Green Gold Report â May 26, 2016 â EASTERN
PLATINUM SPONSOR
PLATINUM SPONSOR
Green Gold Report – May 26, 2016 – EASTERN Hay Day now May 30th. With the rain and a little cooler temperature the rapid drop in RFV that we saw last week has slowed from 10 pts/day to 8. SITE Giroux Grunthal Kleefeld La Broquerie New Bothwell Ste. Anne Steinbach Stonewall AVERAGE
RFV NIR 168 206 198 177 207 196 193
RFV PEAQ 184 193 199 184 203 199 160 193
Height 24 22 21 24 19 21 27 22
CP 22 29 27 27 28 27 27
192
189
23
27
Looking at most of the fields in the SE they are now in the early bud with the exception of the Stonewall field which is late veg. The Giroux and Steinbach fields are late bloom/early flower. Access all 2016 Green Gold Reports For more information contact: John McGregor, MFGA Extension Support e: [email protected], website: www.mfga.net or follow us on Twitter!
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BRONZE SPONSORS
2016 MFGA Green Gold Report
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MANITOBA FORAGE & GRASSLAND ASSOCIATION
What I am Seeing As mentioned most of the fields are in the early bud stage but at the Steinbach location the most advanced plant was at the late bud/early flower. On a cool early morning this plant looked to be late bud but I suspect that if the sun was shining and it was a bit warmer I would have seen flowers. Growing Degree Days As of May 25 we are now at 269 for the area and as mentioned starting to enter the early to late bud stage in the SE area. As mentioned earlier we normally would expect 300 GDDs to reach 180 RFV but with some high temperatures generating rapid growth we now are seeing the exception to the rule. Nutritionists like to target hay in the 135-150 RFV towards Dairy cows in the 1st trimester and towards dairy calves. The RFV hay from 125-140 is fed to the dairy cows in the last 200 days and heifers 12-18 months of age. Hay at 115-130 makes excellent Beef cow and heifer 12-18 month old feed and any from 100-115 is good for the Dry cow and heifer between 18 and 24 month. Cutting Height Often I get the question about what height to cut alfalfa. Generally with first cut it is recommended to leave stubble as short as possible therefore maximizing yield. There is about 250 lbs of forage in every inch of crop. The stubble that you leave behind has a low feed value and is mostly filler. If we were to get a delay with first cut you may want to leave taller stubble to improve the quality of harvested forage. The lowest sections of the alfalfa plant are typically higher in fiber and have fewer high quality leaves present. If growers raise their cutting height to leave these high-fiber basal stem sections in the field, they may increase forage quality. Another critical aspect of managing grasses in alfalfa stands is to watch the cutting height. Grasses need to re-grow from the stubble above ground left in the field. Alfalfa regrows from the crown, which is below ground. If a mixed stand of grass and alfalfa is cut at a 2" height, the grasses will not grow back as fast as the alfalfa and will be more prone to not surviving. This is particularly a concern with disc mowers. A disc mower needs to adjusted to a 3-4" cutting height. This cutting height will also help to reduce soil contamination in forage as well. See article on Soil Contamination But before you set your cutter bar as low as it will go it is a good idea to walk into your alfalfa field and look closely at the base or crown of the plants. What you are looking for is new shoots that are starting to grow along with the first growth. If you see new this shoots these are the new sets of shoots for the second cut. By cutting off the tips of this new growth you could be delaying second cut by as much as a week. In the photo below you can see that there is some new growth happening in this field but not very much. If you are seeing a fair amount of this type of growth it is best to raise your cutter bar and leave a bit more stubble.
2016 MFGA Green Gold Report
~2
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MANITOBA FORAGE & GRASSLAND ASSOCIATION
PLATINUM SPONSOR
Green Gold Report – May 26, 2016 – EASTERN Hay Day now May 30th. With the rain and a little cooler temperature the rapid drop in RFV that we saw last week has slowed from 10 pts/day to 8. SITE Giroux Grunthal Kleefeld La Broquerie New Bothwell Ste. Anne Steinbach Stonewall AVERAGE
RFV NIR 168 206 198 177 207 196 193
RFV PEAQ 184 193 199 184 203 199 160 193
Height 24 22 21 24 19 21 27 22
CP 22 29 27 27 28 27 27
192
189
23
27
Looking at most of the fields in the SE they are now in the early bud with the exception of the Stonewall field which is late veg. The Giroux and Steinbach fields are late bloom/early flower. Access all 2016 Green Gold Reports For more information contact: John McGregor, MFGA Extension Support e: [email protected], website: www.mfga.net or follow us on Twitter!
SILVER SPONSORS
BRONZE SPONSORS
2016 MFGA Green Gold Report
~1
~
MANITOBA FORAGE & GRASSLAND ASSOCIATION
What I am Seeing As mentioned most of the fields are in the early bud stage but at the Steinbach location the most advanced plant was at the late bud/early flower. On a cool early morning this plant looked to be late bud but I suspect that if the sun was shining and it was a bit warmer I would have seen flowers. Growing Degree Days As of May 25 we are now at 269 for the area and as mentioned starting to enter the early to late bud stage in the SE area. As mentioned earlier we normally would expect 300 GDDs to reach 180 RFV but with some high temperatures generating rapid growth we now are seeing the exception to the rule. Nutritionists like to target hay in the 135-150 RFV towards Dairy cows in the 1st trimester and towards dairy calves. The RFV hay from 125-140 is fed to the dairy cows in the last 200 days and heifers 12-18 months of age. Hay at 115-130 makes excellent Beef cow and heifer 12-18 month old feed and any from 100-115 is good for the Dry cow and heifer between 18 and 24 month. Cutting Height Often I get the question about what height to cut alfalfa. Generally with first cut it is recommended to leave stubble as short as possible therefore maximizing yield. There is about 250 lbs of forage in every inch of crop. The stubble that you leave behind has a low feed value and is mostly filler. If we were to get a delay with first cut you may want to leave taller stubble to improve the quality of harvested forage. The lowest sections of the alfalfa plant are typically higher in fiber and have fewer high quality leaves present. If growers raise their cutting height to leave these high-fiber basal stem sections in the field, they may increase forage quality. Another critical aspect of managing grasses in alfalfa stands is to watch the cutting height. Grasses need to re-grow from the stubble above ground left in the field. Alfalfa regrows from the crown, which is below ground. If a mixed stand of grass and alfalfa is cut at a 2" height, the grasses will not grow back as fast as the alfalfa and will be more prone to not surviving. This is particularly a concern with disc mowers. A disc mower needs to adjusted to a 3-4" cutting height. This cutting height will also help to reduce soil contamination in forage as well. See article on Soil Contamination But before you set your cutter bar as low as it will go it is a good idea to walk into your alfalfa field and look closely at the base or crown of the plants. What you are looking for is new shoots that are starting to grow along with the first growth. If you see new this shoots these are the new sets of shoots for the second cut. By cutting off the tips of this new growth you could be delaying second cut by as much as a week. In the photo below you can see that there is some new growth happening in this field but not very much. If you are seeing a fair amount of this type of growth it is best to raise your cutter bar and leave a bit more stubble.
2016 MFGA Green Gold Report
~2
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MANITOBA FORAGE & GRASSLAND ASSOCIATION
