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Agricultural machinery

ADDITIONAL INFOS

Crop cycle

 Alfalfa - How to manage the harvest

The difficulty with harvesting alfalfa is finding the ideal cutting schedule that will satisfy both the grower and the dairy producer. Growers seek high yields, whereas dairy producers seek high quality hay. But yield and quality are inversely related as shown on the graph. This means that delaying cutting will result in lowering hay quality (and inversely). With time, this dilemma is becoming more and more important because of the increase in hay quality standards (which leads to cutting sooner).

So harvest management has an impact on yield and quality. It also has an impact on stand persistence. For instance, letting one cutting mature to early flower will increase root reserve and stand persistence. Conversely, if the cuts are often made too early (prebloom stage), the stand persistence will be damaged.

Therefore, there isn't a unique harvest management approach. Different factors must be taken into account before making a decision: goals (as seen before, i.e. market or farm demand), available machinery and people, weather conditions etc. An analysis of these factors will help you decide whether to establish a cutting schedule based on growth stage or time interval between cuts.

ICS can help you analyze these factors and define the best cutting schedule for your farm. We also provide full equipment for hay and forage lineups (sun dried, silage, dehydration).