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planting hay

D

d17man

Member
hello, my brother and i want to plant a two acre field of hay this fall and need some input. what we have to work with is a 3ph broadcast spreader and a 6 ft cultipacker. will this work ok? the other option is an old grain drill thats been sitting for 15 years and will need a little rehabbing. if we go the broadcasting route, should i cultipack, spread seed, and cultipack again. or just spread seed and pack it good? it will all be disked prior.
thanks for your input
 

That 3 point spreader would be OK for broadcasting a nurse crop with large seed like oats, but grass seed for hay will come out in five seconds. For two acres I would go buy one that has a cloth bag and a hand crank spinner. That would be just fine for two acres.
 
I got a real nice stand of hay by using a Portoseeder with intermediate hay in the spreader and alfalfa in the Gandy box. And pulling three sections of spike tooth harrow behind it Did it all in one pass Just 10 acres though.
 
What are you going to do with this "hay". I hate it when people say hay. Do they mean grass, alfalfa, clover, legumes, native species, warm/cool?
 
That small a patch, could be hand seeded with a small broadcast seeder - just a bunch of walking. You can find such items at garden supply stores. I did a 6 acre field to alfalfa that way. Spread on well disked surface, cultipack.

Now days I use a grain drill, plant oats as a nurse crop with alfalfa.
 
Depending on what you are starting from either plow, disc, etc. to get good level loose seedbed. Broadcast the seed. Set the seeder really light and make multiple passes to get an even coverage. You can cover 2 acres in a heartbeat so going over it a couple of times is easy. Then cultipack to get good seed/soil contact. If you are going to use a nurse crop it can be broadcast separately because the difference in seed sizes won't work well in a broadcast type seeder. I have used both broadcast seeders and grain drills and getting good soil/seed contact with a cultipacker is key.
 
I would burn it off good with Roundup and make sure it is dead, wait a month, lightly disk it, seed, then cultipack.

Someone asked what kind of hay, this is a valid question. I would pick a hay that you can sell as small bales or plan to pasture it.
 
Here at our elev of 7190'. We can plant grass, oats and peas in the fall or early spring, but Alfalfa can't be planted until Mid June. We make sure it won't freeze until the next winter.
 
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