Haying or Grazing Alfalfa and Cereal Forages

Kari Lewis

With a few decent days in the weather forecast, there’s interest in getting back into the fields and either haying or grazing what’s left of the alfalfa or cereal forages.  With the snow and weather we’ve had this fall, there’s definitely a few things to be aware of.  Today we’ll talk first about alfalfa and then then cereal grains.

Proper fall management of alfalfa is important to ensure that there are enough carbohydrate reserves heading into winter.  The healthier the stand, the less chance of winter injury or winterkill occurring.  Once the plant has experienced a killing frost and gone dormant, it safe for the plant to be harvested or grazed as carbohydrate reserves are no longer needed for regrowth this fall. 

If grazing alfalfa, there is increased concern for bloat immediately following a killing frost.  The general recommendation is to wait at least three to five days after a killing frost before considering grazing.  Livestock should be moved onto the field in the late morning or early afternoon after they’ve grazed another pasture so they’re not going onto the field with an empty stomach and then tanking up on alfalfa, potentially causing bloat.  Another option would be to feed some dry hay before turning onto the alfalfa field to lessen the risk of bloat in animals unaccustomed to alfalfa.

Regardless of whether you are harvesting the alfalfa by grazing it or swathing it, always leave enough stubble to increase snow capture for the winter.  Snow cover helps prevent ice sheeting and protects against temperature fluctuations.  If plants are exposed to warm temperatures through the winter, that can cause a break in dormancy and the plant will begin using carbohydrate reserves too early, leading to increased risk of winter injury or winterkill. 

Now, how about any cereal forages left out there – forages such as oats, barley, or other grain hays?  Any time a plant is stressed, whether it be from drought, frost, hail damage, etc., the potential for nitrate accumulation rises, and cereal forages are especially prone to nitrate accumulation.  Thus, with the snowstorms we’ve had, I would suspect there’s potential for nitrate accumulation in some of those plants as snowstorms would certainly count as an environmental stressor. 

Nitrates are typically highest in the lowest one-third of the plant stems, so cutting or grazing above that portion will reduce the chance of excessive nitrate ingestion.  If grazing, be sure to not overgraze but leave plenty of stubble behind and if swathing, consider raising the header slightly to cut higher up the plant.

If planning to graze a pasture of cereal forages, turn cattle in during the afternoon after they’ve had a full feed.  I would certainly recommend a nitrate test before grazing cereal forages.  Extension offices can offer a ‘quick test’ or a sample can be sent to a lab for analysis within a few days.  It’s important to know if nitrates are present and as depending on the nitrate level, poor performance, abortions in bred livestock, and death can occur.  If there is nitrate present, the effects could potentially be mitigated by also feeding some grass hay along with the field that is to be grazed. 

Further resources:

Fall Consideration of Alfalfa
http://msuextension.org/magazine/articles/1344

Nitrate Toxicity of Montana Forages http://animalrange.montana.edu/documents/extension/nittoxmt.pdf

"Do you know what's in your haystack?"

Kari Lewis

It seems hay feeding season may not be very far off, which begs the question, ‘Do you know what’s

Hay feeding season will soon be here.  A forage analysis is
money well spent to know what is in your haystack and if it
meet your herd's needs.  Photo by Kari Lewis.

in your haystack?”  And no, I’m not referring to the deer that seem to frequent some haystacks…but do you know what is in your haystack for hay quality?  A simple forage test is money well spent that provides critical information on everything from protein and energy levels to nitrate presence.

A representative sample from the hay lot should be taken using a hay probe, which is available at your local extension office.  A hay probe attaches to a cordless drill which allows for getting a sample of the hay within a bale.  Grabbing and pulling hay from different bales will NOT provide uniform samples for analysis. 

Approximately 10% of the bales in a lot should be randomly sampled.  Round bales should be sampled from the curved side of the bale and square bales should be sampled either at a 45-degree angle on the side or from the end of the bales to get a nice cross section across the flakes.  The sample from the hay lot should be uniformly mixed, put into a Ziploc bag and shipped to a lab as soon as possible (which your Extension office can help with). 

A forage test will typically cost $15 to $40 depending on which analyses are requested, and results are typically available in 7 to 10 days.  If you have any grain hay, we strongly recommend a nitrate test now that the forage has been cut and baled.  If there’s nitrate present, we can help you determine how much of that hay you can feed and at what level.

Having your forage tested is a critical step before purchasing supplement.  Once forage quality is known, we can then fill in the gaps with appropriate supplementation.  Without knowing forage quality though, we might not purchase the correct supplement, or we may even overspend on a product that we don’t need.  Within Extension, we can help develop rations based upon your available forages to ensure a herd’s nutrient requirements are met for various stages of production and weather conditions. 

Lastly, be sure to ALWAYS request a forage analysis before buying hay.  I’ve seen hay advertised as, “Cow Hay,” “Good Grass Hay,” or “CRP Hay,” but the seller’s definition of what is ‘Good Grass Hay” and the buyer’s definition may be miles apart…. make sure to request an analysis before purchasing hay!

