First Cutting Monitoring – May 10th, 2022 SCNY Report

This is the SCNY Team’s second week of monitoring alfalfa heights for first cutting quality in 2022.  A full report for the seven-county region can be found in the following link: Alfalfa Height Reporting Sheet 5.10.22

If you’re interest in the CNY Team’s weekly report, it can be found in the following link:  Field Crop Update_May 10, 2022.  The CNY Team covers Chenango, Madison, Herkimer, Fulton, Montgomery, Otsego, Saratoga & Schoharie Counties.

This week’s updates …

On average, this past week saw 2.5 to over 4 inches of growth in alfalfa fields.

Broome – 9.1″ average, 2.6″ gain –> location & elevation dependent, approaching harvest for all grass fields

Cayuga – 13.8″ average, 4.4″ gain  –> all grass fields approaching harvest time

Chemung – 14.2″ average, 3.6″ gain –> all grass fields approaching harvest time

Cortland – 7.3″ average, 2.4″ gain

Onondaga – 11.3″ average, 3.6″ gain  –>  all grass fields are ready to be harvested, mixed stands approaching harvest time, location & elevation dependent

Tioga – 11.6″ average, 2.5″ gain –> all grass fields approaching harvest time

Tompkins – 11.7″ average, 4.2″ gain –> all grass fields approaching harvest time

Can’t Beat This Weather

On our travels this week, lots of field was getting accomplished.  While it feels like we’re later than last year, and indeed we probably are still a week behind last year, don’t let it fool you into thinking there’s still plenty of time to get to all grass fields!  In many locations, all grass fields are approaching harvest time! 

Mixed stands are predicted to be ready from 5/17 – 22 across most of the region.

Cortland County, remaining the outlier currently, does not have a reliable alfalfa prediction yet, as heights have yet to reach 10″.  If your fields are in Cortland County, best to check them out for yourself to see where heights are measuring.

A Reminder on our Methods

For prediction of NDF content, the height of alfalfa as an indicator is as follows:

• 100% grass stands – cut when nearby alfalfa is 14 inches tall (achieves 50% NDF)
• 50/50 grass/alfalfa stands – cut when nearby alfalfa is 22 inches tall (achieves 44% NDF)
• 100% alfalfa stands – cut when alfalfa is 28 inches tall (achieve 40% NDF)

Predicted days to cut are based on daily NDF increases for grasses of 1.0% point, 50/50 mixed alfalfa/grass stands of 0.8% points, and alfalfa of 0.5% points and are adjusted for the coming week’s weather.  Typically NDF increases about 0.8 to 1.2 per day for grasses, with cooler weather being the lower end of the range and warmer weather being the higher end.  For alfalfa, NDF increases about 0.4 to 0.7 per day, also dependent upon warm/cool weather.

Next Report

Look for our next report of monitoring heights to come out on Wednesday, May 18th.  In the meanwhile, if you can’t get out to check your fields, call one of us on the team.  We’ll be glad to help out.