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Haying soybeans

E

Erik Ks farmer

Well-known Member
Trying to make the decision to hay the beans to get something off of them. Most look healthy, but have not set a pod and have bloomed at least twice but now have no flowers and no pods and the lower leaves are falling off. One field has set pods that haven't filled and is still blooming. We have only a 20 percent chance of rain mid week and have had only around half an inch in the last 30 days. I think it's time to mow them but don't want to shoot myself in the foot. My insurance adjuster released them to hay but hasn't looked at them.
 
You should think about plowing them under for green manure. The nitrogen they will add for next years crop may be more valuable than the mediocre feed value as hay.
 
Insurance adjuster will not look at the beans until after the leaves have fallen off, and is not coming out until I have picked what little corn I can salvage. There are simply too many claims, I have walked the beans and with the exception of one 12 acre patch there are no pods, that patch has 1-2" pods that are empty. We are short on hay and most of the ground is HEL, haying will leave the ground bare but will hold better than the plow. Just trying to determine when to make the judgement to hay and give up on the beans setting pods and making grain.
 
I would not bale out on soybeans on the 5 th of Aug. They will keep blooming and can set pods for another 30-45 days depending on the variety and location. August is the bean month. I have seen beans not half knee high on August 1 st still make 30 bu beans when harvested.

As for make soybean hay. Grain varieties of soybeans are not very good feed. You have problems getting them to cure correctly and they don't have the foliage like a hay soybean.

So I would not bale them unless you are way short on hay. Even then it will be an adventure feeding them to your cows come winter. You will have to limit feed them or you can have some sick cattle.

So if you bale them you are locked into a low quality hay of not much valve or you can wait a little while longer an see what happens. Even if they just make 20-25 bushels they will be worth much more as grain. You are jumping the gun in my opinion. The weather you have had in not necessarily what you will have in the future. We have been some what dry. We just got 2 1/2 inch of rain yesterday. All you need is one good thunder storm and those beans will make grain.
 
When I was in high school a local hay producer baled up some bean stubble and said the cows were getting sick and wouldn't eat. Come to find the stubbs were so sharp it poked the cows throghts and stomaches.
 
JD seller is 100% correct.....aug is bean month. our beans crop is ahead of us. u will still have to leave a check strip and if those beans in check strip make above ins; u will get nothing. depending on type of insurance. so have your crop insurance agent explain your type of coverage throughly!
 
JD seller is 100% correct.....aug is bean month. our beans crop is ahead of us. u will still have to leave a check strip and if those beans in check strip make above ins; u will get nothing. depending on type of insurance. so have your crop insurance agent explain your type of coverage throughly!
 
I'd chop them for silage myself, solves the stem problem and makes them more feedable . . . but if you don't have the equipment to do silage . . . .
 
Did the adjuster tell you to leave strips? If he didn't he should have. If he hasn't looked at them do not destroy the entire field. Leave a 10" strip all the way across the field.

We got a late rain in 1980 and had 35 bu soybeans in the creek bottoms.

Gene
 
I'm in the same boat you are Erik-- I'm in Marion County KS, and it is dry, dry, dry-- not quite 5" rain in May, June and July. I still haven't swathed beans, but some of the good, respected producers have. Quite a few beans were hayed last year, didn't hear of any problems feeding, but I think most were ground up and mixed with other hay. Ensilaging the beans works, but you better have your own equipment-- custom silo fillers here like to charge a minimum per acre.

I'm going to delay haying as long as I can, but the earlier planted upland beans are starting to die now, the later planted upland beans aren't even worth swathing. The bottom land beans are the best hope,but even with good conditions going forward, more than 20 bushel? I'll be amazed to get 10.
 
Ain't got a clue as to whether or not you should 'hay' 'em at this time or not; we put up a lot of bean hay in the '60s; properly cured, the TDN tested right up there with the other (mostly grasses) hay we were baling at the time. If they were planted strictly for hay, we usually (not always) planted a small stem 'hay' variety (been a long time....Laredo, maybe?)
 
The problem with adjusting the soybeans today, is the adjuster has 2 methods by which to appraise them. Stand Count and seed Count. Since the soybeans are not mature and still have the possibility to produce something. You most likely have a good stand of beans just no pods if he appraised them today you would not have a claim. On the other hand leaving strips is the only way to be fair to you and the company. Just remember as was stated earlier, if the beans produce enough pods with seed to make the guarnatee you will not be paid by the insurance company.

As far as information talk to the adjuster, leave the agent out of it. Most times the agent doesnt have a clue and may not be knowledgeable enough to answer your questions. Talk with the adjuster in most cases they are more knowledgeable.

gramps
 
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