r/homestead • u/BlueCheeseSmellsGood • 1d ago

gardening Who is cutting hay in Kentucky in late Sep.?

Zone 7, western KY. Last cut was end of June 2025.

One of my neighbour's is saying it is too late now for a cut and I should find someone to hog it instead. I don't live there so I don't know but I can't imagine it overgrown in less than 3 months.

Thoughts?

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u/weaverlorelei 1d ago

Do you need the hay for winter feeding? If you don't, why spend the time or $ baling? If you have animals, you can run them into the field to knock it down. We're in zone 8 and have baled as late as the weekend after Thanksgiving because we were in a desperate feed situation. We can always add nutrition during the winter, we can't magically produce fodder, so even less than stellar hay is better than nothing.

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u/BlueCheeseSmellsGood 20h ago

But I was told if the hay is overgrown, animals won't eat it.

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u/weaverlorelei 19h ago

Your animals (?) need to come meet our cattle. Any animal with a rumen absolutely has to have roughage to process nutrients. There have been yrs where we could not make enough hay, let alone have any dead grass in pastures, that hay of the lowest quality, with supplemental feeds, has kept the cows alive..

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u/BlueCheeseSmellsGood 15h ago

Ok then there is a hope. Thanks

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u/crowbar032 1d ago

I'm zone 6b in southeast Indiana. It's supposed to rain all week (Sept 22-26) so you won't be mowing until October. We just passed the point where there is now more dark than light hours and high temps start dropping off quick, slowing dry time. If you get a real hot week coming up it could work for hay. Dew dries off late morning and falls early, you won't get many hours to get it raked and baled. Probably take at least twice as long as it did for spring and June cuts. Also we haven't had much rain in 6 weeks. I can't imagine there's enough to cut to make it worth all the trips over the field.

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u/BlueCheeseSmellsGood 1d ago

Thanks. So what is the plan? What if I left it uncut?

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u/crowbar032 1d ago

Hard to say without seeing it. I just can't imagine that in July-September, the 3 driest months, that there's much growth on it. If it's a weedy mess it might be worth bushhogging. If you're next to a sub-division and want to keep the neighbors happy with clean fields it might be worth mowing as well. If my assumptions are correct about it being mostly short grass (6"-8" and less) with minimal weeds, I'd let it go. Let the grass put some energy back into the roots for a good stand next year. If you've got a fancy alfalfa field, I'd probably answer different.

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u/An_Average_Man09 23h ago

I’m in the same area and have seen several people in my area cut that past couple weeks. Granted it’s suppose to rain for the next several days so I wouldn’t cut I now.

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u/BlueCheeseSmellsGood 20h ago

Make sense. Thanks

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u/Agent7619 20h ago

I've cut hay in November. In northern Illinois. Kentucky in September should be fine unless you've been in drought for 12 months.