Dale Dewing, Watershed Team Leader, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County, Watershed Agricultural Program
Hay Harvest is in full swing!
Lots of excellent quality forage was put in last week. Grass and legumes continued to put on good growth with grass growing almost 6½ inches and legumes just over 4 inches, on average. Only one field sampled was observed to be headed, but we would expect most others to begin heading this week.
Just over half of our sampling sites were harvested since sampling on May 14. As of sampling on Tuesday, the remaining grass fields have reached the low to mid 50s NDF, still within the range we would consider good quality, but with the expectation of NDF advancing 0.75 – 1.2 points per day will pass the optimum range this week. Mixed grass/legume fields are also at or passing peak quality, while mostly legume fields are just reaching optimum quality.
Second cutting is re-growing rapidly. We recommend harvesting 30-35 days after cutting for peak quality. For fields harvested last week that would be week of June 17.
The data table below has each sample location, listed by Town and elevation, his year we have added a farm name as well. Data include the species sampled, average height, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and 24 hr. NDF Digestibility (NDFD). You can get a pdf of the complete report here.
We have also updated the Google map of our sampling sites with this week’s results. Check it out.
We will sample again on May 28, and send a report on or about May 30.
Happy Harvesting.
