# Timothy... life cycle and reasonable expectations in KY



## Dadnatron (Jul 24, 2017)

I've had about as many 'thoughts' as I have spoken to people, about the subject of Timothy.

They horse guys love it. They want it. And will pay top $$ for it.

Growers don't like it. Are typically disgusted with it. And I rarely find it being grown outside of some sort of mix.

I planted 10ac of Summit fall before last. Little showed up. I doubled up on it last fall and was able to get a 50% density (I'm guessing) stand this year. Cut it and sent it on its way. There were definitely some good spots, but overall, it was sparse. The plants which grew, looked pretty good. But they were spaced much to far apart to be useful. I saw that I have a broadleaf problem in this field, Dandelions, and I will be spraying Brash (dicamba/2-4D amine) this weekend. I'll also be spraying about 50ac of mix OG/KBG as well.

The Timothy is what I am asking about. Right now, 10days after 1st cutting, it looks like its done for the year. In KY, I thought I would get a 2nd cutting, and I think my concern might be unfounded at this point. But everything else is greening back up. My alfalfa/OG is popping. My OG/KBG is coming back nicely. My Timothy looks like the residual of baled perennial Rye. Dry stubble and ground hugging broadleafs.

I was told by my 'hay guy' last year, that I had to reseed Timothy every fall if I wanted it to grow back the following year. But, it is a perennial, so this shouldn't be the case. I've been told that it should come back fine on its own. I've been told to just plant alfalfa through it and get a mixed stand... etc etc etc.

AT this point, I am wondering whether I should go ahead and plant alfalfa and OG into it this fall and let my dream of a Pure Timothy stand fall away. I have horses, and wanted it simply to subsidize them. I don't do this for cash, although I would like to make some money off the acreage I have in hay. Last year (1st after planting) I made about $1600 of 40ac of all hay. That might pay for all the diesel I've put into prepping, planting, and spraying that field. Doesn't touch the seed cost thus far, however.

Any recommendations on what to do with this Timothy? I'd like to keep it 'pure'. But if I can't get about double what I had this first cutting, It really is a waste of 10ac.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

It does well in the Northeast. You need a cooler climate and abundant rainfall during the heat months of summer. No drought.

Regards, Mike


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I won't pretend to be an expert in Ky, but here which probably has at least similar climate to you I have had one batch that was stellar, one that drove me nuts (and I don't fool with it anymore). The first batch was planted no-till about 2004 and lasted well for 10 years without reseeding and tolerating low stubble cutting. Several years I got 3 cuttings but at least one of those was a cutting in name only. My first cutting averaged about 120 bales to the acre. Encroachment by fescue and native orchard grass led me to change the field first to Teff, then to Orchard grass.

The second batch was done on conventional till after working in 3 tons lime to the acre and heavy fertilization. Had the ground perfect and planted. Got 5 inches of rain. Washed out. reworked in the spring and planted again. Got a Speedwell infestation, seeded again and no germination. What I should have done was to go to Teff after the washout but did not know about teff at that point.,then followed the teff with timothy in the fall-no till. Here you have to spray for mites. Also if you get speedwell, the only thing that gets is is Chaparrel and that gets timothy as well.

Thinking you will not see much in terms of second cutting if anything. I would hit it with whatever you can as late as you can and still reseed. Here I was fall seeding in mid sept. Brome is what most people add to it to thicken but you should be able to get a thick stand of just timothy


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Dadnatron said:


> I've had about as many 'thoughts' as I have spoken to people, about the subject of Timothy.
> 
> They horse guys love it. They want it. And will pay top $$ for it.
> 
> Growers don't like it. Are typically disgusted with it. And I rarely find it being grown outside of some sort of mix.


Looks like you explained a lot in these last two sentences. Could be called a classic supply and demand at work, in a capitalistic society. But, with that said, I notice that some guys mention 'high cutting' shoes for their cutting machine, do you and would that help? And as Hay mentions, can you no-till into existing Tim comes to mind? You guys deal with a whole different batch of problems growing Tim/OG/etc. that I have a hard time comprehending, my hat's off to you.

I do have to wonder though, why Timothy, is it because it's so easy to recognize/identify perhaps?

Larry


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## Edd in KY (Jul 16, 2009)

I am in KY, and I raise grass hay for my own race horses and sell my excess to horse folks. I have some timothy in my fields but basically I grow Orchard grass. When I over seed I do straight OG. What timothy I have is from natural reseeding, like this year, lots of rain, delays cutting, timothy reseeds, so next year I will have more timothy.

The horse appeal of timothy is mostly emotional and horse legend. Horses will eat OG readily. OG matures earlier so it is ready to cut earlier, OG is hardier than timothy and will produce more bales/acre in KY, you can get a 2nd cutting of OG sometimes (rarely with timothy). So that is why I raise OG for horse hay in KY.


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## Draft Horse Hay (May 15, 2014)

It's been a week or so since this topic was live but I just noticed it so here we go. I live in N ID near the WA border. There is a robust export timothy hay market here and I have seen some pretty great stands of timothy. Most of those guys are big producers and also farm wheat etc so they're no rookies to working ground.

From what i can tell, they make sure to have a clean field (using one of the herbicides that keep winter annual grasses from emerging --- used in wheat too). And then it looks like they plant heavy based on the stand density.

Since they're in the export market, they can't tolerate weeds or even rained on hay, so their stands seem to go 5 to 7 yrs maybe?

These guys can fetch over $300/T in the field (large square bales). These bales are loaded on tandem trailer semis and hauled to a facility about 180 miles away where they are recompressed into tighter bales and loaded into some sort of shipping containers which then go to the port of Seattle and are freighted to Japan. God only knows what they must be paying for timothy in Japan.

I think timothy is considered one of the grasses that doesn't persist long and can behave like brome after cutting (little regrowth compared to OG etc).


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

In the mountains of VA where we are at, we’re doing OK with Timothy as it is cooler than in the lower elevations. Timothy will die out and only spreads via seed. We over seed every fall to try to keep our stand thick. We also cut at the timothy maturity to maximize its content in our bales. We’ve got OG and fescue coming into our fields and at some point either need to start over or simply make/sell a heavy Timothy mixed grass hay. Our customers really like the timothy.


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## keezletowner (Aug 3, 2014)

Personally I love making Timothy because I get incredible yield of high quality hay that dries quickly because of relatively fine stem diameter compared to OG. Also much later cutting date and wider harvest window compared to OG. It makes a tremendous first cutting but little to no second cutting depending on variety and rainfall. Plant it on your wettest heaviest soil. I use a no till drill set shallow due to small seed size. I usually get 3 or 4 years then I rotate out and start over. I expect 200 35 lb bales/ac here after I throw some turkey litter on it. Set your mower as high as possible. The field always looks like a harvested wheat field after you mow. Be patient for 2-3 weeks and you will know how strong the stand will be coming back


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