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 Alfalfa Scissors Clip Monitoring Results Now Available
The annual Alfalfa Scissors Clip project, conducted by Marinette and Oconto County UW-Extension, has begun for the 2008 season. Alfalfa maturity is progressing more slowly than in the past couple years, due to cooler soil temperatures. The weather of upcoming days will dictate exactly when forage fields will be ready to cut. Ready to cut means that they have an in-field Relative Feed Quality (RFQ) of approximately 170, which will equate to about 150 RFQ harvested haylage or hay, which is the desirable level for dairy-quality forages.
Fields were sampled for the first time on Tuesday, May 27. Subsequent sample dates will be Friday, May 30; Tuesday, June 3; and any following Fridays & Tuesdays until maturity progresses past correct harvest timing.
Four fields are being sampled in the Oconto/ Marinette area. Relative Forage Quality estimates for those fields are:
Middle Inlet – 189
Town of Beaver – 197
Lena – 184
Gillett - 183
Local and state-wide information on forage maturity progression is also available at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/ag/scissorsclip/viewresults.cfm
You can estimate the quality of your forage fields by walking your own fields and using the PEAQ method, which is detailed at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/forage/pubs/rfv-peaq.html
Weather, weeds, and forage needs dictate when an individual producer needs to cut a given field. Normally, pure alfalfa fields will drop four to five RFQ points per day, fewer on cool days, more on warm, dry days. Most weed species, along with the forage grass species, have lower RFQ values than do alfalfa and clovers. Thus, fields with high weed or grass content need to be cut sooner than those which are pure legume stands. Lastly, forage needs can help producers in their decision-making process. As mentioned, dairy-quality forages should be cut when in-field RFQ values are in the vicinity of 170. However, higher yields can be harvested if you wait to cut. Thus, if heifer, dry cow, or beef herd forage is the desired product, you can wait until later, when the in-field RFQ values are between 130 and 150.
Weather conditions may cause harvest timing to be set more by the weather than by the forage quality, but using wide swaths vs narrow and chopping forage as silage instead of making hay can allow a short harvest window to be very productive.
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