Thanks to this year’s warm, dry conditions, our dairy farmers seeded orchard grass and red clover this week — their earliest-ever planting of these crops, typically on the schedule for April. (Unlike corn, these seeds are frost-resistent, so there’s no fear of damage were temperatures to dip.)

While orchard grass has a small window for harvesting, our farmers like it for its nutritional value for the cows. Requiring patience and a sharp eye, orchard grass must be harvested in its “boot stage,” when the head is peeking up through the stem but hasn’t yet popped out. A head popped out of the stem is opportunity lost — the grass has already begun to lose nutrients.

Red clover, easy for cows to digest, is a higher-moisture grass that works well when mixed with hay, which helps the clover to dry. Red clover likes “wet feet” to grow, so it will be particularly happy in the farm’s “water fields” in the valley near the Batten Kill and in spring showers.

Both orchard grass and red clover will be harvested — and then on the menu for our cows — in mid-June.

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM