1996 Alfalfa Scissor Cut Results

Crops and Soils Agent

UW Extension - Fond du Lac County

Proper gear for alfalfa scissor cutting in 1996 included a full compliment of rain gear, hip waders, and can of WD-40 to keep the scissors from rusting between sample dates. Nevertheless, about 300 producers called the Fond du Lac Reporter's Freeline to receive alfalfa quality information. In some respects, this was like calling the funeral home to find out who died. Not until about June 12 did the weather provide a window for hay harvest without incurring some rain damage.

Figure 1 shows alfalfa scissor cut results for the Fond du Lac and Malone locations. This data represents an average of two samples for each location and sampling date. Alfalfa growth and development was nearly two weeks behind normal in 1996. Note that the first sampling date was not until May 28. In many years, alfalfa harvesting is well underway by the end of May, but in 1996 the mower-condetioners were yet to be greased. From May 28 to June 10, RFV dropped from about 220 to 150, or 5.4 points per day. This is typical for spring growth. Some location and field to field variation will always exist.

In Figure 2, RFV's for three different sampling dates are compared for years 1991 through 1996. The May 20 figure was estimated for 1996 based upon the first sampling date of May 28. This year stands out as being the most delayed in terms of advancing forage quality. To compare extremes, note the figures for 1991 versus 1996 for the three sample dates. On June 1 there was a difference of 73 points between the two years. This large variation confirms that calendar date is not a good guage of when to harvest hay in the spring. The same can also be said for date of flowering. Although not presented here, scissor cut data often points out that flowering can occur across a wide forage quality range depending on environmental conditions.

Table 1 makes a comparison of alfalfa scissor cut results with forage samples taken as first cut haylage being harvested by the five county farmers participating in the Alfalfa Cost of Production and Quality (ACPAQ) program. Dates for the ACPAQ samples reflect cutting rather than harvest dates. The first two ACPAQ samples were from forage that had laid in the field from four to six days before it was harvested and incurred some rain damage. This would help explain the lower than expected RFV's. By contrast, the remaining three ACPAQ fields were all cut and harvested on the same dates (June 12 and June 14, respectively) and were similar to values obtained with scissor cut samples.

Table 1. Comparison of alfalfa scissor-cut results with first-cut forage RFV's from five Fond du Lac County ACPAQ program fields. 1996.

Date        Sample Type         RFV

6/03        Scissor cut         193

6/04        ACPAQ               133

6/08        ACPAQ               119

6/10        Scissor cut         152

6/12        ACPAQ               143

6/12        ACPAQ               139

6/12        ACPAQ               146

6/17        Scissor cut         130

For more information contact Mike Rankin

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