First Cutting Monitoring – May 24th, 2022 SCNY Report

This is the SCNY Team’s fourth and likely final 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 5.24.22.

If you’re interest in the CNY Team’s weekly report, it can be found in the following link: Field Crop Update_May 24 2022.  The CNY Team covers Chenango, Madison, Herkimer, Fulton, Montgomery, Otsego, Saratoga & Schoharie Counties.

Now’s the Time

As you can tell from our report, many fields we measure have already been mowed. Pure or almost pure alfalfa stands that we measure are pretty much the only fields left to harvest.

Broome – 26.0″ average, 8.0″ gain –> approaching pure alfalfa harvest

Cayuga – 26.8″ average, 6.4″ gain  –> approaching pure alfalfa harvest.  Field Notes from Ron Kuck:

“Many fields surrounding un-mowed locations currently or will be mowed this week. Some grass and 50/50 grass fields mowed too low < 3inches. Need to remind folks to leave about 4″ for rapid regrowth.  Corn and beans up, manure going out.  Looks good!”

Chemung – 25″ average, 4.0″ gain –> approaching pure alfalfa harvest

Cortland – 20.2″ average, 5.5″ gain –> mixed grass/alfalfa should be harvested, pure stands are still a week out

Onondaga – 25.2″ average, 5.1″ gain  –>  approaching pure alfalfa harvest.  Field Notes from Janice Degni:

“Harvest has started in earnest  this week.  Alfalfa over 24 inches starting to lodge.  Buds are present on alfalfa over 20 inches.  Crop looks great.”

Tioga – 24.6″ average, 5.9″ gain –> approaching pure alfalfa harvest

Tompkins – 26.7″ average, 6.8″ gain –> approaching pure alfalfa harvest

Dynamic Harvest This Year?

After today’s rain passes, there looks to be a 2-day window including some really warm weather over the weekend, before a front passes through on Sunday.  Next week hopefully there will be a good window to harvest all grass fields and potentially mixed grass/alfalfa fields.  If you have a variety of fields and know that your grass fields will be too far gone for dairy quality, use the rainy weather to determine if a Dynamic Harvest Schedule might be the best option for you this year.  You can read more about this tactic here:  Dynamic Harvest Schedules

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 field conditions to come out on Wednesday, June 1st.  This will likely be a condensed version as many locations have already mowed or are taking advantage of this stretch of weather.