Just baled a little 3 acre meadow of native grass....

[triguy46]

Got 50 nice, bright bales. Good for cows, sheepsies and goats. Horse people around here turn up their noses at prairie hay unless its sprayed for bugs, and I don't do that. Had a good time, really enjoy it and it was a beautiful fall day.

[Buzz Clik]

1. Sounds nice.

What are the horse people worried about?

[triguy46]

2. the beetle that will infest alfalfa and is toxic to horses.

I've never known it to be in prairie hay, but seems to be an issue. Of course, these same people will put out a big round bale of hay in the middle of a corral and let the horses eat it while its rained on, left out. Kind of silly.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Meh. Their loss.

What part of the Sooner State are you from?

[triguy46]

5. North Central

[Buzz Clik]

6. God's country.

Unless you don't believe in God. Then, it's just a beautiful place to be.

[triguy46]

8. God made it, God forgot it.

It's OK, kinda hard being a liberal in these parts, so I just focus on minding my own business and living the farm life that I always dreamed of growing up in KC.

[hippywife]

19. Pretty much what we've been doing

on a smaller scale down here south of Tulsa. I have to go in to Tulsa to work M-F but my mind is set on not much more than getting out of town and back here to the house.

Glad you got some good hay and are baling it square and not spraying. If you were closer I'd buy some from you for our chicken coop.

:hi:

[newfie11]

15. Blister beetle is the name.

I have never known it to be in grass hay so this is news to me. I always associated it with alfalfa. Grass hay in my area, far western Nebraska panhandle ,is preferred by most people. I do prefer alfalfa. Interesting that grass hay is higher price in this area compared to alfalfa.

[triguy46]

18. I've never known it grass hay either.

[Botany]

3. A day spent in the prairies is always a good day

What did you harvest? Big Bluestem, Switch Grass, Indian Grass, Little Bluestem, or Needle Grass?

Their roots will push new top growth next spring ..... and maybe a little this fall if you have some rain .... and that top
growth will put sugars down into the roots.



I spent today working with native grasses & wildflowers.

[triguy46]

7. I know it is not usual to bale native grass in the fall...

but we've had tons of rain and a frost is coming. I've got 10 other acres that was only baled once and am letting it go till a hard freeze, then will chop it hard. Bluestem, bermuda mainly. A lot of hay being put up by neighbors, so I thought I would join the crowd. They all do big rounds, I do small squares for the hobby farmer or just for those who want the convenience.

[Botany]

9. If you can wait until after a hard frost and when the grass is dry ...

... less chance of fungus .... but if you are doing the little bales and get enough air circulation then
you still should be good. The seed heads of Indian Grass and Switch Grass are very nutrient rich.

More and more people are starting to understand how important and really valuable our native plants are ...
thanx for posting!



The Niobrara River in Nebraska

[triguy46]

10. It was plenty dry when I raked it

very low humidities of late. Cut on Saturday, it was over 90 and windy yesterday, 75 and dry today. It passed the two handed twist test. I didn't realize the seed heads had any residual protein value.

[Botany]

11. People are working on trying to breed Indian Grass w/ a bigger seeds ....

... for "permi-culture."

[triguy46]

12. Our 15 acres is thick with native grasses, wildflowers...

have not pastured it for 10 years, just brushed hogged a few times a year as weed control and its paid off. Now able to bale very nice weed free hay.

[Botany]

13. If you can see if you can burn a section of it.

You will get more biodiversity

[triguy46]

14. Can't do intentionally, too many houses....

though a neighbor did it 20 years ago by burning trash on a red flag fire warning day. Northern OK has an infestation of Eastern Red Cedars because we cannot burn, do not burn. I've cleared nearly all of mine with a chainsaw and by a logging crew that wanted them for paneling. If I could wave a magic wand and burn the prairie and save the buildings, many of us would do it in a heartbeat.

The Oklahoma Tallgrass Prairie Preserve regularly does this, as also up in the Flint Hills of Kansas. I have a friend who is a professor at the local university and his specialty is burning prairie, however, his "small" projects are about 1 section in size.

[creeker]

22. the seed heads may have some value but the rest of the plant

may have little value-----the best time to harvest is in the "boot stage" as the plant matures it goes down in quality and DIgestibility--the hay may look great but cows can starve to death eating crap hay--- take a sample to your local Extension office to have it tested-------

[creeker]

21. the downside is the hay is too mature---

you need to harvest hay at the correct stage or all you get is "filler"---if you don't provide a protein supplement the cows can starve to death eating poor quality hay--- nobody I know of sprays "for bugs" in prairie hay--- in Alfalfa,yes but it cannot pay to spray grass hay---easier to cut it and bale it--

[murray hill farm]

16. How did you do that?

Did you hire someone with a bailer to do the work? do you have the equiptment to do it yourself? I just had a few acres of field bush hogged...and said to the guy that I should have had it bailed. He laughed! But I do like the idea!

[triguy46]

17. I purchased an old baler last year...

a 1980ish JD 346. Then picked up a New Holland rake at a farm auction. Then found a sickle mower on Craigslist. The baler is the newest of all three.

[LWolf]

20. I get some meadow grass from a local hay grower.

He gets it from a high elevation meadow a few hundred miles south east of here, where he has another ranch. It's not as rich as the regular orchard grass I feed my horses most of the year. I use it in the spring, when all that rich young grass can founder the horses if they're allowed too much of it.