Grandson of Polar Vortex...in July LOL

[lakeportfarms]

www.mlive.com/weather/index.ssf/2014/07/bizarre_weather_pattern_on_tap.html#incart_river_default


No doubt some of you down South are saying "bring it on!" because it means temperatures in the 80's.   But it looks like another relatively cool summer in store for us around the Great Lakes.  As you could see from some of my recent photos, the bull and many of the cows still have some remnants of their winter coats.  Second look at increasing the hay and straw I have on hand for the upcoming winter???

[Fran]

It's been soooo hot and dry for us! We finally got a little rain yesterday, .54 in the rain gauge. My pastures started out really well and went downhill fast. Now they are all brown and horrible! I didn't increase the number of bales of hay for this coming winter but I did go with a much higher quality hay. I'm hoping that will help.

[ladena]

At first I thought you were talking about a new calf,lol. Polar Vortex would be a good name for a bull.
I would love a little rain myself and while it's been "hot" we haven't gone over 100 yet.
Fran, we did the same with hay and bought better quality.

[Olga]

Here in our area of AR we don't have hay fields - this summer we have swamps! It has been unusually mild and very wet. It has been a problem to cut hay.... and bail it too! Most of the hay produced in our area is likely to have been rained on. The rest of it is likely to have been bailed too soon, before it had a chance to fully dry out - to prevent it from being rained on. And, due to this game of haying in between spurts of rain, some of the fields haven't been cut yet! Mid-July, and many folks here are still trying to get their first cutting of hay!

[hollydzie]

Hans, I wont complain it has been hot here in Florida. But no flooding like last summer. I just made a comment to my husband last night, that this year we have had a normal amount of rain and grass is growing good. Last year was a swamp. We always keep a good supply of hay put up just in case.

This weather is sure unpredictable at best. Now we just need to make it to the end of November with no hurricane.
Holly

[cddexter]

Anyone thought of haylege? Dryer than silage, wetter than hay. Puts up like hay but with a tiny silage smell. High protein, good for those areas where it doesn't go more than a few days without rain. You can get a mini-baler that does 300 lbs instead of 800-1000 which are much easier to move and store. Wraps the same, and isn't as prone to mould. Maybe you could get a few neighbors to go in with you and buy one and let the hay guy rent it from you, repairs at his expense. I'll bet he'd love it once he got over the 'new' technology mindset (humph, that's NOT the way my grandfather did it). smile. just thoughts....c.

[lakeportfarms]

Olga, we've been pretty dry and cool until last week when we got some rain, but the Southern part of Michigan, Ohio, and other surrounding areas have been getting a lot of rain like you have as well. Amazing that you're only now getting first cutting, ours is pretty much just finishing up. It's been a great hay season here.

[Olga]

C., I have never seen haylage made in our area, never heard of the balers for it - who makes them, do you know the brand? Also, just reading through the definitions of haylage, I would imagine that it wouldn't remain air-tight with all of them Arkansas weeds in the mix - we have a lot of blackberry briars cropping up everywhere. We do not have designated hay fielsd that get sprayed for weeds after every cutting. I have seen silage in some fields, long noodles of it - but I don't know how they feed it, being all in one tube that's some 30+ bales long?! Silage is something I've only seen on really big farms, with 300+ mama cows.

[lakeportfarms]

In Norway, haylage all they seem to use. Even the small farmers. The equipment is pretty expensive I think. I've seen a few farms around here that have it, but it is rare. Silage is different, big bunkers of concrete walls with a white silage tarp over the top weighted with old tires.

[cddexter]

silage here is big round bales about 5' diameter, wrapped, first they blow up, then shrink when the anaerobic bacteria finish. The bales have to be moved before the action or the movement causes air to enter and then they go moldy. (forgot wehre I was writing befoe, and spelled it the English way, hah) c.

[cddexter]

Gene, here we have all sorts of round balers just for silage. Those bales are a LOT heavier than the haylage. Your comment 'ordinary round balers can't handle the high moisture content without breaking' makes no sense to me. Of course you have so few animals that a huge 1900# bale of haylage would go bad. Even our silage bales here aren't more than 800-1000#. My herd would go through one of those in about 2.5 days. And I don't understand why a smaller silage baler would be so much more expensive?

edited to add: I've seen small 300# haylage bales in England, and they lasted over the season and into the next. Perhaps your friend just needed more experience? My understanding is that the moisture content is critical to success (and that applies to silage, too). Since corn likker is made with the kernels, not the leaf and stems, perhaps Brenn was just pulling your leg. cheers, c.

[dexterfarm]

I am still working on first cutting here . I am about half done. I have done pretty good on timing none of it has been rained on or baled wet. Some around me have not been so lucky cutting it and having it rained on everyday for a week. My grass has lost most all of its seed but it has stayed wet and cool enough that it is still in good condition. I baled on Thursday, rain delay on Friday and looks like it will dry out for this next week. I estimate I still have about 60 tractor hours left to finish first cutting. I doubt I can get that all done this next week.

[dollarlessbill]

is it just me or do eye hear horns clash n 2gether at a distance



music to my left ear,,,, I can't weight til the next round dig in and go fer the tender spot

[cddexter]

Well Gene, here we bale and wrap two kinds of grass. One is silage: cut and wrapped right away. It's easier to handle, and you don't need an expensive silo. Often when I open a bale, fermented smelling water will run out. The other we call haylage, cut and left for a day, tedded and then baled. In between silage moisture content and regular hay. I guess this is something you guys don't do??? We do this because our weather is often unsettled, and it's hard to get enough warmth and contiguous sunny days to get the hay in safely. My guy is only just cutting hay for me now. Grass has flowered, seeded and died back and is into it's second growth, brown on top, green underneath. protein content around 8-10%. That's usual for local hay. So: haylage with it's higher moisture content and higher protein is seen as desirable. I don't like the really wet 'silage' bales as much because they are heavier (duh) to move around. My tractor has no trouble with them, maybe because it's not a garden tractor but a full size model.

Gene, sarcasm is wasted here. For quite a while I ran between 60 and 70 head of registered Dexters annually plus a whole lot of sheep. My annual herd size was bigger than your total count in your Dexter lifetime. If you want to engage in nasty, do it elsewhere.

Cheers, c.

[copperhead]

I'm waiting for the baler to get here, I have Bermuda grass and have pulled the cows off to let it grow for baling. I really need the pasture but, I can't turn them in now, he should be here in a few days !! It's supposed to rain tonight, I can't complain, but it puts me off even further. I know that the Bermuda doesn't suffer like some grasses, it just gets longer, not tough, but I sure wish I had it in the barn. We are way to humid for haylage and only the Amish have the silos for silage.
P.J.