hay
Hay farming is a weird mix of gambling and praying.
Despite all the sweat, all the analysis, and all the technology, a successful hay season is in God’s hands. It’ll either rain when we need it or it won’t. All we can do is have everything ready when it’s time.
How hard could it be to just let grass grow?
Here's some of the stuff it takes to make top quality hay.
Soooo much chemistry…
From the inevitable ton of lime per acre to get the pH right, to Bermuda grass’s insatiable desire for Nitrogen fertilizer, those high school chemistry classes would probably have been handy if we’d paid attention.
Specialized equipment…
Do you even know what a ‘tedder’ is? If you had to rebuild the gearbox on one older than you, would you feel good about your odds of success? What if the parts list was in German? Yeah, we don’t love it, either. But that’s what it takes to make hay.
Then there are the things actively trying to kill the hay
Army Worms
These evil little creeps can wipe out an entire hay field in just a couple of days. They’re called fall armyworms, even though they start doing their damage in the summer. These worms are the larvae of a moth. They eat the leafy part of the hay and leave behind nothing but tough, brown stems. Unfortunately, there’s no way to prevent them, and they love the sweet, well-fertilized hay we’re trying to bale. We keep a paranoid eye on the fields all summer, watching for clusters of birds which are often the first sign that we’ve got worms in the field. We have a variety of chemical treatments available, and every one of them is pricey. But if we don’t spot the worms soon enough, there’s nothing to do but cuss and cry.
Bermuda Stem Maggot
Yeah, they even sound gross. These insidious little pests are even harder to spot and harder to treat than armyworms. Here’s what happens: a tiny fly lays its egg inside a blade of grass. The egg hatches into a maggot that burrows into the stem. It kills the top part of the plant—right where new growth comes from—so the grass can’t grow any taller. It doesn’t kill the whole plant; it just shuts down its growth completely. They also give off a very specific and unpleasant smell. It’s faint, but when there’s a bad infestation, an experienced nose can smell it just by walking through the field.
