Producing High Quality Hay in a Changing Climate Chris Teutsch Univerity of Kentucky Grain and Forage Center of Excellence, Princeton, Kentucky I am not a climatologist, so I am not going to debate climate change or what factors might be impacting it. However, I will tell you what I learned from Matthew Dixon’s (Meteorologist at UK Ag Weather Center) presentation at our fall grazing conferences. In a nutshell, our climate in Kentucky is trending toward warmer and wetter. In fact, since 1895, 5 of the 10 wettest years on record have been in the last decade (Table 1). Let that soak in for a minute (pun intended). Statewide we are seeing increases in rainfall patterns of 2 to 4 inches in many parts of the Commonwealth (Figure 1). If you are interested in watching the video from Matthew’s presentation, it is available on our KYForages YouTube Channel.
curing days. Typically, we will have 5 or 6 baling days on average in May. This has decreased by 1 to 2 days, depending on your location in the state. This equates to a 20 to 30% decrease in baling days. The question becomes how to do we make high quality hay with even fewer haymaking days? The answer is simple, we need to shorten the time between when we mow a hayfield and when it is baled. But how we do that is not so simple. In the remainder of this article, I want to outline factors impacting hay quality and talk about what we can do from a practical standpoint to improve the quality of hay that we are producing in the Commonwealth. Available Bailing Days*
Kentucky Top Ten Wettest Years on Record (1895 - 2020) Rank
Year
Total
Normal
Dep.
% Norm
1
2011
64.35
50.38
13.97
128
2
2018
63.74
50.38
13.36
127
3
1950
62.63
50.38
12.25
124
4
1979
62.58
50.38
12.20
124
5
2019
61.32
50.38
10.94
122
6
1935
58.38
50.38
8.00
116
7
2015
58.31
50.38
7.93
116
8
2020
58.11
50.38
7.73
115
9
1989
57.74
50.38
7.36
115
10
1972
57.08
50.38
6.70
113
Lexington June
00-21 Avg
5.5
6.5
17-21 Avg
4.0
5.0
Deviation
-1.5
-1.5
May 6.4
17-21 Avg Deviation
May 5.8
July
August
Sept
Annual
6.2
8.2
12.5
38.9
6.2
7.0
13.2
35.4
0.0
-1.2
0.7
-3.5
June
July
August
Sept
Annual
7.4
6.7
9.2
11.7
41.4
5.2
7.4
8.4
6.0
11.0
38.0
-1.2
0.0
1.7
-3.2
-0.7
-3.4
June
July
August
Sept
Annual
9.1
10.3
10.7
13.0
49.0
Bowling Green 00-21 Avg
Paducah
Data courtesy of Midwestern Regional Climate Center cli-MATE toolkit: https://mrcc.purdue.edu/CLIMATE/
00-21 Avg
Table 1. Commonwealth of Kentucky’s wettest years on record for the period of 1895 to 2020
The good news is that with proper grazing management, we should be able to grow more grass, extending our grazing season. The bad news is that it is becoming increasingly hard to make good quality dry hay. In the month of May, we have seen a net loss of baling days (Table 2). A baling day is the day that follows three consecutive
May
17-21 Avg
3.8
8.0
11.2
10.0
14.0
47.0
Deviation
-2.0
-1.1
0.9
-0.7
1.0
-2.0
*Based on 4-day window Data courtesy of Midwestern Regional Climate Center cli-MATE toolkit: https://mrcc.purdue.edu/CLIMATE/
Table 2. Baling days in the various region of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A baling day is the day following three consecutive curing days
Factors Impacting Hay Quality In table three I have outlined some of the major factors impacting hay quality. Out of all these factors, the single most important one is stage of maturity at harvest. It also seems like the one that we would have the most control over, right? So, the question becomes why are we aren’t we doing a better job at harvesting at late boot to early head stage? Like most difficult questions, there are several factors that impact our ability to harvest hay at the correct stage of maturity. These include off farm employment, forages and livestock are often secondary enterprises on full-time farms, old and poorly maintained equipment, and lastly, but most importantly poor curing conditions combined with heavy first cuttings. Practical Considerations for Improving Hay Quality
Figure 1. Annual precipitation change for the most recent and previous 30-year periods (1991 to 2020 and 1981 to 2101). Image courtesy of Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies. Available at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/noaadelivers-new-us-climate-normals 34 • Cow Country • February
In this section, I would like to challenge you to think about simple and practical ways that you might improve hay quality on your farm. Below you will find a list of practical suggestions to help you get this dome. •
Fertilize and lime according to soil test. A balanced fertility program is essential for optimizing hay yield and quality.
