We will be cutting this weekend again. We had to adapt to Mother Nature's contribution a couple weeks ago. We had flash flooding just north of us. In the end, our fields probably only got about a half inch. You wouldn't have thought it after seeing the condition of the roads and desert and the rushing waters. We irrigated to fill out the fields' growth for this next cutting. Now we have a tremendously thick and long stand to hay.
The thicker and longer the grass, the longer the curing time....theoretically. But with the desert temperatures we are forecast it won't take too long. It will be interesting to see how the baler handles the hay. We had to replace the knives that cut the baling twine and general maintenance completed these past couple weeks. I hope that it works like a charm, for it will be taxed with the workload of the next cutting.
Summer is dragging on, but we are making plans for the fall. We intend on seeding the horse pastures for a winter pasture this year. We have in the past, but we really didn't put too much effort into the planting. We used a broadcast seeder and watched oodles of black birds feast before the seeds could germinate. Drill seeding may be the way to go. We decided that the winter pasture will be our main focus for our horses' feed this year. The summer Bermuda pasture was a dismal failure this season. The Common Bermuda has taken over the field, but really is not growing well. The mosquitoes prevented the horses from being out like we would like for their peace of mind and of course feeding. We're hoping that the mosquitoes won't be a problem through the winter and we will turn the horses out as much as possible this year.
Time to get the mower on the tractor for the first phase of this cutting.
