# When to bale Rye Hay?



## Redrock

I understand that Rye grass will make pretty good hay. Does anyone have experience with the right time to cut, how to recognize the right amount of drying, etc.? The type of rye I have down is annual from Oregon, growing in north Texas. Thanks.


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## swmnhay

Depends what type of feed you want?Cut in boot stage and I've had 18% hay.Let it head out and get alot more tonnage and protien will drop to 10%.

If you don't have a tester scratch on the stem with your fingernail to see if it is wet with fingernail.

Its similar to oats hay as far as dry down,but takes longer then other grass like orchard or brome.


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## Redrock

swmnhay said:


> Depends what type of feed you want?Cut in boot stage and I've had 18% hay.Let it head out and get alot more tonnage and protien will drop to 10%.
> If you don't have a tester scratch on the stem with your fingernail to see if it is wet with fingernail.
> Its similar to oats hay as far as dry down,but takes longer then other grass like orchard or brome.


Thanks for the tips, I'd want it before it "heads out"(meaning 'go to seed' I presume) because I'm trying to phase in more Bermuda and I don't want the competition. If I understand correctly, I would cut and not bale until the fingernail test starts to turn up dry, right? ...and is it the Brix meter that measures protein as well as moisture? I'm still learning the technical side of making hay.


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## swmnhay

You don't want it to go to seed or you will have volunteer ryegrass for possibly yrs.

I actually don't really care if it goes to seed with alfalfa underseeded.I end up with alf/ryegrass mix and have a good market for that type of hay.

I'd invest in a moisture tester if you are unsure of dryness of the hay.

James could help you out with that.

http://www.balesupply.com/


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## Mike120

I put some in a field I'm probably going to sprig in the spring for grazing. With the fertilizer, rain and warm weather it's really taken off. I'm considering baling some of it but I'm not sure I can get it dry enough without a flail conditioner.


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## jdhayboy

I usually bale some every year. I sell it as horse hay, and have multiple people ask if we are going to have some in the spring. Almost always its headed out because we will cut in April, when its warmer to help dry it down. Good luck getting it dry unless u got a week of good weather to get it up. U may need that long, rye holds a lot of moisture and will fool the best of them if its dry or not. My advice would be to cut it after a dry cold front, if u get one. It will help it dry down quicker.


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## Texasmark

My current purchased hay is mostly rye and some of it has headed out. My cows were accustomed to eating sudan x sorghum which has a good amount of sugar in the stems and they liked that. Well I didn't like it for loss, requirement for a crimper, and hard drying, even here in N. Texas.

They have since realized that if they wanted hay to eat it was going to be what I bought. I have fed several bales of it and they are acclimated to it.

What I like about it over sudan is that when they reach into the bale and come out with a mouthful of hay, that's all there is....what's in their mouth unlike suday whereas about half of it is out of their mouth and they just let it drop on the ground and mess it up, failing to police it up. Other thing is that it makes a really tight bale and since hay sells by the roll here that means more for your money. Don't know what the protein level is but it came from a good farm that didn't have money problems.

I am planting Pearl Millet this year for the first time on this year's hay crop. Will see how it comes out.

Mark


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## vhaby

There appears to be a bit of confusion in this blob. Redrock initiated this blog by mentioning ryegrass, but then reverted to mention the grass called rye. He went on to say that he has the annual type of rye that is grown in Oregon. There is a type of ryegrass that is annual and there is another that is perennial. I think Redrock is questioning about annual ryegrass, not rye. Rye heads out in southern states well before annual ryegrrass heads out. Hopefully all responders to this blog were writing about ryegrass and not about rye.


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## swmnhay

vhaby said:


> There appears to be a bit of confusion in this blob. Redrock initiated this blog by mentioning ryegrass, but then reverted to mention the grass called rye. He went on to say that he has the annual type of rye that is grown in Oregon. There is a type of ryegrass that is annual and there is another that is perennial. I think Redrock is questioning about annual ryegrass, not rye. Rye heads out in southern states well before annual ryegrrass heads out. Hopefully all responders to this blog were writing about ryegrass and not about rye.


I was.This is what I plant and also sell it.I think it is grown in Oregon also.

Lonestar


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## vhaby

Most annual ryegrass seed is grown in Oregon. The data you present on the website look good against the compared varieties. How does 'Lonestar' compare to the variety named 'Prine'? How good is Lonestar's resistance to rust? Price per 50 lb bag of Lonestar last fall? Where was Lonestar developed?

With the hay shortage in Texas, those of us in the more humid regions (East) of Texas who gambled and seeded cereal rye, high cold-tolerance oats, and/or annual ryegrass and got it germinated by timely rains may have saved our cow herds by seeding these cool-season grasses.


