# Planted my Teff today



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

The weather has turned nice and warm in Colorado so I did some gambling and planted my Tiffany Teff today. It seemed to plant good through my Great Plains drill I had the openers just scratching the surface and the packing wheels seemed to press it in fairly good, but not to deep. Now I am just hoping for some rain on about 5 acres out of the 35 acre field that is flood irrigated. The rest is under pivot irrigation. But I can't flood irrigate until the seedlings are up. 30-40% chance or rain tomorrow depending on what weather organization I look at. Tomorrow maybe I'll do more gambling and buy a megamillions lottery ticket.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Good Luck and keep us apprised about germination and any other pertinent you discover in your efforts.

Regards,Mike


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I was working up the ground yesterday to plant 6 ac. of Tiffany. Ground was pretty wet and sticky, even though it is hillside and well drained. Disc pulled really hard!

Lots of warm, dry wind overnight, so I'm hoping that it dried out enough that I can do a finishing pass today and get the teff in the ground today. Call is for thunder storms tonight!

Ralph


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Got my teff out Thursday. Looking to see how it comes up. Got .3" on it Friday. Still want to put some nitrogen on top, but ran out of time.

Planted pasture mix also---What a comedy of errors--I didn't think I could screw up so many things in a row!

Ralph


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> Got my teff out Thursday. Looking to see how it comes up. Got .3" on it Friday. Still want to put some nitrogen on top, but ran out of time.
> 
> Planted pasture mix also---What a comedy of errors--I didn't think I could screw up so many things in a row!
> 
> Ralph


Talk about screw ups. I'll admit one when I planted my Teff. One side of my great plains drill is dependant on the other side to run out of the small grains seeder. So there is a screw that holds the seeding rate on the left box of the drill. I thought I had it tight. But it wasn't so it slipped at some point and was only planting half the rate or less of the other side. GRRRR!!! So I replanted guessing where this started. No rain yet on ours so we have had the pivots on except for the 5 acres we flood irrigate. 40% chance of rain tomorrow and the next day.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

You fellas keep track of how your germination goes and keep us informed about the little nuances with Teff. I wanted to plant Teff this year but we have had soooo much rain and I have gotten behind on planting and mowing that I will not likely get a chance this year. I have had several people tell me it takes a little longer to dry Teff...don't know if this is true or not but maybe you two can educate all of us on HT about Teff.

Regards, Mike


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Well the area of my 30 acre field that got water right away has sprouted. Very small sprouts at this time though. So that's about 3 days since it was planted. Though for most of the 1st day it didn't have water. Thursday and Friday the temps were in the mid eighties. We have two short pivots on this 30 acres, but can only run one at a time unless we want a power bill of $500 a month for the next 2 years if we go over 25KW an hour. We run them separate then it's only about $150 a month during the summer. So the other pivot has been running since yesterday. The 5 acres that has not had water and will not unless it rains hasn't sprouted. Pretty good chance of rain today and tomorrow. I would think if Ralph got .3 inches of rain his should be coming up soon.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I'm pretty please with the teff/OG stand I have going on 6 ac pasture. I'm planning on cutting the teff this week/next week as a test (planted May 16th). It's about 24" tall in most places. There are some darker green and light green areas and this causes me to wonder if I didn't get an even spread on the urea.

The field was prepared by:

---burning down with roundup,

---discing twice,

---rolling over with a cultimulcher, teeth about 2" down to level field,

---broadcast spreading with 3pt spreader at 8 lbs/ac split into two passes,

---rolling over it with the cultimulcher with the teeth just barely contacting the ground,

---applied 100#/ac of urea.















Teff is now measuring up to 28".

