liked my hay, but wanted 2nd cut alfalfa as that's what worked out best for her "easy keeper" horses. Within a couple minutes of conversation, I knew I wasn't going to sell her a bale of hay - even if I were a vet! Listened to her speech, she left - she was happy, I was happy!


----------



## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

Question for you guys that are a little further south and have raised Teff. I have 40 acres worth a Teff seed I never got to plant this spring because of floods and then we turned off into drought conditions. We finally are getting a little moisture and I was thinking of planting 10 acres or so of it to see how it does. I have roughly 70 days till chance of first frost. Soil temp is plenty high but forseeable future temps in the mid 80's. I'm fine with one cutting, how do y'all think it will fare?


----------



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Lewis Ranch said:


> Question for you guys that are a little further south and have raised Teff. I have 40 acres worth a Teff seed I never got to plant this spring because of floods and then we turned off into drought conditions. We finally are getting a little moisture and I was thinking of planting 10 acres or so of it to see how it does. I have roughly 70 days till chance of first frost. Soil temp is plenty high but forseeable future temps in the mid 80's. I'm fine with one cutting, how do y'all think it will fare?


 You should be good to go ahead and plant now. I know here we would still have plenty of warm weather left to get one cutting so I would imagine you would as well. Our first frost here is typically the last few days of October.


----------



## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

That's what I was thinking. I chiseled the ground this spring then disked it but by now weeds and grass have come up. I'm debating mowing it real short hitting it with round up and no tilling it or just re work the ground and rent the county's brillion. I'll have to figure that out in the next few days. Thanks


----------



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Lewis Ranch said:


> That's what I was thinking. I chiseled the ground this spring then disked it but by now weeds and grass have come up. I'm debating mowing it real short hitting it with round up and no tilling it or just re work the ground and rent the county's brillion. I'll have to figure that out in the next few days. Thanks


 I would probably suggest to re work the ground and use the Brillion. I have successfully no tilled teff but you have to be very careful not to get it too deep with the drill. Also I have found that no till teff only works well in a little to no residue situation. I was no tilling into oat straw stubble that I had baled so there was minimal residue but anywhere there was a little straw left on the ground it hardly came up. If the weeds and grass in your field is fairly thick it could leave too much residue on the ground after you mow it for no till to work.


----------



## kenanselm (Mar 15, 2016)

Well here is my take on Teff so far. First cutting yielded okay with what I would call a rather thin stand. I used a Haybuster no till drill which has worked great on my Timothy. After cutting the first time I thought I would try to thicken it up by drilling again into the field without using roundup to kill what was there. Even by doing that I did not get a thick stand so I have ordered a Land Pride OS1572 with cutters on two inch centers. I have to use no-till because my land is too rolling and would have erosion problems if I tilled the land before planting. Anyway, as I said earlier the first cutting got one of those 10% rains that left 9 tenths in my gage. It did not hurt though as the test results still came back at 12.5% protein. I sold all of that cutting to a guy from Colorado that spends a lot of time in Tennessee.

The second cutting did not start to regrow evenly. I cut leaving 4 inches of stubble, but I think it had more to do with the sections of the field that where more fully headed out than the height of the cut. As a result I did not get a very good yield and to make matters worse it molded, so it was a total loss. I did a microwave test for moisture before baling but had only a postal scale at the time and so the test was probably not accurate enough and I was shooting for 20% moisture. I have since invested in a digital scale and will test the next cutting twice and try for 18% or less moisture before baling. I have a third cutting on the ground at the moment but it will be a very small yield as well, but it will give me a chance to test my moisture testing methods again. I had also purchased a Case-IH 8330 mower conditioner which I used on the third cutting. Interesting that I had to almost completely close the rollers before I could see any conditioning occur.

I am not giving up on Teff as double cropping with a summer grass is the only way to make Timothy work this far south. Next year I will by using the new drill and I plan to spray with roundup after each cutting and reseed. I may not get but two good cutting rather than three but I believe it may be a better yield over all. The problem I see in waiting for regrowth after a cutting is that it if is uneven it gives the competing weeds and grab grass a chance to establish and the Teff does not seem to like competition. In addition with uneven growth it makes it difficult to cut at the correct time. Another thing I noticed is that even though I did spread 50# per acre nitrogen there were some areas of the field that did not have good color. So I am likely to increase to 75# per acre.

Anyone willing to share it all good bad and ugly please do, I think that is what makes Forum's like this so good especially on topics such as Teff which is not widely known or discussed.


----------



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I'm not going to fool with teff again.....have tried it three times now and I'm done with it. I thought this year I might get it to work out but it turned out to be the same problems I had before. To start with it lodges terribly after about 3 weeks of growth and is 1-2 weeks away from cutting. When it goes down it is completely flat and is impossible to get a half way decent job of cutting it. I tried both 30 and 50 units of nitrogen and couldn't tell a bit of difference as it all was flat. The other problem I have is I get very little to no regrowth the after first cutting. I have experimented with cutting at different stages of maturity and I always end up with about the same dissapointing results. The only time I got any regrowth was when I cut some before it got big enough to lodge but then my yield was dismal and the regrowth was still not very good. I really wanted to make teff work out as it would have been an excellent summer annual hay crop but it just doesn't work for me in our climate here.


----------



## kenanselm (Mar 15, 2016)

To Farmer Cline

I also noticed the habit of lodging just before or at heading out. Did you try cutting with a Haybine or something with a reel to pickup lodged patches of Teff?


----------



## slvr98svt (Jan 18, 2011)

I am definitely going to give it a try next year, but hopefully will be better prepared. Between having my main tractor down and some work scheduling stuff it was difficult. A storm blew threw the day before I could cut and laid a bunch down. But I average 2,700#/ac and second cut is ready to go in the next couple days. Overall I am pleased with the stuff and the cows love it. Need to get some tested to see where it rates.


----------



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

kenanselm said:


> To Farmer Cline
> 
> I also noticed the habit of lodging just before or at heading out. Did you try cutting with a Haybine or something with a reel to pickup lodged patches of Teff?


 I cut with a 499 haybine......the reel would have had to be literally raking the ground to pick it up. The whole field was laying completely flat.


----------



## kenanselm (Mar 15, 2016)

I have also had large patches laid flat due to storms and it always happens just before heading, in other words within a day or two of cutting. Of course the weather will dictate when to cut but for some reason a rain does not seem to hurt Teff after cutting like it would other grasses. The fact that it is hard to get dry enough to bale might be related to it's ability to withstand a rain after cutting. That said, I might if given a choice by the weather, go ahead and cut a day ahead of a rain in an effort to avoid lodging. I don't think rain on freshly cut Teff would cause more loss than the lodging from the rain. I have deliberately waited when rain was being forecast in a couple of days to cut my Teff, virtually guarantying that I would have lodging.

Your thoughts?


----------

