August Hay Marathon

Typical August hay baling in Northwest Arkansas  is usually as quick as a 100 yard dash because  the grass is short and it takes a day or less to cure before baling. With the combination of  an abundance of  late July and early August   rain creating a lush, thick field of grass and this week's  cooler temperatures and low humidity, hay baling this August  actually seems more like a  long distance marathon with the farmer  running slow and steady to complete the hay race.


                                    This field of mostly Bermuda hay was cut on Wednesday.

                 Finally after four days, it was cured enough for raking rows of mowed hay together.

 

 

Hopefully, tomorrow it will be baled into small square bales.

 

 

The ultimate  winners of this hay marathon will be these

young calves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bermuda Hay Challenges

Even though activity on the dairy farm seems to be speeding up with  the additional chores of planting grass seed,corn chopping and hay baling, the production of Bermuda hay is winding down with the onset of fall.  Although we purchase alfalfa  hay to feed the milking cows, we produce  Bermuda hay for our younger dairy animals and beef cattle. The Bermuda grass seems to  know its growing days are numbered before we have our first frost in just a few weeks.

As I watched Ryan raking the hay this afternoon, I noticed how much thinner the cut rows appeared.  This field would normally be cut and baled into small square bales that would be hand fed to young calves. Today it will be baled into large round bales for larger dairy calves and beef cattle due to the decreased quality and yield. Hay production on our farm and across Benton County has been less this year due to the extreme flooding in the spring and the drought this summer. Like all farmers in our county, we are scrambling to harvest every bale because of this shortage. 

Even if you follow the weather man and check the DTN weather map, it seems like  clouds will appear from nowhere when you are baling hay. Farmers always take this challenge!  Just as the raking was finished and the baler pulled into the field, the clouds were gathering.  Thankfully, the Bermuda  hay was baled without getting wet.  Now bring on the rain!

Hay Dates with the Dairy Farmer

Providing a balanced diet for our dairy cows assures that our cows will be healthy and provide good quality milk. Hay is one of the important ingredients in our cow's diet. We purchase alfalfa and orchard grass hay from a farmer in Missouri who is located about 45 miles from our farm.


On our return from visiting a friend at St. John's hospital in Joplin this afternoon, Ryan and I had a hay date to sample the hay that our hay farmer baled last week. Hay sampling will provide information about the quality and nutritional value of the hay. This hay is wrapped in plastic to help preserve the nutrients. Ryan used a hay probe to sample six different bales from each row of wrapped hay. My involvement on this hay date was to follow behind the farmer and cover the entry site of the probe with Gorilla tape. A farmer's wife will do anything to spend a little quality time with the farmer!


The six samples from each row will be mixed in a bag , labeled with information about the hay and mailed tomorrow to the lab for analysis. The hay analysis will contain a long list of information about hay nutrients such as the moisture content, the percentage of dry matter and protein. All of the results from this sample will provide important nutritional information for our dairy nutritionist to use in formulating a perfect diet for our dairy cows.


Hay dates with the dairy farmer provide good nutrition for our cows and quality milk for all consumers!

Bermuda Grass Competition

Did you know that Northwest Arkansas farmers grow premium Bermuda grass hay? Farmers in our county have actually won national hay awards for several years. Bermuda is a great forage that we grow to feed young calves,heifers and beef cattle. Hay production is a very important part of our farming operation. As much as we love it for our animals, it is not a welcome sight to me in the flower beds or vegetable garden. Even though we're still anticipating the first day of spring, yesterday's balmy weather took me to the flower bed where I was looking for the green tips of some new iris bulbs that I had planted late last spring. To my dismay, the entire bed was covered with a thick covering of dead Bermuda grass that had been allowed to grow crazy last summer. Bermuda grass in the flower bed or vegetable garden is a curse. It grows fast, loves full sun,can grow in a drought,and has a root system that invades any where it is not welcome. As I was pulling the grass out of the flower bed, I thought how ironic that tonight is the awards banquet for the premium Bermuda hay producers in the county. It's a love-hate relationship for me!