Curt Arens MAKE HAY EARLY: Producers looking to harvest prairie hay need to keep in mind that warm-season grasses offer the best quality if harvested in late June or early July, before the plants have a chance to develop mature seed heads. Depleting too much of the prairie hay crop could be detrimental for next year’s crop and beyond. Timing is everything when deciding to cut prairie hay, to ensure harvesting an optimum-quality feedstuff. That optimum quality comes before the warm-season grasses — big bluestem, little bluestem, indiangrass, switchgrass, prairie sandreed and gramas — that normally make up a prairie hay mix have a chance to fully develop mature seed heads, says Brad Schick, a Nebraska Extension educator based in Nance County.