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Little River, TX | There are a multitude of correct ways to harvest forages.
The researchers like to use a 28 day harvest cycle. A number of hay growers with multiple fields of hay to harvest have also adopted a fixed number of days for hay harvesting.
As you say it is nice if you can.
Another method is to watch the regrowth buds and cut before they become too long.
For years harvesting at quarter bloom worked. The story was as soon as you see the first alfalfa bloom hook up to the mower because by the time you get back to the field, it will be a quarter bloom.
My friends in East Texas cut when the hay is ready, rain or shine. They can run on wet soil with no problems, while the clay here will ball up on the tires and equipment and make a real mess. HERE we need 4 good drying days after a rain, just to be able to run on the field. If I get to cut the last week of March the hay will be a 200 RFV hay cut in pre bud stage. In March we never have more than one field laying on the ground. By mid April we can have up to two fields laying on the ground drying. By mid June we can have up to three fields drying.
By early September I again do not want more than two fields down drying. In October I am back to only one field down curing.
Personally I do not like to cut a field unless the sun is shining. I want that hay to dry down enough that first day to stop respiration by night fall.
The last two years it was not until the alfalfa was in full bloom before I could cut the first field. Some alfalfa was cut after going to seed.
With our climate it may be we only have three cutting, though we see four on average. On an occasional year we will have seven cuttings.
The California information is of value because it helps us adjust our expectations.
There is a farm in Idaho that cuts two to three pivots a day, and has three large balers working each night.
They have more ground in pivot tracks than this farm has in total acres.
This year one field required two days to bale, because I had to stop before the leaf shattering became excessive.
You mention Dan Undersander. He is one of my Heroes, as is Gary Lacefield & a Good Bakers Dozen others. | |
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Alfalfa yield quality tradeoff, try some Economics