Ralph


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

That's pretty good Ralph. Much taller then mine, but then after I planted it got kinda cold off and on here so it didn't grow so well. Now it's growing about an inch a day it seems. I'm probably 2-3 weeks off from cutting. I did very similar to you in ground prep except I ripped first (it needed it after 8 years of alfalfa.) Disked twice and rolled over with cultimulcher with teeth down once. I drilled mine in with my Great Plains drill. Drilled it very shallow. The press wheels covered it up. But everything that got water seemed to have come up good.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> I'm pretty please with the teff/OG stand I have going on 6 ac pasture. I'm planning on cutting the teff this week/next week as a test (planted May 16th). It's about 24" tall in most places. There are some darker green and light green areas and this causes me to wonder if I didn't get an even spread on the urea.
> 
> The field was prepared by:
> ---burning down with roundup,
> ...


 When you say teff/OG stand does that mean you mixed teff into a new seeding of orchard grass? If you could elaborate on this a bit more I would appreciate it.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

FarmerCline said:


> When you say teff/OG stand does that mean you mixed teff into a new seeding of orchard grass? If you could elaborate on this a bit more I would appreciate it.


This is in one of my primary horse pastures. It got hurt real bad a couple of years ago, so I decided to replant it. I like to use it for my 3-4 horses that are in heavy training, especially in the winter since it is right next to the arena.

My plan was to seed in a pasture mix and over seed it with teff as a cover crop so that I could use it as a pasture over the summer but not hurt the OG pasture mix. But the teff looks so good that I'm thinking of changing my plan and taking a cutting off of it to see how it dries, rakes bales, keeps, etc.

I'm liking the way it's looking so much right now that I'm thinking of getting rid of the alfalfa fields and going to a corn/beans/teff rotation. This would of course depend on yield and other considerations.

But what I'm finding attractive about teff, is that I'm thinking the fine stems and leaves will dry in 1-2 days instead of 3-4 days for alfalfa and OG. I'm also liking the idea of 3-4 cuttings a year instead of the 1-2 I have been getting with OG.

But, a lot of this blue sky/hope-it-works thinking. I'll find out.

Just thinking....

Ralph


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

That's interesting using teff as a warm season cover crop. Let us know how it ends up working out. Now was the orchard grass pasture mix seeded last fall and the teff seeded into this spring or was it all seeded together this spring?


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## Irish farms (Mar 22, 2012)

Here in SE Iowa teff is slower to dry than alfalfa. It will feel dry but when you use a moisture meter it may be ok but feel the cut ends and you may be surprised at the amount of moisture inside the stem.

Have your baler knifes very sharp and set correct as teff is tough and hard to cut clean.

Good luck


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

FarmerCline said:


> That's interesting using teff as a warm season cover crop. Let us know how it ends up working out. Now was the orchard grass pasture mix seeded last fall and the teff seeded into this spring or was it all seeded together this spring?


Seeded at same time this spring. I am concerned that the teff might crowd out the OG/etc.

Ralph


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Irish farms said:


> Here in SE Iowa teff is slower to dry than alfalfa. It will feel dry but when you use a moisture meter it may be ok but feel the cut ends and you may be surprised at the amount of moisture inside the stem.
> Have your baler knifes very sharp and set correct as teff is tough and hard to cut clean.
> Good luck


Thanks for the advice. I was thinking the same thing as Ralph that it might dry quickly since the blades seem so light and soft. Though I don't have to deal with the humidity you guys do.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Irish farms said:


> Here in SE Iowa teff is slower to dry than alfalfa. It will feel dry but when you use a moisture meter it may be ok but feel the cut ends and you may be surprised at the amount of moisture inside the stem.
> 
> Have your baler knifes very sharp and set correct as teff is tough and hard to cut clean.
> 
> Good luck


What height do you cut it at? Do you use a sickle or disc? Does a moco make a difference? Would it help to set the moco tighter for teff? Any other tips?

Thanks

Ralph


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I guess you have to cut prior to the seed head. According to teffgrass.com. I plan on following their advice. http://teffgrass.com/harvesting-teff

They also say a rotary (disc) mower is best and to leave 4 inches of stubble.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I cut my Teff today. Looks pretty good. I wonder how long it will take to dry now.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Dang that looks good enough to eat.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Looks like you got a heck of a stand Teslan.....let us know about the dry down....some say it can be difficult to dry here in the East , but I doubt that it would in your climate. It sure looks fluffy. Is that the seed you got from swmnhay.....looks like every seed germinated! Really nice clean stand....you obviously hit the right planting depth.

