Hay Crop Central NY

According to a news release from Cornell Coopertitive Extension "The NYS hay crop is 2 weeks ahead of usual and producing much higher yields for those farmers that were able to take advantage of the conditions." Daaa Farming has always been about weather windows,temp, rainfall, etc. The news cast went on to say that although farmers are off to a good start, low milk and comodity prices coupled with high operating costs are still causing many farmers to operate in the red. Here in Central NY, The number of farmers and acerage continues to decrease. A farmer in his 30s is a rare indivual, other than the Amish. Most are 50-80 yr. old. Their suns and daughters left the farms, and this state,for the most part. Sad situation! Pics. were taken on the family farm Friday evening. Done just in time for the much needed rain which came after midnight. The dude out standing in the hay is my youngest son. I took this pic last Sunday. That Alfalfa stand was planted last year with a Barley cover crop. Weather permitting it will be cut this week for the first time. PS we celebrated his 39th birthday yesterday. Dam, I'm getting old.

It's gonna be a heck of a crop here in Michigan too if we can ever get it. Just remains to be seen how much ends up in the bale though. I cut the first field yesterday and it's down something awful. I'm slidinmg right over it going any direction but west. The rest of the fields look the same way. Made me wish I'd stuck around that auction yesterday to see what that 9 foot New Idea CutDitioner brought. Those things would suck up down hay like a vacuum cleaner. I've got an old 7 foot rotary scythe here for corn stalks,but darned if I'm gonna cut 140 acres of hay with that little thing.

Ayup.

Some fields around here are already "over mature"...looks like end-of-June hay that hasn't had first cutting.

Part of my lawn can't be mowed until about now most years because of a high spring water table. They're getting a really good re-seeding this year!

Maturity is early here as well, but yield is average to low due to a very dry May and early June. Regrowth is non-existent on shallow knolls and poor on gravel soils.

i finished chopping monday the 31st. it was the earliest i've been done in several years, and from the maturity of the grasses, i was still late. i usually put the 2nd cutting on top of the first, but this year, the bunk is already high enough with just the first cutting.
i still have 55 acres to round bale but we are planting the rest of the corn first.