Hello,
I'm making plans now for my spring hay feild that will replace my current one after 2021 hay baling season.
First, l have a small beef cattle...
Knowledgebase
Oatlage and alfalfa #677275
Asked November 12, 2020, 2:09 PM EST
Hello,
I'm making plans now for my spring hay feild that will replace my current one after 2021 hay baling season.
First, l have a small beef cattle operation in my so called retirement years consisting of 30 head, a cow/calf operation.
My plans and your opinion on it and recommendations, if any,
1 Clay ground tiled every 33'.
2 Corn this last year (2020)
3 Disk ripped this fall.
4 Will feild cultivate ground in spring asap.
5. Apply applical fertilizers (broadcast)
6. Will cultivate fertilizer and work ground to a firm base
7. Drill 3 bus of foliage oats/acre ?
8. 15 lbs. alfalfa /acre
9. 5 lbs. Orchard grass/acre
10. Cut and wrap oats when they start to head out.. (oatlage)
11. Hopefully a 2nd. cut of alfalfa as dry hay or baleage (depending on weather)
12. Hay feild in 2022
Youth thoughts and recommendations please.
Tuscola CountyMichigan
Expert Response
Hello Jim,
One thing I always encourage alfalfa growers to consider is the pH of the field. Make sure you lime 6 months before you seed the field if you need to amend the pH. Also, make sure you don't scrimp on the potassium fertilizer for an alfalfa crop once it's established. Every ton of dry alfalfa removes about 60 lbs. of potassium.
If you are using oats as a nurse crop, you need to re-think your seed amounts for this purpose. A nurse crop should be thick enough to shade, prevent weeds, and help the intended crop without smothering or hindering the overall development. With that said, I would cut back on the oats to 1 bu/acre. 15 lbs. of alfalfa is fine. I recommend using only improved varieties of alfalfa. There are several varieties that do well in Michigan. You can look at the MSU Forage Trials for specific yield information at: https://forage.msu.edu/. There are up-to-date trials on the MSU Forage Connection website.
The timing of cutting oats is normally tied to the quality of the forage. If you are looking for higher quality forage, then you need to cut the oats at the boot stage, before the seed heads emerge. If you wait, or have rainy weather that prevents you from cutting, the quality goes down dramatically after the seed heads emerge.
Don't expect much of a crop for the alfalfa. If you get 0.5 - 0.75 tons/acre you're doing good. Anything above this would be an added bonus. However, don't sacrifice the perennial crop of alfalfa by cutting when you shouldn't (Sept-Oct 15th). It may look like a huge crop, but it won't be as big as you think.
You should have a great stand of alfalfa in 2022 and be ready to go.
Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions.
1) Is it safe to leave the balege sit in the feild with net wrap only to allow for easier transportation to winter storage and wrap in plastic at this area?
Meaning...the baleage/oatlage will sit in the feild for a few hours before being wrapped in plastic?
2) We just started to feed our oatlage (11-20-20) and my thoughts are that feeding two bales of oatlage then one bale of dry?
IE. I put a bale of oatlage in feeder, takes 2 days to consume, then put another bale in, wait two days and feed a dry bale for 2 days. After that 6 day feeding, start the process over?
Or, once l start feeding the oatlage, is it safe to just keep them on this diet until l use it all up?
(about 4 months worth)
If l had a grinder/mixer l know what ld like to do. But cost for a small herd.
Remember, I'm retired!
This baleage is new to me and maybe l worry to much, but just trying to be cautious.
