# Drought damaged hayfields?



## Vol

I had one 18 acre field of Timothy and Orchard Grass planted last fall that has faired very poorly....seemed to survive the first drought we experienced but we got some rain about the middle of July then got real dry again and it looks as if I have lost about 40% of it. I have decided to kill the whole thing out and do a total replant. I also planted 13 acres of RR alfalfa back in the first of April and it looks great....feel like I might beginning to get a handle on baling this stuff. How has everyone else's hayfields survived this torturous summer.

Regards, Mike


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## mlappin

Getting some of my highest yields off this cutting after all the rain. Of course some of it should have been cut weeks ago but when it rains every other day what can you do. Actually going to haul about a 100 bales out of one of the hoop buildings down to the other farm father bought this spring and store some in the bank barn there as I figure hay that has been stored since May will be fine in the old bank barn and the hay I'll be baling the rest of the week will be better off at home where I can keep a close eye on it just in case I have to bale a little sooner if the weather changes.


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## rjmoses

I looked close a couple of days ago at two orchard grass fields I planted a year ago.

One field doesn't look too bad. It has a few spots where there are a lot of weeds and it looks a little thin. I'm going to shred it off tall to get rid of the clover (cover crop) and weeds in the next few days. I'm going to let it stand over the winter and see what comes back in the spring. Depending on what I see next May, I probably will take a cutting, then drill in the same variety in August.

The other field is at least 50% bare (lots of cheatgrass coming up right now). This field is probably going into corn or beans.

The 7 year old orchardgrass field is coming on strong after these last few rains (4.3" May 1 - Aug. 25th; 4.6" Aug. 26th to now).

One alfalfa stand looks a little hurt; other two look fantastic.

Ralph


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## judejames

I require alfalfa (good and also premium) and timothy


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## Vol

judejames said:


> I require alfalfa (good and also premium) and timothy


I have Timothy and good Alfalfa and maybe premium if last cut goes well....what state are you in?

Regards, Mike


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## Teslan

Some of my orchard and brome grass fields were very brown with no green anywhere as they haven't had water really of any sort since June. So to see if it was still alive I started taking a bucket of water out and pouring it on a marked area and in about 4-5 days some green shoots came out.


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## Vol

Teslan said:


> Some of my orchard and brome grass fields were very brown with no green anywhere as they haven't had water really of any sort since June. So to see if it was still alive I started taking a bucket of water out and pouring it on a marked area and in about 4-5 days some green shoots came out.


Sounds like a good way to check on health condition.

Regards, Mike


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## rjmoses

I have spots in the yard where the grass has a single shoot poking up and other places where it is 70-80% of its normal thickness. The weird thing is that the grass over the septic lines looks like it got hurt the worse! I don't see any signs of recovery there!

I shredded off one of the new OG fields last night that I thought was probably OK--it's looking great! There are 2-3 spots totaling maybe an 1/2 acre that look iffy. But I think this stand is going to be good. I had seeded it a little heavier -- 18# OB/6# medium red clover.

Ralph


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## Mike120

rjmoses said:


> I have spots in the yard where the grass has a single shoot poking up and other places where it is 70-80% of its normal thickness. The weird thing is that the grass over the septic lines looks like it got hurt the worse! I don't see any signs of recovery there!


My experence with grass over septic lines is that it's the last to go dormant in a drought but the first to die. It usually has a pretty shallow root system and cannot survive on the septic lines alone. I had to put in an aerobic system when I built this place and a willow tree I had by the sprinklers was the only tree I had damaged by last years drought.


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## Forage Injector Guy

If you're having to feed wheat straw or cornstalks, here's a solution to make cows want it and get more protein at the same time.
www.baleplus.com


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## rjmoses

Mike120 said:


> My experence with grass over septic lines is that it's the last to go dormant in a drought but the first to die. It usually has a pretty shallow root system and cannot survive on the septic lines alone.


Thanks. Makes sense.

Ralph


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