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On the surface, agricultural profitability looks dismal for 2019 – corn and especially soybean prices are down; milk price is low; and while beef prices look steady from 2018, supply is high.
Harvest management can have a huge effect on both the yield and quality of harvested forage. Leaves have a relative forage quality of about 550, while stems have a relative forage quality of 70 to 80.
Winter injury occurs someplace in Wisconsin every year. Being able to diagnose and manage winter-damaged stands may help prolong stand life and increase production. Below is a brief discussion on diagnosing and managing winter-damaged alfalfa.
When you can see the quality of the hay, haylage or baleage that you harvested last year, and how the animals eating it are doing, now is a good time to evaluate how well you did with forage harvesting last year.
We used to use fall dormancy to estimate winter hardiness of alfalfa; however, plant breeders have broken the relationship over ranges of fall dormancy. Now we have the opportunity to choose differing combinations of the two traits to best suit individual producer needs.
How was the quality of the alfalfa you harvested this year? Weather often has a large impact. However, harvest management can have a huge effect on drying rate and quality of harvested forage. Now is the time to evaluate how this year went and to plan for what changes might be implemented next year.
A study with four rake types conducted in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin shows about 70 percent of relative forage quality (RFQ) in alfalfa results from leaf percentage. Every time drying alfalfa is moved in the field, leaves are lost and RFQ is reduced.
