Grass that has been growing all spring and is only now being cut will not have the same nutritional profile as good-quality second-cutting hay, even though it is being cut around the time a second-cutting would normally be harvested. | Photo: iStock

Q: Our weather has been so wet that my hay supplier, along with many others, is only now harvesting his first-cutting hay; typically, he’d be done with the second cutting by now. I typically buy second-cutting hay for my horses. Will late-cut first-cutting hay have the same nutritional profile as second-cutting hay? If this hay is all I’m able to find for my horses this winter, what do I need to be aware of? —via email

A: When the weather is wet and you barely have two dry days to rub together, hay-making can be very hard. This is one reason why many farmers in areas like Great Britain, where summers are often wet, have shifted toward growing more grass for haylage than for hay. Haylage is baled with a higher moisture content and, therefore, does not require as many dry days before it is baled.

Grass that has been growing all spring and is only now being cut will not have the same nutritional profile as good-quality second-cutting hay, even though it is being cut around the time a second-cutting would normally be harvested. Hay’s nutritional profile has more to do with the maturity of the grass when harvested than what month is was cut in and what cutting it is. Grass that has had more time to progress through its life cycle is more mature come July compared to grass that went through a first cutting in May and then regrew and was cut again in July 30 to 45 days after the first cutting. The grass that has regrown after being cut in May is less mature, meaning it will be more leafy and less stemmy than the grass being cut for the first time in July