Regards, Mike


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

swmnhay said:


> Dang that looks good enough to eat.


Shoot, that would probably be good with a little salad dressing on it! :lol:


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Vol said:


> Looks like you got a heck of a stand Teslan.....let us know about the dry down....some say it can be difficult to dry here in the East , but I doubt that it would in your climate. It sure looks fluffy. Is that the seed you got from swmnhay.....looks like every seed germinated! Really nice clean stand....you obviously hit the right planting depth.
> 
> Regards, Mike


In places in the field there is quite a bit of water grass. The Teff probably would have done better if we hadn't had somewhat cold weather right after it came up. Which slowed it's growth,but the water grass kept growing. We've been having quite humid weather for here the last couple of days with humidity in the 30% range and such. The windrows are pretty thick so it might take 2-3 days to cure. I'm interested to see how the stems cure out. I noticed though that the Teff I cut first and dried slightly on top of the windrow sure dried a dark green color. Yes it is seed I bought from Cy.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

30% Humid sounds awfully dry to me! Looks good.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Cut mine Wedsneday.

Couple of observations so far

1)Need sharp blades on disc mower, otherwise it skips.

2) It LIKES nitrogen. I could see every where I skipped or doubled over.

Went out this afternoon and checked to see how it was drying. Felt damp to my hand, but my Delmhorst tester read 14.2% in 4 spots. So I'm thinking good to go! My wife was with me and commented about the same reading in 4 spots. But....I was hot to trot. Got the rake, went to work.

Baled first bale and acid applicator was reading off scale. Thought to myself "Hmmmmm". Did a second bale---same thing. So I went and got my Delmhorst and checked a couple more spots and they came up 14.2%.

Went through the calibration procedure and it came up 0 -- should have read 12. Replaced battery, rechecked calibration, came up 12.

Back to the filed, checked a few spots--running 26 to 30%. Ooops!

Should have trusted my hands. And my wife.

Ralph


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I'm debating putting any nitrogen on mine second cutting. Just because we might not have any irrigation water to irrigate it. We didn't put any one first cutting, but it had just came out of alfalfa. Seemed to grow just fine without it. My knifes on the swather aren't all that sharp. But I didn't see any skips at all. Ralph if you just cut on Wednesday and could bale today I would be amazed! I don't anticipate baling mine until Tuesday at the earliest and we have much less humidity then near St. Louis I'm sure. Did you ted yours?


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Teslan said:


> I don't anticipate baling mine until Tuesday at the earliest and we have much less humidity then near St. Louis I'm sure. Did you ted yours?


Yepp. Flipped it the next day.

And you're right--it wasn't ready. This is my first time with teff and I didn't know how it should feel. The stems are tougher and the leaves felt a little waxy. I stopped after the second bale. I'll let it dry at least another day and probably bale it Sunday.

Question is: Do I want to run the tedder over it to blow the windrows apart or just leave it.

Doing something new is a learning process and if you get it right the first time, you were either real lucky or weren't paying attention.

Ralph


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Tried teff great stuff but we found the closer it gets to being dry the more it can rehydrate at night. My neighbor says if it gets down to 15% at the end of the day by the next morning it will be just like you just mowed it .


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

endrow said:


> Tried teff great stuff but we found the closer it gets to being dry the more it can rehydrate at night. My neighbor says if it gets down to 15% at the end of the day by the next morning it will be just like you just mowed it .


Thanks. I'll keep this in mind. I'm thinking I'll go out about 4 this afternoon and re-check it. If it's reading high, I think I'll run the tedder over it. If it's in the 16-18% range, I'll bale it with acid.

This causes me to wonder how it might work hereabouts with nightly humidities typically in the 90-95% range.

But I'll find out!

Ralph


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I just joined HayTalk to follow this thread. I have looked at topics from time to time but when I read all of your respective comments on Teff, well I figured now was the time. I planted 7 ac of teff on May 15 in a field that I have had a terrible time establishing late season timothy in. The last infestation of speedwell required that I spray with chapparel so the timothy was having a herbicide tox problem. Anyway, I chiselled, disked 3x, rolled with a roller harrow 3 times-2 to level with teeth down and the last time to pack. I let it rain on it twice and then seeded with a brillion till and seed then rolled it with the teeth up. Cut the first crop at 22-24 " on June 25.

I could not get the teff to dry. It feels dry but it is not. We have been cursed with misplaced Fla tropical air here in Virginia for almost a month. So even when it feels like it should be a drying day, it may not be. My experience is that teff rehydrates-even after baling more than any other hay I have ever dealt with. I tedded it twice and we are having to rake all hay early to get the wet stuff off the ground so it can dry. Unfortunately, this stuff ropes well with a rolabar rake-you can pull in 5-8 feet of windrow without moving the baler. I suspect that I should have tedded out the windrow after letting it dry for 4 hours. It looks like it will take about 4 good days to cure properly if you don't have rain. The good news is that it does not seem to bleach out in that time-I have had bales drying in the shed exposed to sun everyday and they are still fairly green. My teff is about ready to cut for a second time but I am waiting for more favorable weather.

I have been feeding busted bales to my horses-we run a small boarding operation and they won't stop eating it. Test results are good. It smells really sweet but does not have a high sugar problem. My sales market is competition horse owners so I am hoping that the next cutting is fully cured and sales worthy. Will be interested to follow your experiences and only wish I could cut the humidity off for several days like you can in Co.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Thanks for your perspective Hayman.....and welcome to Haytalk!

Regards, Mike


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Hayman1 said:


> I just joined HayTalk to follow this thread. I have looked at topics from time to time but when I read all of your respective comments on Teff, well I figured now was the time. I planted 7 ac of teff on May 15 in a field that I have had a terrible time establishing late season timothy in. The last infestation of speedwell required that I spray with chapparel so the timothy was having a herbicide tox problem. Anyway, I chiselled, disked 3x, rolled with a roller harrow 3 times-2 to level with teeth down and the last time to pack. I let it rain on it twice and then seeded with a brillion till and seed then rolled it with the teeth up. Cut the first crop at 22-24 " on June 25.
> 
> I could not get the teff to dry. It feels dry but it is not. We have been cursed with misplaced Fla tropical air here in Virginia for almost a month. So even when it feels like it should be a drying day, it may not be. My experience is that teff rehydrates-even after baling more than any other hay I have ever dealt with. I tedded it twice and we are having to rake all hay early to get the wet stuff off the ground so it can dry. Unfortunately, this stuff ropes well with a rolabar rake-you can pull in 5-8 feet of windrow without moving the baler. I suspect that I should have tedded out the windrow after letting it dry for 4 hours. It looks like it will take about 4 good days to cure properly if you don't have rain. The good news is that it does not seem to bleach out in that time-I have had bales drying in the shed exposed to sun everyday and they are still fairly green. My teff is about ready to cut for a second time but I am waiting for more favorable weather.
> 
> I have been feeding busted bales to my horses-we run a small boarding operation and they won't stop eating it. Test results are good. It smells really sweet but does not have a high sugar problem. My sales market is competition horse owners so I am hoping that the next cutting is fully cured and sales worthy. Will be interested to follow your experiences and only wish I could cut the humidity off for several days like you can in Co.


When you say cured properly in 4 days does that include tedding? Also for you guys that have baled it already does your mower/swather have a conditioner? Mine does. I'm hoping to only have to rake two windrows together into one right before my baler, but other then that I hope that I won't have to rake it any to dry it. Humidity sitting at about 19% right now. 20-30% chance of showers over the next 3 days. But for us showers mean anywhere from a hundredth inches of rain to 1/2 and inch.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Teslan- First of all, I would kill for 20% rh. Our dew points are running about 70% and so even when it is not raining, it really is not drying. We need a good east coast huricane to draw this stuff out or an Alberta clipper -unfortunately, those don't come this time of year. eventually, the jetstream will shift and we will catch a break.

