Timothy Hay seed

Not sure which of the 15 varieties of timothy I have growing in our fields, but.

Question #1: will timothy
re-seed itself ?

Question 2: if it will re-seed itself, at what stage is it best to mow off ????

Our property has had the hay taken off of it for the last 35 years. Without ANY firtilizer or lime maintenance.
other than what I have put on over the last 2 years

Most of timothy is in full head now but not dropping seeds yet.

At what stage should I brush hog it down ???

When I was growing up as a child, Dad always said it would reseed itself.  He would always cut it when the head was ready to drop the seeds.  As time went on though, he gradually got away from timothy because of the low TDN and went to straight alfalfa.  Not sure if that is helpful or not.  It's what I remember.  Good luck!

As for the Timothy, I don’t know. But why not cut and bale the crop more often? With this being a dry year(so far), what could be baled, has the potential of being valuable.

From DyiDave

1. yes

2. Yes, but it should be cut as late as possoble.

We always cut it for hay at the stage where the seedhead was 3/4"-1" long, but that's for max quality. If you are going for max seed quantity, you want to wait as long as possible, till weed pressure forces you to cut the field, to keep the weeds from going to seed. HTH

THANKS Dave
Macon Rounds

Edited by Macon Rounds - 29 Jun 2023 at 2:11pm

Although it will reseed itself, my understanding has always been that you're far better off to take it off a little earlier for feed value, and frost seed new seed into the stand instead. It's far more effective than the natural re-seeding for improving a stand. Timothy's one of the few grasses that does ok frost seeding, because the seed is small/dense. I mix a pile of Timothy, Red Clover, White Clover, Trefoil, and Alsike clover together and frost seed every year in the early spring with excellent results. Some of my fields still perform great after 20 years.

The horse hay market is my goal too !!!


I am not interested in putting thd whole farm in production at this point but since I started this thread I have mowed about 20 acres and was happy to find the red clover thick and half flowered out, thd timothy was scattered but better than last year, thd orchard grass was all in mature seed head. And another fescue type grass
"not identified" but it's in full mature seed head too.

At that time Most of the weeds were not even in bloom but as I head out after three days of rain the weeds are
begging to be cut as they all seem to be in bloom now.

it's amazing what a few days of rain and sunshine will do grow crops and WEEDS . Grrrr !


Edited by Macon Rounds - 04 Jul 2023 at 10:13pm

i should start by say this ground improvement project started 3 years ago or better said we are into our third year of farming...
2021 Soil samples show ground needs 4000 lbs per acre of calcium lime bring it neutral.
Fall 2021 We had Grubs Bro. out of ohio put 2000 lbs per acre of of lime on about 10 acres. One hay fields treated is in the middle of our Haying ground.
it shows NO significant difference than the fields on each side of it. Grrr !
this paticular field has also had 26 loads of 135 bushel 6 year old piled and staged cow manure spread on it, spring of 2022.
Still no improvement. But we did get some nice new weeds. Grrrr !

PH is now in low 6's... on treated fields but still no noticeable improvement...

Conservation District Man came out and evaluated property in 2021 to evaluate Hay condition, weed issue ETC. Said improving PH would let soil release some retained nutrients...
So far I haven't seen the SIGNIFICANT improvements compaired to the field adjacent to the treated fields that have ONLY been aggressively mowed.

I know the fields require a bit more lime but it is unavalable this spring and ridiculous in price. Ordered lime fall off 2022, not, available, not available, not available. Grubs said I am on the list for fall 2023... REALLY !

As a side note: I have escavated and filled 50 or so ground hog holes in the fields. those areas seem to be more productive even though they are more weedy.

So....
is there a sub soiler type tool that can brake up the underlying soil without destroying the existing grasses ? I have heard of pasture prepers or something like that but have not found one.

Yea

we are not afraid to turn over ground.



Just not practical to turn the whole farm under at this time....

Another thing that might sound crazy is I really don't want THICK stands of hay field....

I do have one THICK field and several other thick areas.

they are frustrating to get dry for baling.
Last year 2nd cutting,
Cut with haybine, tedded twice, rake and baled. over 4 days of hay weather. Small square bales made good but inside of 4x4 round bales turned musty.

OK for cows but NOT for horses. Round bales never wet. went right into dry barn. No good for horses.



For those of you who are concerned we hand rolled the 4x4 round bales in the top of thr barn.

This is a steep learning curve.

My Goal is to make GOOD horse quality small square bales....
Not really even interested in making round bales.

I would sell off a standing field for someone else to make round bales but not for me.

More to come later.

Enjoy tge view. This was Sunset ladt evening.

Yep

moved Back here to Western Pa. permanently in Jan 2021.

Now iam retired from my 30 year job ....

Now working harder than ever.

Running owner operated escavating business.

Hobby farming 200 acres. 40 acres tillage and pasture.

And restoring a 1860 vintage house, barns and property.

Thinking of going back to work full time, it was alot easier. 🤔😕😅







Edited by Macon Rounds - 05 Jul 2023 at 5:14pm

Something just reminded me.  You might want to try tillage radishes, if you have hard ground.  I put about a half acre in one year, really improved the tilth of the soil.  Plant late summer, they grow till a killing frost. I've seen videos of farmers putting in a hay ctop with them, radishes die, hay persists.  I know where I used them, was a spot near a spring, and in feb and march, I could see water bubbling up, from the remains of the radishes...

plant Radishes in the hay fields with hay ???

wonder if I could no till Radishes in current established hay fields after 3rd cutting.

Going to look at no till corn planter this weekend.

can also rent the county no-till grain drill.

THANK You all for info and your experiences....

I can reed books all day long and never get the practical knowledge you fellas share...

TGANKS







Edited by Macon Rounds - 06 Jul 2023 at 12:41pm

John Phillis wrote: https://youtu.be/8mcp3Z2_b3s This is my Timothy field about 10 miles from you. It’s climax Timothy cut at the right timing, at early flowering. This was planted in spring 2019 with oats as a nurse crop. Probably a few dozen weeds in the field, mainly in the wet spots. In order to be able to care for the crop properly it’s best not to mix grasses and legumes. Doing that makes it hard to find any herbicide that can be used to manage the weeds.  And yes, the majority of my tractors are blue, but mainly because the good orange ones are all at least 40 years old now, so we updated to blue. It’s a business decision  and it sure beats those ugly green ones! I’ll have to get video of the D17 pulling the old New Idea mow/ditioner or raking some hay. I’m not going to be farming with the CA or the One-Ninety but believe me I have been tempted to get the All Crop 90 out of the weeds and put it behind an orange tractor for oats this year. Just not enough time to fix everything…