Rain Affecting Hay Quality In Manitoba

Frequent rains over the growing season have brought some challenges to haying operations in Manitoba.

 

Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association extension support John McGregor says the precipitation slowed first and second cuts of hay in some cases, as the fields were too wet for a while. McGregor talks about how the rain has affected the quality of hay for beef cattle.

 

"Because the rains have been happening the way they have, a lot of the hay has remained standing in the field, and therefore when they take it off the quality will be as mature hay," he says. "That'll mean it'll have higher fibre, a little bit lower protein, and the energy will be down a bit. Not very much of the hay went down as swathed and got rained on, which, when it gets rained on, then we see the hay really start to deteriorate as it gets moldy and loses a lot of the quality."

 

When it comes to alfalfa hay for dairy, McGregor says the first cut will have been fairly mature, so cows won't milk on very well on it.

 

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