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04/09/13

What should you know about hay? An A to Z Entry

round bales of hay A few people suggested I write about hay today, including my dear friend Mona who left the most encouraging comment on the post for G is for GMO. The reason it means so much is for Mona and I, it took a little time for us to find common ground. We could have easily decided the differences in some of our ideas were more important, but we continued talking through Twitter and blogs and found we have a lot of common ground. I LOVE how social media can do that! So if Mona wants me to write about hay, well, buckle your seat belts cause we’re headed to the hay field! (I just hope it isn’t a really bumpy ride!)

moving quare bales at RayLinDairyTypes of Hay

I have to say that I always thought hay was just tall grass. Not sure when I realized that there were different types of hay but I do remember I was a bit surprised to find out how much I had oversimplified things. Oh, and by types of hay, I don’t just mean it comes in both round and square bales! And then as I started to learn about what cows eat, I found our the nutritional differences can be significant and that nutritionists and/or vets are a critical component as farmers look at livestock feed.

There is a great post on TheEquinest that speaks to the various types of hay and they include detailed photos! I’m going to use their list of types to make sure I have a relatively thorough list but check out their post if you want to see what they say about hay and horses.

alfalfa farm

a couple of alfalfa fields, one in the background is being grazed by sheep

  • Alfalfa — I know Californian Jeff Fowle grows some alfalfa hay each year cause the guy tweets all the time about cutting hay, turning it or baling it!
  • Bermuda — yep, this is bermudagrass hay so I guess it fits the picture I had of hay.  The folks at Gilmer Dairy in Alabama feed Bermuda to their Holsteins.
  • Clover — The Graff’s in Illinois planted a mixture of various types of hay including clover.
  • Oat — The Graff’s mixture also included oats!
  • Orchardgrass — I don’t know much about Orchardgrass but Penn State does!
  • Tall Fescue — The University of Georgia has some good info on Tall Fescue
  • Fescue — Jesse Bussard has a post on some problems that can be incurred with fescue at times.

Cutting Hay

Love that Ryan Goodman of Agriculture Proud put up several posts during hay season. This short video during a mechanical breakdown gives you a feel for some of the things farmers have to consider in harvesting hay.

And I couldn’t POSSIBLY post about hay without including one of my all-time favorite MooTube videos from Will Gilmer of Gilmer Dairy Farm as he sings “The Baler Rolls” in a way that has to make Garth Brooks proud! Love that it teaches me about hay while I get to smile at his wit!

A to Z Agriculture blog post series

Wednesday is I Day! I is for….

Wednesday will be brought to you by the letter “I” so what do you think the word of the day should be?

See the other posts in this series by clicking on the logo at left and reviewing the letters, or by browsing the A to Z ag tag archives. You should also feel free to add ideas for upcoming letters!

Related articles
  • Strolling Through the Pasture March 2013
  • Wyo. hay producers take top places at World Ag Expo
  • Hay for the Cattle
  • G is for GMOs – What are GMOs & Why Do Farmers Plant GMO Crops?

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ag awareness// Food & Farm

« G is for GMOs — What are GMOs & Why Do Farmers Plant GMO Crops?
I is for Irrigation — Water Use & Conservation on the Farm »

Comments

  1. commonsenseagriculture says

    April 9, 2013 at 9:44 am

    Nice sis! Thanks for the shout 🙂

    I – Ionophores, Ingenuity, Imagination, Inoculations or….ice cream.

    • Janice Person says

      April 9, 2013 at 10:30 am

      I may need a dictionary!

  2. cowgirljesse says

    April 9, 2013 at 10:29 am

    Thanks for linking to my blog, Janice. Here’s some ideas for topics for some upcoming letters:

    J – Jersey cow, Junegrass, Juniper
    K – Kernel, ketosis, KPH (kidney, pelvic, heart fat)
    L – Lentils, lespedeza, lupin, locoweed, land management
    M – Mineral cycle, Mashona cattle, milk, meat, monitoring rangelands

    • Janice Person says

      April 9, 2013 at 10:50 pm

      Thanks for so many ideas! I’ve got quite a few posts to write and ideas help!

  3. Judi Graff (@farmnwife) says

    April 9, 2013 at 10:51 am

    Oh, that post was so long ago. The kids were just little snots.

    • Janice Person says

      April 9, 2013 at 1:24 pm

      LOL!