I seeded @10# ac and got a good stand. I cut with a NH1409 discbine (9'3" cut width) with roll conditioning. I have the rolls set fairly hard or tight. I am not sure that the rolls are doing anything to the teff since there are no stems to crush like there are in timothy or orchard grass. I spread it out as much as the machine will do (did not windrow at all) so I do get the advantage of the hay sticking up vertically to some degree. I have a header tilt cylinder and I set that to leave the maximum 3.5-4" stubble which helps with drying. However, leaving that high stubble allows the plant to start growing again as you are cutting it so leaving cut hay in the field for a week or more to dry does not seem to be a very good idea.

I cut several test strips several days before i cut the field and had better weather on those than the rest of the field. Lower humidity and a little breeze. I left the swaths lay from 10am the day I cut them until 4PM the following day. Raked one in and one out in a three swath pattern so the windrows were sitting on the middle swath and almost touching. The next day about noon I rolled the whole thing over again and then again at 3 pm. I think if I had tedded that out and let it dry till six, then raked it and turned over the windrow the following morning about 11-12 and baled at 2-3 pm, I would have had decent 14.5% hay uniformly. (that is 4 days and that is my planned approach for the second cutting. I could also try tedding it one time around noon on the second day or at 6 pm the first day. However, I am not sure that you have had enough drying to justify tedding the first day.

As a general rule, to make high quality hay here in Va tedding 1-2 times is a must. Many don't, but many make low grade hay. This year, there is so much water in the ground and so poor drying conditions that we are having to rake the day before baling to roll over the wet green grass in the bottom of the swath and then turn that over about noon the following day to get the core of the windrow dry.

Hope this helps-good luck.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Hayman1 said:


> Teslan- First of all, I would kill for 20% rh. Our dew points are running about 70% and so even when it is not raining, it really is not drying. We need a good east coast huricane to draw this stuff out or an Alberta clipper -unfortunately, those don't come this time of year. eventually, the jetstream will shift and we will catch a break.
> 
> I seeded @10# ac and got a good stand. I cut with a NH1409 discbine (9'3" cut width) with roll conditioning. I have the rolls set fairly hard or tight. I am not sure that the rolls are doing anything to the teff since there are no stems to crush like there are in timothy or orchard grass. I spread it out as much as the machine will do (did not windrow at all) so I do get the advantage of the hay sticking up vertically to some degree. I have a header tilt cylinder and I set that to leave the maximum 3.5-4" stubble which helps with drying. However, leaving that high stubble allows the plant to start growing again as you are cutting it so leaving cut hay in the field for a week or more to dry does not seem to be a very good idea.
> 
> ...


My windrow is about 7 feet wide and the cut area 15 feet wide and I have 4 conditioner rolls and it appeared to condition the Teff just like it's supposed to. With about 4 creases on the blades and stems of the Teff. I went and felt it this afternoon about 24 hours after cutting and the top half seemed dry. I left a 4 inch stand so if we get a nice breeze it should dry fairly well as air can get underneath the windrow. Plus the ground is pretty dry. Last irrigated about a week ago. I'll wait a couple days to see if even raking will be needed. I fear disturbing the windrow a lot because sometimes we get some nasty winds that can really blow hay away. So hopefully just raking two windrows together the day of baling it will do. I'm going to bale it into 3x3x8 bales.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Well, I baled my teff last night--coulda/shoulda maybe waited another day or two, but rain was on the horizon (literally--noting like baling with thunder and lightning hitting just across the ridge).

Delmhorst moisture tester read 14-18% across 4 samples when I started. Hay felt damp to my hand but, then again, I'm not familiar with how teff feels. Moisture in tractor was reading high as I baled, so I poured the acid to it. Cloudburst started just as I parked the baler in the shed.

