The Meadow Makers' Network Forum

Hello Everyone,

I am after a bit of advice prior to purchasing some kit to manage our 7 acres for wildflowers. I am looking at whether to use a scythe mower, then do a collect and bale, or a flail mower for composting.

Does anyone know if wildflower meadow hay is of any value for selling for animal feed or other purposes, or as the wildflower count increases does it lose its value? At the moment there is still a large proportion of grass, but as we (hopefully) move forward with replacing that with flowers and other species, will the hay still be sellable? We don't keep animals ourselves, so if we did do baling it would be to sell. Composting, however, would be done on site.

Thanks in advance for advice. Natasha

Hi Natasha
You really need to reduce the fertility and the best way is to take a hay cut. Mid July is usually a good time as most of the seeds have set and the hay is palatable and easily saleable.You could do this yourself but it is much easier to sell the grass to a neighbouring farmer who will have the equipment and pay you about£30 to £40 an acre……….or more given the current issues…….
Doing it yourself requires a lot of equipment and storage ……..

Hi Natasha,
I agree with Brian about getting the neighbouring farmer in. You can make hay and sell while you are trying to establish wild flowers. If not you can make a windrow of your bales and cut the strings to compost which is what we've done in the past when the hay wasn't good as we cut late some years. It makes excellent compost (we turned it a few times with a digger). We then plant squash on the windrow if we don't immediately need the compost for our veg garden / no dig potatoes - it goes rampant and doesn't need watering and fruits prolifically. If you went for a flail mower, did you mean with an integrated collector like a Rytec? We use one of these and find them great for harvesting the wild flower seed heads if run on the hydraulics. We then use this for green hay to spread on prepared areas (50% bare soil etc) or dry it to store until later in the Autumn. The Rytec comes in several sizes and has multiple purposes, such as cutting and collecting for mown paths, and it can cut, collect and scarify (you add extra blades) ready for over seeding and we have used this all over the farm. It's slow, noisy and collects a lot of material, but does a great job. For scarifying it's best to use after animals have grazed right down or after the hay cut. I compost the arisings or make heaps ready for planting up with no dig potatoes the following Spring, or for mulching round young trees.
So long as there's not too much oxeye daisy or Knapweed (can go stalky) the hay should be great for horses where if marketed right and you spot spray / hand pull any ragwort, dock and thistle you should get around £4 / small bale if collected from store, or maybe £2 to £3 collected from the field. For species rich 4'6" to 5' round bales a neighbouring farmer is selling for £50/bale! He's marketing them both for nutritional value and as a means of spreading the seed (he says it hasn't all dropped out as he turned it very carefully - we shall see!). This is for stock outwintering - bale grazing cattle where you just roll it out on a slight slope. Some livestock farmers, especially the ones interested in 'regenerative' methods are keen to introduce diversity into the sward and our local farm cluster is trying to promote and encourage and link up donors and recipients wherever possible. Hopefully will create a good market for green hay one day!
Good luck!