Exceptionally wet weather delayed hay cutting this spring, but producers likely still have time to grow and harvest enough hay to last them through the winter.

While many producers were able to make hay during the hot, dry weather the first two weeks of June, alfalfa and alfalfa-mixed grass producers were about a month behind with their first cutting. This delay will likely cost them one cutting.

A significant amount of fescue and fescue-mix grasses also are still in the fields, but there’s a good chance producers can get a quality second cutting, said Tom Keene, hay marketing specialist in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

"For the fescue-type grasses, this isn’t so unusual," Keene said. "We call this ‘holiday hay’ because it usually doesn’t get cut until the Fourth of July, but by that time, any nutritive value it had is gone