Potential forage issues with dry conditions

From Joe Lawrence, Dairy Forage Systems Specialist, Pro-Dairy

Latest strategies on dealing with dry conditions:
Drought and Forages 6.2021update

It is only the middle of June and conditions vary widely across the state but the combination of low forage inventories stemming from the 2020 season and areas that remain quite dry to date this year do have some people worried and the questions have been coming in.

The drought monitor shows much of the state above the Thru-way (as well as the western edge) remaining in a D0 (abnormally dry) rating, with an area of the North Country in D1.

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?NY

An issue I am hearing about once again is how hay fields with late harvest first cutting are really suffering. This is the 3^rd year in the last 5 (2018, 2020, 2021) where this has been evident. Fields where a timely first cutting occurred still had enough moisture for a productive second cutting. However, fields where first cutting was late were left with little moisture (and hotter temps) that severally diminish the productivity of second cutting.

So I realize it is early to sound the alarm and this is only relevant to some areas of the state but since this is the 2^nd year in a row of these challenges for some areas, it does seem the concerns are being raised earlier in the season than they might be in other years and I figured I would remind you of the some of the resources that are out there and may be useful if these conditions persist.

I just reviewed the attached article and updated some of the links, etc.

I also can’t help but reinforce that some of the basics that are always important, like good silage management, can be even more important in preserving what forage you do have available.

There are surely other resources out there but we tried to summarize some of the common resources available, the list is also below.

Resources

Northwest NY Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops Team

http://nwnyteam.cce.cornell.edu/submission.php?id=589&crumb=forages|2