To analyze your hay’s nutrient quality, first a hay sample must be taken.   Each hay lot, that is hay from the same field, same cutting, and harvested under the same conditions, should be sampled separately.  For example, when finished sampling, you might have a sample of 1^st cutting alfalfa hay, 2^nd cutting alfalfa hay, CRP hay, etc. 

Considerations before haying hailed-out fields

Kari Lewis

Typically, every year somewhere in the Golden Triangle there are grain fields that receive hail damage and questions arise related to haying those hailed out fields.  Here are a few considerations related to haying a grain field that received hail damage.

·         Stage of the grain – For best hay quality, haying should occur between the heading and soft dough stages.  For wheat hay cut early, before the head emerged, protein content may be 11 to 12%.  However, if it’s headed out, crude protein may be 10% or less.  If the grain has headed out and there are beards, that can also present concerns when feeding the hay to livestock as the beards can cause irritation of the gums.  A producer who has a processor and can chop up bearded grain hay is likely in a better position to manage feeding it.

·         Nitrates – When plants are stressed due to hail, drought, etc., they tend to accumulate nitrates.  Grains, such as oats, barley, and wheat are crops that we tend to be ones we are especially concerned with.  A crop that was originally intended for grain production may have received a greater amount of nitrogen fertilizer than a typical hay crop would, so nitrate tends to be greater already due to that.  Always make sure to bring 15 – 20 stalks randomly collected from the field in for a nitrate test at your local Extension Office before beginning to cut grain hay.  Grain hay should always be cut in the afternoon to lower nitrate risk as well.

·         Pricing - In terms of how to price hailed out forage as hay, I strongly recommend once the hay is baled to use a hay probe and sample at least 10% of the bales to get a nice, random hay sample for nutritive testing.  Once a lab completes a forage nutritive analysis and crude protein, energy, and nitrate values are known, the hay can be priced based off of its quality.  There is typically not a lot of data available on the price of hailed out grain hay, but by knowing its quality it can be priced similar to what hay of similar quality would be.  If the grain hay has protein and energy value to CRP hay or straw, that provides a good starting point for a price.    

Before grain hay (or hailed out grain) is cut for hay, a nitrate test should always be
done first.  Different varieties, planting dates, maturity levels, hail, drought, nitrogen
fertilizer applied, etc. can all impact if nitrate has accumulated in the plant.  Photo by Kari Lewis.

Haying management to produce high quality forage

Haying management to produce high quality forage
Kari Lewis

Loosely made bales, such as this one, will have more surface area
to absorb moisture, compared to a densely wrapped bale that better
sheds precipitation.  Photo by Kari Lewis

We’re not to the 4^th of July yet, but the swathers seem to be rolling already!  Today, I wanted to visit a bit about management practices at haying that can affect the quality of your end product.  The main factors affecting hay quality include moisture content when hay is baled, forage species and stage of maturity at baling, and storage conditions.  

Today we’ll touch on when to cut hay, nitrate management, and equipment maintenance. For grass type hays, the greatest forage quality is achieved when the plant is in a vegetative state of growth.  Grass hay should be cut just as seedheads are beginning to emerge.  After this point, there will be very minimal increases in tonnage, but quality will decline rapidly.  Hay that tests greater than 10% crude protein is sufficient to meet a lactating beef cow’s protein requirement, however, low quality hay will require additional protein supplementation.  Low quality forage generally has very similar production costs to high quality forage, but is even more expensive to feed as it necessitates additional supplementation for livestock. 

Now is a good time to go through haying equipment to lube and
grease equipment.  Each piece of equipment should have a charged and
 working ABC fire extinguisher.  Photo by Kari Lewis

If you will be putting up cereal forages, such as oats, wheat, barley, triticale, etc., it is critical to have it tested for nitrates before swathing!  When a grain hay sample comes in to our office before it’s been swathed, we can do a nitrate quick test and let you know if the hay is safe to cut.  When a grain hay sample comes in after its been swathed and it tests high for nitrates, there is nothing that can be done at that point.  So, please, bring a sample into your local Extension office, approximately 20 stalks, cut at ground level that we can use to test for nitrate presence.  Nitrates are lowest in the afternoon, so that’s the best time of day to cut grain hay. 

As bales are stacked, make sure to record which
stacks came from which field, and number
of bales.  Photo by Kari Lewis.

When hay is baled, it should not exceed 18 to 22 percent moisture.  If the moisture content is greater than these levels, there are large amounts of dry matter loss, molding is likely to occur, and spontaneous combustion is possible. 

In terms of storage, dense bales will shed more precipitation, sag less, and have less surface area to absorb moisture, therefore storage losses will be lessened.  Net wrap also makes a tight, smooth surface that is more resistant to damage from weather, insects, and rodents.

Lastly, if you haven’t begun haying yet, now is a good time to make sure that equipment is greased, lubed, and in good working order.  Don’t forget to order extra filters, commonly used parts, etc. so that replacements will be ready when needed (which typically seems to occur on the weekend).  As you work on equipment, keep all shields and safety guards in place, and replace those shields immediately after maintenance is complete.  Those shields and guards are on there for a reason!  Finally, always be prepared for a fire.  Make sure there’s a class ABC fire extinguisher on all equipment, and that fire extinguishers are charged and in working order.