6 acres yielded 8 5x5 round bales. I sure that part of the yield problem was due to the 4" toad strangle I got just after I planted. I'll bet that those people living down south in the Mississippi delta have a pretty good stand.

I'll be curious how these bales keep. You can bet that they'll be stored outside for a while.

Ralph


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Ralph-do you have anyway to shrink wrap (as in wet wrap) those bales? I went through the same thing with my first cutting with the thunder and toads chasing me to the barn. I made about 130 small squares but they weighed about 80#. Same thing, moisture meter said ok, little voice said no. I have been turning the bales on a mesh deck wagon for over two weeks and they have mostly settled down but virtually all of the bales have at least mild mildew-but still smell good. Many of the bales were so tight that they ensiled and only molded on the outside if in contact with something like the trailer deck which is why I turn them each day. This stuff rehydrates in the bale if you have high humidity so if you can wrap them, you may be able to keep them from molding. I don't use acid so I am not sure how much that will help with this hay.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hayman1 said:


> This stuff rehydrates in the bale if you have high humidity so if you can wrap them, you may be able to keep them from molding. I don't use acid so I am not sure how much that will help with this hay.


Well....with our humidity here, I might as well forget about Teff....if it rehydrates in the bale, I don't stand a chance here.

Regards, Mike


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Vol said:


> Well....with our humidity here, I might as well forget about Teff....if it rehydrates in the bale, I don't stand a chance here.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Sorry I am not a good communicator I meant it completely rehydrates in the windrow when the hay in the windrow is nearly dry and needs to lay out at night .


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I think the bales will be ok if you think you have "over dried" them which is why I suggested 4 days of cure with tedding. I can get by with 2 days on OG and Tim with a lot of handling work. My teff bales are still greenish after being off and on exposed to sunlite for over two weeks so the extra 1-2 days in the sun does not hurt them. That would never happen with OG or Tim. Teff does make beautiful hay if you can get it to a uniform 14.5% and it apparently tastes like candy. I don't think it will rehydrate at that moisture content. I have some bales like that which never had re-hydration issues.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Hayman1 said:


> Ralph-do you have anyway to shrink wrap (as in wet wrap) those bales?
> 
> This stuff rehydrates in the bale if you have high humidity so if you can wrap them, you may be able to keep them from molding. I don't use acid so I am not sure how much that will help with this hay.


Thanks. No, I don't. They are netwrapped and treated with 12 lbs/ton propionic (maybe a little more).

Ralph


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

You guys are right. This Teff stuff is kind of tricky deciding if it is dry or not. I almost decided to rake the windrows together and have a go at it this afternoon. Parts of the field the windrows were bone dry. Probably too dry. Then other parts the stems had a little moisture in them. But there was kind of a thunderstorm threatening along with gusts of wind so I chickened out. The wind happened the storm didn't. It would have blown all over the place if we had raked. I think tomorrow when the dew if there is any dries off I'll rake then bale a couple hours later. It has been barely 3 days since cut and no tedding, raking or anything yet.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Baled the Teff today. Got 88 800 lb 3x3x8 bales off of 23 acres. So about 1.5 tons an acre. Probably could have gotten more if I had fertilized. We'll see what 2nd turns into. Fertilized it. We will get to irrigate it at least once. Hopefully more. The teff smells really nice. I gave some to the neighbors horses and as I was walking to their corral with an arm full they were walking fast toward me. They ate it all with gusto and were kind of pushing each other out of the way for it. Poor guys probably have been smelling it laying in the field. Should be nice and dry in the bale as it was only 12% humidity while I was baling. Looks pretty green still. The the top of the windrow sun bleached pretty good. I'm probably gonna try and sell it for $110 a bale. That would make it $275/ton. I cut the Teff late Friday afternoon. Raked two windrows together this morning after the dew and was baling by 11:30 with 10-15% moisture readings.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Teslan said:


