The result is that the grazing season is shortened and we are left facing a long hay feeding season with marginal quality hay. Rather than generating X number of bales as the basic reason for making hay, consider hay making as a tool to manage pasture quality and supply. With this approach, we will generally start making hay earlier in the season, accepting greater risk of unfavorable weather, but most likely producing higher quality hay, though lower yield. Regrowth is likely to be significantly greater than following later harvests due to more favorable soil moisture and temperature. Because of better regrowth on hayed pastures, the main body of pasture will not need to be grazed as severely, allowing for a rest period going into the fall and allowing more pasture to be stockpiled, thus shortening the hay feeding season.
Plant maturity has the greatest effect on pasture and hay quality.
Digestibility typically decreases at a rate of about percent per day following boot stage in cool season grasses. Several researchers have reported the quality loss due to increased grass maturity to be significantly greater than loss incurred if the hay had been harvested at boot stage and rained on. While this trend is certainly true for grass and grass-dominant hay, alfalfa and other legumes are much more susceptible to serious weather damage. If we are harvesting hay from paddocks in a rotational grazing system, there are again two different approaches to determining where hay is harvested. One approach is to designate certain paddocks at the beginning of the season to be harvested for winter feed.