I believe if my records are correct, wheat began to flower last year on May 19 in Butler County, Ohio. This year, flowering began a full week earlier on May 12.

The hay and pasture grass is also maturing early. In most years, we would expect to be able to cut grass hay about May 20 with excellent quality. Before the rains last week, we were able to make some excellent quality grass hay, but most of it was in full head.

We encourage grazers to manage the grass so that they keep it in a vegetative state, growing leaves, not seed heads and stems. Even our top grass managers are finding it difficult to stay ahead of seed formation this year.

Cattle grazing grass that has gone to seed face a number of difficulties. The most obvious is eye irritation from the stems and the grass pollen. Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue is infamous for its infestation by entophyte fungus which concentrates in the seed head. The entophyte causes health problems for the livestock.

We encourage you to clip your pastures so that the eye irritation doesn’t contribute to pinkeye.

If you clip the plant high, above the majority of the leaves, you will remove the seed head and the eye irritation.  This will not, however, allow the plant to resume vegetative growth.

Once the plant has initiated seed production, it is wired to produce seed, not grow. To initiate growth, you will need to allow the animals to graze the plants as quickly as possible.

For rapid harvest, graze the vegetation to a three-inch height, with as many animals as possible, in as small a lot as practical. You got to get the growth “juices” flowing again.

What if you clipped the seed head and did not graze immediately? If it would get hot and dry after clipping, it is likely it would just turn brown and go dormant. If you graze the grass almost immediately after clipping, it will start to grow again if temperatures are moderate and moisture is adequate. A problem with clipping the seed heads is getting the equipment to cut high enough.

A bush hog may not cut that high; a haybine or other hay harvest equipment will concentrate the grass in swaths, which if not removed can cause a lot of damage to the grass under it. An alternative to clipping and rapid grazing is, of course, to harvest for hay. It defeats the purpose for intensive grazing, allowing the animals to do the work of harvest and saving the cost, but it does take care of the seed.

Hay harvest may be the most practical approach and will need to be used by the most passionate grazers in some situations.

The views and opinons expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Steve Bartels may write to him in care of this publication.