> Baled the Teff today. Got 88 800 lb 3x3x8 bales off of 23 acres. So about 1.5 tons an acre. Probably could have gotten more if I had fertilized. We'll see what 2nd turns into. Fertilized it. We will get to irrigate it at least once. Hopefully more. The teff smells really nice. I gave some to the neighbors horses and as I was walking to their corral with an arm full they were walking fast toward me. They ate it all with gusto and were kind of pushing each other out of the way for it. Poor guys probably have been smelling it laying in the field. Should be nice and dry in the bale as it was only 12% humidity while I was baling. Looks pretty green still. The the top of the windrow sun bleached pretty good. I'm probably gonna try and sell it for $110 a bale. That would make it $275/ton. I cut the Teff late Friday afternoon. Raked two windrows together this morning after the dew and was baling by 11:30 with 10-15% moisture readings.


WOW! And no fertilizer?

I only got 8 5x5 round bales off of 6 acres. I put 100 lbs urea on it. Planted at 8 lbs/acre.

What your soil like -- clay, loam??? What's the soil chemistry?

I know I got hit right after seeding with a heavy rain which washed a lot of seed down the ditch. I'm sure that affected my yield somewhat. But I wouldn't think it would have been that much.

Ralph


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> WOW! And no fertilizer?
> 
> I only got 8 5x5 round bales off of 6 acres. I put 100 lbs urea on it. Planted at 8 lbs/acre.
> 
> ...


Not all that sure what type of soil it is. Loam most likely. Also haven't had a soil test done since we've owned it. It's good ground. It was alfalfa last year so in my reading about Teff I got the impression when coming out of alfalfa as a rotational crop you don't really need to fertilize 1st cutting, but then split 50 lbs of N after that. So we spread or are in the process of spreading 35 lbs an acre for this cutting. We also added some sulfur as it needs a bit for planting Alfalfa next year. I'm going to have the Teff tested tomorrow for feed values and sugar content. Got some buyers interested as they have heard it is relatively low sugar content.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Teslan said:


> Not all that sure what type of soil it is. Loam most likely. Also haven't had a soil test done since we've owned it. It's good ground. It was alfalfa last year so in my reading about Teff I got the impression when coming out of alfalfa as a rotational crop you don't really need to fertilize 1st cutting, but then split 50 lbs of N after that. So we spread or are in the process of spreading 35 lbs an acre for this cutting. We also added some sulfur as it needs a bit for planting Alfalfa next year. I'm going to have the Teff tested tomorrow for feed values and sugar content. Got some buyers interested as they have heard it is relatively low sugar content.


What kind of fertilizer are you putting out? I'll be real interested to hear the feed values.

Thanks

Ralph


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Teslan- very impressive-please send some of that 12% humidity our way.

I had several small squares tested, one good bale at 14.5% moisture and one really hot high moisture bale. Low sugar but really good Protein(17.8%) and TDN(64%)-sorry, haven't figured out how to attach docs to this forum yet or I would have just attached the results. I have had hay drying where it gets sun off an on through the overhead doors for over 2 weeks and it is still very greenish in color and still has the sweet smell.

We have to supplement the teff we are feeding with old hay from last year. Horses are in during the day and out at night. within an hour or two, teff is gone in the stall and they are banging on the stall walls for more-maybe it is adictive.

We fertilized with 50-50-50 but have 10 years of annual heavy fertilizer on same field. I had thought I might topdress with 30 N but with the weather we are having, I don't need it any ranker than it already is.

Teff is 20-22" tall now so ready for second cutting which maybe can happen with the Alberta front coming in tomorrow.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

So for those wondering about the marketability of Teff. I guess the horsey people are on to it. Sold 30 bales already and most likely have the rest sold and into 2nd and 3rd cuttings if I get that many. Started getting calls within 30 minutes of posting an ad on craigslist and they knew all about it. The guy buying 30 bales has been feeding it for 5 years. He just has to go in search of it since like me farmers won't have it every year. I think I might have found my alfalfa rotational crop. Should have the feed tests back tomorrow afternoon and I will share them.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Maybe you should of priced it higher?


