# Reed canary



## gmghay (Oct 14, 2008)

Does reed canary grass make quality hay? I hear and read comments from both sides of the spectrum. I've been considering it for 10-15 acres of low land. How quick does it cure? Is there much of a market for it? Anyone had any experience with it? Thanks.


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## Lazy J (Jul 18, 2008)

Here is the opinion of the Miner Institute of Reed Canary Grass taken from their 2008 summary:

We thought we had the ideal companion to alfalfa in reed canarygrass, a great producer that sucks up manure like it's going out of style. One problem, especially for farmers wanting to take a fall harvest, is that canarygrass tends to go to sleep for the winter quite early, turning an unhealthy-appearing orange with the first frost. And as we've seen more forage quality data, reed canarygrass doesn't look nearly as good as do several other grass species. Last but not least, canarygrass seedlings are slow to establish, more sensitive to frost damage than most other grass seedlings, and it seems that as we get more alfalfa in an alfalfa-reed canarygrass seeding, we get less canarygrass. We tried perennial ryegrass, but it grew so fast in the fall that it smothered the alfalfa. We did a strip seeding of alfalfa with both ryegrass and timothy; by the second year the alfalfa-timothy was mostly alfalfa, while the alfalfa-ryegrass was almost entirely ryegrass. 

Jim


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## Hayguy (Jun 4, 2008)

If you are looking for a high yielding coarse stemmed product canary grass is a good choice. Like most grasses, if you cut it early enough, you can improve the quality. The 1st problem with canary grass, IMO, is that it matures much earlier than alfalfa. The 2nd problem is that it's pretty hard to kill the stuff. I believe it spreads both by seed and by rhysomes.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I have some reed canary in a lowland area.It came in wild,with the water.It grows were the water runs.It hasn't spread out of that area to higher ground,which is timothy and bluegrass.1st cut can get coarse,but you get alot of hay.Cow or grinding hay.Its about 5' tall when I get it cut.2nd cut can be some vary nice hay usually 2' high,nice calf or horse hay.Reed Canary will survive in a very wet area with standing water were other grasses would die.


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## Hayboy1 (Jul 19, 2008)

I know here in Mass, it is considered an invasive species. But where it is established I agree it can be tough to get rid of, and it is usually pretty wet ground. With that being said, I have been cutting Reed Canary for many years and have found that if you can get on it early enough before it heads, you can make decent feed with it. Lot of color, broad leaves, decent smell actually. If you wait, you will have a heck of a time mowing it especially with a discbine with flails. If you are using a mower with beat up rollers, you will also have a heck of a time with it wrapping around the rolls as well. It does dry down quick after it has been mowed and is fairly easy to to cure out.


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## tom burlingham (Jan 24, 2009)

We seeded 10 acres of the venture variety about 4 years ago. Venture was bred for low alkaloid and it was very slow to establish. This is on a muck soil that is poorly drained so if you stop the tractor your pretty much stuck. We have been taking two crops. The first is great dry cow filler. The second is going to horses with good feedback from the customers. It dries fast with tedding.


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