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## swmnhay

vhaby said:


> Most annual ryegrass seed is grown in Oregon. The data you present on the website look good against the compared varieties. How does 'Lonestar' compare to the variety named 'Prine'? How good is Lonestar's resistance to rust? Price per 50 lb bag of Lonestar last fall? Where was Lonestar developed?
> 
> With the hay shortage in Texas, those of us in the more humid regions (East) of Texas who gambled and seeded cereal rye, high cold-tolerance oats, and/or annual ryegrass and got it germinated by timely rains may have saved our cow herds by seeding these cool-season grasses.


I've never had the variety Prine.I've only compared it to VNS (Variety Not Stated) Annual Ryegrass and a Italion Ryegrass.And it was much better yielding then them.I've had no issues with rust.$50 per 50lb bag.Not sure where it was developed???

Here is some more info on it.

http://www.grasslandoregon.com/assets/forage/lone_star_tech_sheet.pdf


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## eight

I plan on baling some in a couple weeks. I've never done it before, but with the drought I decided to drill ryegrass into some coastal fields and hope for the best. Got lucky and it rained, I stopped feeding hay in December and sold 60% of my herd off before that. Now my little herd cant eat 25% of the wild oats and clover, never even turned them in on one field. Good to know to plan on a week for it to dry. I don't have a conditioner, hope that doesn't cause me any trouble.


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## Texasmark

Mike120 said:


> I put some in a field I'm probably going to sprig in the spring for grazing. With the fertilizer, rain and warm weather it's really taken off. I'm considering baling some of it but I'm not sure I can get it dry enough without a flail conditioner.


I just baled some that was really thick and was worried about curing. I cut it with my new drum mower (no crimper) which makes wind rows and just let it lie for about 3 days and the weather was sunny and not too hot. On the 4th day I checked it and some of it passed the 3 twist test and some was still a little too wet. I got my wheel rake out and combined 2 ww's fluffing in the process. It was a pretty warm day and we had 20+mph winds. By 1pm I had finished fluffing and checked where I had started and it had all cured enough to pass the test. I rolled it and checked the next day and the bales were ok. I was surprised that it cured that fast, but it did.

Oh, and on Rye hay, I have been feeding it and so have a lot of others. With the unpredictable summer weather down here it is a hay crop regardless of whether or not you get any more from warm season grasses and I have decided to include it in my hayin plans for next year.

HTH,
Mark


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## Mike120

I baled mine a couple of weeks ago. I got a friend with a flail conditioner to cut it. I also teded it. It ended up making a little over 3 tons an acre which I was happy with because I had been grazing part of it. I'm sitting on the bales. I let it head out before I cut it. Any volunteer grass I get next year will be a bonus.

I just finished preping the field (fertilize P&K , disk, and roll) and I'm going to plant Comanche Bermuda today. We're showing a pretty good chance for rain next week. Hopefully the seed won't be a rain repellent like the fertilizer was when I put it down.


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## Texasmark

I don't know what I have down here. All the rye-ryegrass-whatever I see has a leaf base which isn't all that tall and then shoots up a firm round stem to various heights depending upon conditions and then heads out into a zippered looking (like a tractor's rear tire track) single stem with the seeds opposite one another in series that is about 4" bottom to top. If conditions are right it grows real thick but is not a clumping grass like Fescue, and I don't know what Fescue I have.

This may be perennial or it may be seed related annual. If I have a dry year or two I usually have none, but with the cool wet winter/spring we had here this year it's everywhere, and volunteer. I have it in my pasture with my cows grazing it and will let it go ahead and seed out and mature, ensuring a seed base for a crop next year. As said elsewhere, I may include it in my hay patch this year.

I never saw hay tested, but if a hay goes to seed, I know that in sudan especially sudan the stems turn to flax, loose protein and digestibility. I never saw any difference in rye and when cured, I can take a wad of it in my hands thumbs together and in 3 twists or less it breaks. Feeding it out as hay I have minimal cleanup after the round bale; unlike sudan as stated that they leave 1/4 of it on the ground. So back to the testing, if the nutrients go into the seeds, like any grain, then if the seeds are included in the bale and the stems are digestible then it can't be all that bad from a protein standpoint, one would think.

On what kind of seed to plant, I found that getting what my local coop sells solves a lot of problems and also provides me with what others buy in the region. There are numerous very large ranches (excluding the huge semidesert southwest 1 animal per 5 acres sort of thing) and Sulphur Springs, where the coop is headquartered, is a very large dairy center. So for now I don't have a clue as to what I will attempt to buy next spring to add to my hay patch.

Oh well, so much for my rambling. If it did anybody any good great.

Mark


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