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I am figuring to price it comparable to good timothy here.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

swmnhay said:


> Maybe you should of priced it higher?


Could be if they like it that much. Oh well. However it seems to be so far a better return on my inputs then raising some other type of forage for a year like oats which is one cut and a mess to deal with (at least it was the last time I tried it.)


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

It is not known in this area so I have a startup curve but I can see from the tests and looking at it that it is a winner if we can get weather to make it. I am ready for second cutting @ 60 days and so we could conceivably get 4 cuttings per season without irregation. My timothy prices range from 6-7$ per square bale at 40-45# so we are talking around the same amount per ton 275 with more labor. Maybe I should charge more but I have to cure some first!

What will this bring in Mn SWMNHAY?


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I stuck a moisture probe in my Teff this morning and it's showing from 14-18 percent moisture and 94 degrees. The guy that bought 30 was kind of worried about that until I went over to some brome bales that have been there for a month and is testing similar and about 90 degrees. I expected the Teff to still be warm inside. It was 98 degrees when I baled it.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Interesting thing about bale temperatures: I stuck the probe in a bale the other day, read the temperature, got distracted, left the probe sitting there, then came back and re-read the temperature about 3-4 minutes later.

It was 6 degrees cooler!

So I worked the probe in and a few times and the temperature rose about 5 degrees and then started to fall.

Turns out the friction from inserting the probe into tight bales creates about a 5-8 degree temperature rise.

Ralph


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I think this stuff is so dense in the bales that losing ambient temps will take a while. The bales that heated on me from 3 weeks ago are still warm inside even though the outside is fluffy and shows no elevated heat.


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## Bob M (Feb 11, 2012)

When cut young does teff have alot of moisture trapped in the stem at the nodes? And does it help to run a crusher across it after the mower conditioner?


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Bob- I am cutting with a NH 1409 discbine and have the rolls down tight and am spreading it out at the maximum width. I think there is a fair amount of water in plant at cutting but it does not look wet. I have not gone back and looked at the nodes issue-will give that a look when I cut next. After one good day of drying, the top feels dry. By crusher, do you mean the old style intermeshed steel crimper? I have used one back in the day but don't have one now so can't respond on value of that possible option.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

One more note about growing Teff. If the ground is even somewhat wet and you drive heavy equipment on it most likely it will have to start over growing. We had the pivot going on the Teff right before I saw some seed heads and decided to cut. I let the field dry off for about 3 days. And here that dries pretty quick. Didn't make any tracks, but that part of the field you can see my tire tracks where the Teff is starting over. The rest of the field that had not been irrigated for about a week and a half is fine. Although I might be using heavier equipment then those of you that have commented on this topic use.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

My teff forage test. Not to bad at all. I'm not sure if the upload will work. If not I'll just type it out.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Teslan said:


> One more note about growing Teff. If the ground is even somewhat wet and you drive heavy equipment on it most likely it will have to start over growing. We had the pivot going on the Teff right before I saw some seed heads and decided to cut. I let the field dry off for about 3 days. And here that dries pretty quick. Didn't make any tracks, but that part of the field you can see my tire tracks where the Teff is starting over. The rest of the field that had not been irrigated for about a week and a half is fine. Although I might be using heavier equipment then those of you that have commented on this topic use.


Teslan- I noticed that too or sort of. I had stripes in mine after first cutting that looked like an old mower shoe in places, also some area dieback. I thought it was cheat grass that died after cutting. The ground when I cut the first time was not that wet. I need to cut the second time now after about 30 days of regrowth-a few seed heads are starting to show and the literature says cut before then but we are still in some tropical voodoo weather patern.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Hayman1 said:


> Teslan- I noticed that too or sort of. I had stripes in mine after first cutting that looked like an old mower shoe in places, also some area dieback.


I saw something similar--makes senses.

Ralph


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