“Our fastest rotation is 10 or 11 days on bermudagrass, but we'd like to wait 16 days to get back to the first paddock,” he comments. “It is hard to get the dung beetles to break down the cow patties any quicker than 10 or 11 days.”

They do keep a couple of paddocks out of the rotation to make hay that's fed in October and November, when most of their cows are dry.

They don't need sacrifice paddocks for wet weather. “There is a permanent sod,” Wehner explains. “The cows don't stay on a paddock long enough to make a mud hole.”

The whole system has worked well enough for the Wehners and their cows that they have built a similar dairy 17 miles away.

“You need to look at this in a systems approach,” says Wehner. “Don't get locked in on small details. We've made all the mistakes. This type of dairying is very forgiving.”

Milk from Al and Desiree Wehner's cows is processed into cheese at Sweet Grass Dairy in nearby Thomasville, GA. The Wehners bought that 140-acre farm in the late 1990s and established the cheese plant as well as a dairy goat herd. Desiree was the head cheese-maker, making award-winning cheeses from cow and goat milk for sale to upscale restaurants and food shops. Cheeses now are marketed at an on-farm gift shop as well.

Cheese sales more than doubled each of the first three years. So the Wehners expanded that operation, bringing Jessica and Jeremy Little, their daughter and son-in-law, in to help. More recently, Al and Desiree decided to focus their efforts on the cow-grazing dairy, selling Sweet Grass Dairy to the Littles.

For more information, visit www.sweetgrassdairy.com.

Taking a first alfalfa cutting, plowing down the stand and planting short-season silage corn may be a viable option for growers with thinning alfalfa stands, say University of Wisconsin extension specialists.

You'll get some hay or haylage production to fill short-term needs, but corn silage yields will be lower than if you had replaced the alfalfa right away in spring, they note.

Weather conditions are a key to the strategy's success, say the Wisconsin workers. The alfalfa should be harvested as early as possible so corn can be planted by the first week in June. If alfalfa growth is behind normal and corn won't be planted by then, you might be better off keeping the alfalfa stand.

In Wisconsin, corn planted later than early June will produce significantly less silage, and silage quality will be reduced even more. In re-search at Arlington, WI, silage corn planted the third week in June produced half as much milk per acre as corn planted in early May.

Regardless of the planting date, the corn crop could be a disaster if June turns dry. The alfalfa will have depleted the soil moisture, so corn will need rainfall for early growth and to compete with weeds.

Be sure to choose the appropriate short-season hybrid to increase the probability that it will mature before the first frost, say the specialists.

Anew Web-based hay classifiedsand auction service has just gone online while a Web site listing hay and straw for sale will be expanding its coverage.

Buyers and sellers can search by state, zip code and hay quality at www.bid4hay.com. The site lists classified advertisements as well as online and live auctions.

A variety of hay-related products and services can also be bought or sold, including hay tarps, hay hauling, custom haying, forage testing, livestock, pasture leasing, real estate, hunting leases, grain and seed. The site was founded by Stephen Har-dison, who owns a farm and is a research analyst in Texas.

The Web site www.hayandstraw4u.com currently lists Ohio and Indiana hay and straw for sale. But in the next few months its coverage will expand to the entire continental U.S. Market information, growing tips and a directory of hay testing laboratories will be added.

Growers who want to list products can email information from the Web site or mail it to P.O. Box 177, Port Jefferson, OH 45360-0177.