Knowing when to cut your forage stand depends on your end goal. If you’re wanting the highest feed quality, you’ll want to get in the field earlier than if you’re wanting a high yield. Manitoba Agriculture Livestock Forage Specialist Shawn Cabak has some tips for growers finding that optimal harvest window.
Dairy producers are typically the first to be on the field when it comes to cutting forages. As these growers need the highest quality out of their stand, getting that first cut in mid-June is crucial. Closer to the end of the month, beef producers will start cutting too, getting good quality and yield from their crop.
“To maximize your quality and yield, you’re cutting closer to that early flower stage,” said Cabak. “As the plants mature to full flower, the quality drops off, but the yields don’t change.”
In the recent dry years, growers had to sacrifice quality to maximize yield as they were waiting longer for that early flower stage. Cabak noted perennial forages (like alfalfa, orchardgrass, timothy, tall fescue, and more) suffer in dryer years but annual forages do well. In a year like this one where moisture is plentiful, the perennial crops do well, and Cabak is hopeful growers will see that.
A well-managed alfalfa field with lots of moisture can produce up to four cuts for a grower. Cabak said after the first cut is taken in June, growers can continue to cut the crop every four to five weeks and reap the rewards from it. For the second, third, and fourth cuts, taking it off at the bud stage will give growers maximum quality, and taking it off once the crop is more mature will provide more yield but will reduce that quality.
Because grasses don’t regrow as quickly as other forages, there are less opportunities for multiple cuts.
“Meadow bromegrass or orchardgrass have good regrowth, so there’s a better chance for more than one cut but it’s tough to get more than two cuts off of grass,” said Cabak.
That’s why he recommends growers plant a legume with their grass crop. Then, growers can get a higher overall yield from the crop while the legumes supply all the nitrogen the grass needs.
While taking multiple cuts from a field gives growers a higher overall yield and more feed for their herd, it’s important to take the last cut at least four weeks prior to the first killing frost of the year, which is typically near the end of September. It’s during this time that the plants store food in their roots for the winter, and without that, it won’t be able to regrow in the spring. Cabak recommends growers take their last cut by mid-August to be safe.
If growers do have to cut their crop in this time or after that first frost, drydown can be challenging with shorter days and cooler temperatures. Cabak recommends turning the forage into round bale sileage or chop sileage, as it requires 40% to 60% moisture, compared to the 18% moisture dry hay requires. He said it’s also helpful to chop the forage into wider rows as it will dry faster and to leave strips when cutting for snow cover.
