‘The Big Day’ 

July 1st 

Reoccurring themes are worth noting. In the process of our normal day, the things that come up often or characteristically coincidentally over and over need to be analyzed. In farming, particularly hay farming, there seems to be a constant revisiting of July 1 as theme of timing, anticipation, and preparation. Over these past 3.5 years, I keep finding references to July 1st for a few different reasons. In fact, it has become such a central theme that I dub it “the big day” because there are shifts in climate, harvest, forage, temperature, and attitude that all come about in anticipation of this day.  

It has been no secret that in the past I have sometimes referred to the secrecy of farmers/ranchers in how things are done. These are the types of things that create a competitive advantage compared to other farmers/ranchers. Still, I have seen that yet again, July 1st seems to be the official day of hay cutting season for first cut. All up and down County Road 516 and 172, grasses have been growing and seeding up to that day.  

This year, we saw that there was actually a large series of back-to-back storms that occurred the entire week of July 1st. This knocked back many of the hay bines and swathers to take some days off. When it looked like the rain passed after a few days, many farmers cut their fields only to find a second wave of storms moving in during the following week. Needless to say, much hay was rained on across many farms. Had storms not been an issue at all, July 1st would have been the go to day yet again for the fourth straight year that I have been watching when farmers cut. 

See the Forest for the Trees 

Each year, with each harvest, on a daily basis, I learn so much more about this farming thing. When I first noticed that everyone seemed to be cutting on July 1st of every year, I decided to cut my fields sooner. The reason being, is that I saw my selection of forage being a grass that seeded out early. Once the grass seeds out, the growth significantly slows down. Then comes maturity, which is a time when I noticed that my grasses seemed to get thicker stalks, the tops of the grasses began to brown (bronze), and the seeds would begin to drop. All of this occurred about two weeks prior to July 1st, so for me, it made sense to cut a little earlier to take advantage of the growth stages in which the stalks were softer and more palatable.  

My horse customers like the conditions of my soft selection of grasses and I know that letting the grass mature and sit another week or two would add to the tonnage and quantity of the bales, but I’m more interested in the quality. This said, I do understand why people do wait until July 1st. Particularly, when a person has cool season grasses, I estimate that up to 80% of their entire yearly harvest will come from a single harvest (or first cut), so there is incentive to maximize quantity and tonnage. After that cut, the temperatures are above 80 degrees and cool season grasses go dormant…they go to sleep.  

It is true that there will be a bit of growth occurring again near the end of August and into September, as temperatures cool down a bit. Overall, the season is from April through June. People need to take this into consideration when selecting what types of grasses or proteins to grow.  

Changing of the Guard 

Once July 1st passes and most farmers have something in the barn, then it’s time for a new round of decisions and strategy. This is the time when warm season grasses begin to thrive, and we see a whole new selection of forages (and weeds) begin to grow in the fields. For some farmers who elect to just have warm season grasses, this is the beginning of season. For strictly cool season grass farmers, most of the harvest year is done.  

For me, this is the changing of the second act of a three-part play that happens in the field. My first cut is primarily cool season grasses that max out early (well before July 1st). The second part is my timothy and alfalfa which come in right about the second week of July. The third evolution is a possible third cut that incorporates all three forages in a finish line spring that goes right up to the second week of September.  

This also means that I separate all three cuts into different sections in the barn. Different clients like different forage mixes. Some like straight grass. Some like alfalfa mix. Some just want “cow hay,” which I’m learning is a vast diversity of a spectrum of quality usually preferred to purchase based on liquidation pricing. For me, it’s not my high-quality bales. It’s the bottom bales. It’s the rows near the ditch lines. It’s the bales that are usually picked up last out of the field.  

I know all about cow hay because I had quite a few bales that didn’t make it into the barn this year for the first cut. They got rained on and I ended up liquidating them in price just to get rid of them. I’m not proud of this. It does not represent my inventory, and it sometime creates an expectation that people will want that price going forward. I made sure to let people know why it was the price it was. With better planning on my part, it shouldn’t happen again.  

With each passing year, I keep my eye on July 1st. It is a good metric to gauge when most people will cut hay and when the grasses wake up or go to sleep. It is the beginning of horse fly season and the peak of mosquito feasting. Wear your repellants.