question for grassfarmer re: timothy

[tman]

What don't you like about timothy as a plant for grazing?

[grassfarmer]

I find it poor yielding in a planned grazing setup. Problem is it has a different growth profile to all my other grasses/legumes. We rely on passing quickly over every pasture in the fast growth period (around May 22-July 10th here)with the exception of the ones we are grazing banked grass off now. This maximises growth and sets up the pastures for the rest of the season whether they be intended for banked fall or spring pasture or green season grazing. If you hit timothy in the few weeks before it forms heads (the stage you want to hit the other plants)it severely sets it back. Where the other plants grow back quickly the timothy seems to take the next two months to grow another inch and form another seed head. I have had better success with grazing it to the ground in July if it is waist high and seed heads are set. Better regrowth that is, the quality of course is pretty poor when grazing the seeded stuff. This is probably an old fashioned hay variety but that has been my experience. Of course it doesn't tolerate drought and doesn't like shading either which work against it.