Weedy Hay

[RichZ]

Part of one of my hayfields is pretty weedy, maybe up to 25% weeds. Nothing noxious or toxic, just weeds. I don't like to use chemicals, so I'm thinking of just brush hogging this section for several weeks. My theory is the grass grows faster than the weeds, and should crowd out the weeds. The soil is good. Good pH, good nitrogen, and I always spread manure on my hayfields in the fall, spring and between cuttings.

Any ideas on if my theory will work?

Thanks!!!

[pbenven]

That method will decrease the amount of weeds. However, the quality of the hay that will grow won't nearly be as good as spraying and reseeding. Farmers around here usually go 5 years before spraying and reseeding.

In the mean time, I'm using your approach with the addition of some aeration (light disking or harrowing).

[Bird]

Rich, you might just go ahead and cut and bale it for hay, depending on what you're going to do with the hay. I had a neighbor who did that for his own hay for his cattle. He said, "Those cows have got all winter to sort out the weeds from the good stuff." [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

It really won't work very well Rich as the alfalfa won't crowd out the weeds. Once we get to that stage it's time to start over. Is this a grass field or an alfalfa field? If it is just grass then you have a better chance but you will lose your haying. You basically have to keep doing this for a couple years. The secret is you have to keep cutting before any of the weeds get to the seed stage. If the weeds get to the seed stage you will just fight it next year. Also you are going to have to do this method for a couple years to get the weeds to choke out if they do at all. Sometimes they have been there for so long that your only option is to either spray or to plow it up and start all over.

[Phred]

Bird,

I agreee if its round bale cow hay.
They are not as picky as horses.

One of my neighbors was telling me about a bad year when the only thing he had to bale was a weed with white flowers. Figured it was a waste of fuel but he was desperate. So he baled it and it turns out the cows loved it... [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

This also asumes its for your own use. Hard to sell bales of weeds.

Fred

[RichZ]

Thanks for all the responses.

We only raise grass hay, and I think I'll plow it under, and re-seed it. I just thought since it was mostly good grass, I had a chance to avoid that. But since I'm already re-seeding some areas of our pastures, I might as well plow and re-seed this also.

And as was said, my horses are pretty picky, and won't eat weedy hay. And the goats won't even look at it. I might cut that area now, and bale it, and use it for bedding and save some money on straw. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Then I'll just plow it under and re-seed.

[yellowhorse]

depending on the weed, it might be good for horses. crabgrass makes a good pasture grass and hay for horses, imagine how thrilled I was to find that out before I seeded the field with fescue, all I have to do is mow it really close and the crabgrass pops up. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] It's a warm weather grass so might not work everywhere but if a person has horses and crabgrass they might be pleasantly surprised.