"The last few weeks since I wrote my first blog have been so busy that I am not quite sure what to write about. We have been making hay, hosted a party for our local MP, attended the children’s speech day, been in lots of correspondence with the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme, fixed water pipes, organized my daughter’s baptism, sat in court, dealt with a calf that had been hit by a car, and of course looked after Henry the calf as he explores the farm. See the video below to catch up with Henry's antics.

Sunshine means dry grass

This has also coincided with one of the driest summers in years and we have all run out of grass to feed our cows. Many of us farmers are already feeding winter forage and some are contemplating selling some of their cows. We have just decided to start grazing one of our hay fields because we have run out of grass on the farm. This is a retrograde step because unless we have plenty of rain and are able to make a second cut of hay or silage later in the summer, we will be in a situation where we have not only grazed the ground on top of the hills reserved for winter food, we have also fed some of the grass that would have been made into hay to feed them in the winter. Therefore we have put ourselves in a position where we might need to buy in winter forage. On a system that struggles to make economic sense in a good year, this is financial madness.

Nevertheless, we have to continue farming and hope that the recent rain will make a difference.

Making hay

I have put together a very quick You Tube video of our hay making this year to show basically what we have to do to produce a bale of hay. Watch it below.

Typically farmers make hay or silage because the grass that does grow in the winter is very low in nutrients and as such cannot usually sustain a cow. Some of the more traditional breeds can survive on a much rougher diet, but do not grow at the same rate as a prime beef animal fed good quality hay or silage supplemented with a grain or Soya based feed. Hay is basically dried grass whereas silage is pickled grass.

Hay is made by cutting the grass and kicking it out with a machine to allow the sun to dry it quickly. Another machine then puts it into rows to allow it to be picked up by a baler. This machine can also turn the rows over to allow the damp grass on the bottom to get access to the sun on the top. The faster you can dry it the more nutrients are kept in the grass and the better the quality. Moreover, the less you need to mechanically turn it the more the nutritionally valuable leaf is retained. However, in this country it typically requires three or more days of hot sun to dry the grass before you can bale it. If you bale it too soon the damp grass turns fousty and the bale is ruined. Therefore hay making can actually be quite stressful as you watch the weather forecast for a run of good hot weather (not normally a certainty in England) and there is nothing more frustrating than seeing your beautifully dried hay get rained upon just a few hours before it is fit to bale. You then have to start the process again and lose part of the feed value of the hay. Eventually you can end up having to turn the hay so much that you end up with black stalks which are only good for a belly filler for the cows with little or no calorific value.

Low intensity beef cows like ours do not require high value, high protein feed like those which have to be fattened within a short timescale. Dairy cows require huge levels of high energy, high protein food and although good quality hay can provide the energy, it is rare to be able to make good hay every time. Therefore many farmers conserve their grass in the form of silage.

Silage v hay

Silage is basically pickled grass and can be made much quicker than hay. The process involves cutting the grass in much the same way as hay and leaving it to dry for a few hours rather than days. It is then baled or chopped and taken to a silage pit or silo. It is then immediately covered in plastic to stop the air getting to the grass. Your compost heap relies on aerobic bacteria (bacteria that need air) to break down and rot your organic matter. That is why you turn the heap to get air into it. The reverse happens with silage. By wrapping the bale or covering the silage pit or sealing the tower silo, you prevent air from getting to the grass. This in turn allows anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that do not live in air) to get to work. They reduce the ph of the grass and make it quite acidic. This in turn pickles the grass and preserves it.

This process is more expensive but more reliable than hay making and is used widely within British farming. We tend to make round bale silage as a last resort if the weather looks like it won’t last long enough to make good hay."

Editor's note

These videos and Ben's blog do not replace expert advice or professional training. Those planning to make their own hay would be advised to take a course in the procedure and undertake professional tuition before operating machinery.