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Bermuda: bales or rolls? A couple of photos added.

 
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Whitewing
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:37 am    Post subject: Bermuda: bales or rolls? A couple of photos added. Reply with quote
Things have kicked into high gear down here and the bermuda is growing really well.

So far in the last month or so we've planted an additional 50 acres in bermuda and I'm going to continue planting till I run out of land or rain. What we've planted this year should produce if the rains continue to fall. Next year will be crazy.

We've been baling for now. Lots of work.

I'm thinking maybe a combo of the two will work out best for me. I can build storage facilities for a lot of bales, but don't know that I can store every bale we'll make next year.

How's bermuda last in rolls? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.





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Trinity man
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Man you make that county look better and better. You may have a neighbor from Texas if it keeps up. Wink
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Whitewing
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Trinity man wrote:
Man you make that county look better and better. You may have a neighbor from Texas if it keeps up. Wink


Some of the soils at my place are amazlingly fertile, which is something of a surprise because tropical soils are notorious for 'burning' up quickly under cultivation.

I've told the boys at the ranch that I'm convinced that some of what we're planting now will do even better than where we've been producing. We're really going to have our hands full next year if the rains fall normally.
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allen57
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Whitewing, as with any hay, bermuda will keep a long time (years) if properly baled and kept dry.

Just a question about your statement about cultivated soils "burning up". Is it because the nutrients utilized by the crops aren't being replaced? Bermuda produce and shine very long if continually haying and no fertilization.
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Whitewing
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
allen57 wrote:
Whitewing, as with any hay, bermuda will keep a long time (years) if properly baled and kept dry.

Just a question about your statement about cultivated soils "burning up". Is it because the nutrients utilized by the crops aren't being replaced? Bermuda produce and shine very long if continually haying and no fertilization.


You are correct Allen57, the nutrients are not being replaced. Tropical soils tend to have low organic matter levels to begin with.....probably high sand content on average as well. I suspect that it takes a long time to build up what organic content is there, and once put under cultivation, it's depleted rapidly.

I've read about the soils in the Brazilian Amazon that are really fertile when first cleared but within a few years are basically worthless. I suspect too the combination of year-round heat and heavy rainfalls also takes its toll.

My ranch sits down in a valley with 'mountains' on one side and hills on the other. The soils tend to be really dark and appear to have decent organic levels....staying wet for a few days at least after a rainfall. On the approach to my place....just a few kilometers away and a hundred feet higher in elevation, the soils are red and appear to be of much poorer quality.
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Texan
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:02 pm    Post subject: Re: Bermuda: bales or rolls? A couple of photos added. Reply with quote
Whitewing wrote:
How's bermuda last in rolls? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

My coastal bermuda keeps better than bahia grass in rolls. A lot of it has to do with how the rain comes after it's baled, though. If I get some light rains on it followed by a lot of hot sun, it seems to develop a 'crust' that is only an inch or two deep and it sheds water like a tarp.

But...if it starts raining on it and rains heavy without some sun in between rains - like it often does with hay I put up in the fall - it soaks up a lot of water and will get wet five or six inches deep. It still doesn't soak up the water quite as bad as bahia grass, though.
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Whitewing
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:19 pm    Post subject: Re: Bermuda: bales or rolls? A couple of photos added. Reply with quote
Texan wrote:
Whitewing wrote:
How's bermuda last in rolls? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

My coastal bermuda keeps better than bahia grass in rolls. A lot of it has to do with how the rain comes after it's baled, though. If I get some light rains on it followed by a lot of hot sun, it seems to develop a 'crust' that is only an inch or two deep and it sheds water like a tarp.


Interesting. Texan, do you think that if I got lots of hot sun after the baling that it would be worth the effort to spray the round bales with water (simulating a light rain) and then let nature do its work?
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Mike
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lot's of rain tends to leach nutrients through the soil. That's one of our problems here........Sometimes too much rain can be as bad as not enough.

In parts of the West, Mid-West where they only get around 12 inches per year, the grass protein is higher because the nitrogen has not been flushed from the soil.
Bale that Bermuda on the verge of "Green" (maybe by incorporating a preservative) and it will furnish the cows with plenty of good feed.

A little clover scattered in that Bermuda wouldn't hurt either.

What variety of Bermuda is it?
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Whitewing
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Mike wrote:
Lot's of rain tends to leach nutrients through the soil. That's one of our problems here........Sometimes too much rain can be as bad as not enough.

In parts of the West, Mid-West where they only get around 12 inches per year, the grass protein is higher because the nitrogen has not been flushed from the soil.
Bale that Bermuda on the verge of "Green" (maybe by incorporating a preservative) and it will furnish the cows with plenty of good feed.

A little clover scattered in that Bermuda wouldn't hurt either.

What variety of Bermuda is it?


I was afraid someone would ask me that. Embarassed I don't know and haven't taken the time to try to figure it out. All I know is that it does well here and I'm now a big fan.

Mike, I doubt clover would do well here.....haven't ever heard of anyone planting it.
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Ben H
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Clover=Legume=FREE Nitrogen.
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Texan
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Bermuda: bales or rolls? A couple of photos added. Reply with quote
Whitewing wrote:
Interesting. Texan, do you think that if I got lots of hot sun after the baling that it would be worth the effort to spray the round bales with water (simulating a light rain) and then let nature do its work?

I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. It would make a good experiment - lining some up side-by-side, then spraying some and leaving some untreated as a control.
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