  4. Mona says

    April 9, 2013 at 11:20 am

    Hay, it’s hayhoo day! 😀 Janice, thanks my friend for the shoutout and for just being a wonderful you. I love the smell of fresh cut hay,ahh. I also think of all those wonderful folks who gathered donated and trucked hay for the farmers and ranchers in TX OK and elsewhere during the droughts for the past few years. 🙁 I can’t recall the twitter handle of the peeps, perhaps you know.

    Cheers

    • Janice Person says

      April 9, 2013 at 1:28 pm

      I do remember and meant to talk about that but I guess I lost track of my thoughts! That whole idea was Carrie Mess’ aka @DairyCarrie who wrote her first blog post ever about that for me as a guest post! https://jploveslife.com/social-media/assisting-in-drought-relief-for-oklahoma-texas-farmers/ later she started dairycarrie.com 🙂

  5. mona's caffe' (@mm98273) says

    April 9, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    Oh yes, now I recall. Thanks for the remind Janice . And for all this great hay. 😀 Who knew ‘clover’ was a type of hay?

  6. Linda Adams says

    April 9, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    My uncle owns a historic house built by our great-great grandfather. There’s a barn outside that was used for horses and hay, but was converted to a garage (picture: http://anamericandowntonabbey.blogspot.com/p/photo-album_7425.html). A few years back, they noticed that the walls were bowing outward. Upon investigation, they discovered that the barn had been built so that hay bales were part of the structure! Without the additional support of the hay bales, the walls eventually started to bow outward. They got some supports into the walls to keep them stable.

    • Janice Person says

      April 9, 2013 at 10:07 pm

      Wow! What a great story of ingenuity! Glad they figured it out & got it taken care of!

  7. Dale says

    July 9, 2013 at 2:47 pm

    How about T for Timothy? Hayed a lot of horses on this and they loved it. Loaded it off the wagon right after a cutting in fields outside of Leesburg, VA.

    • Janice Person says

      July 9, 2013 at 5:59 pm

      Wow! I don’t think anyone else suggest T is for Timothy! I ended up going with T is for tillage https://jploveslife.com/agriculture/ag-awareness/when-tillage-begins-other-arts-follow/. You can see all the letters/words I did at https://jploveslife.com/a-to-z-agriculture/

Trackbacks

  1. Water Use & Conservation on the Farm -- I is for Irrigation says:
    October 5, 2013 at 6:02 pm

    […] H is for Hay […]

  2. A is for Agriculture -- An A to Z Series about Agriculture says:
    October 22, 2013 at 8:30 pm

    […] Borlaug C is for Cotton D is for Debt (Farm Debt) E is for Elevator F is for Farmer G is for GMO H is for Hay I is for Irrigation J is for Juggling K is for Kale L is for Loam M is for Moo N is for Nutrients O […]

  3. The Importance of Hay quality | horsespt says:
    November 11, 2013 at 10:31 am

    […] designed to graze all day not just once in the morning and once at night. Also there are different types of hay that provide different nutritional benefits. Contact your veterinarian for what hay would be the […]

  4. Gulevich, Chase, Wittman Added to Hayes Components' Roster - cycletimes.net says:
    February 11, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    […] H is for Hay – An A to Z about Agriculture […]

  5. St. Louis A to Z: Hockey, The Hill, Hi-Pointe Theater & Hodak's says:
    September 27, 2014 at 1:44 pm

    […] The A to Z series about St. Louis is slowly getting back on track! I’m will considering topics for the upcoming letters and would love to know if you think I missed something! The rest of my St. Louis A to Z is posted here and I’d love for you to check out last year’s A to Z of Agriculture — H was for hay! […]

  6. What are GMOs & Why Do Farmers Plant GMO Crops? says:
    September 28, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    […] H is for Hay […]

  7. Why do cows moo? Hearing Straight from the Farmer & Their Cows VIDEO says:
    November 17, 2014 at 9:49 pm

    […] H is for Hay – An A to Z about Agriculture […]

  8. You Might Be from the Country If . . . Part III | myokexilelit says:
    December 16, 2014 at 7:40 pm

    […] Another kind of commonly known hay besides alfalfa is lespedeza. (For other types, click here.) […]

  9. Year-End Review for & Celebrating 5 Years of janiceperson.com - a colorful adventure says:
    December 31, 2014 at 8:30 pm

    […] mentioned are:  Paying Tribute to “Just a Farmer, Plain and Simple,” a post on the things you should know about hay, one showing what almonds look like on a tree, an explanation of the Hayden Panettiere commercial […]

  10. Lessons Learned Through My Blogging Challenge, an A to Z on Ag says:
    April 25, 2015 at 7:22 pm

    […] H is for Hay […]

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