Mature Hay for Mature Cows
Hay continued to mature this week with all grasses reaching a fully headed stage. Fiber in grasses is advancing more slowly, while legumes still advanced by 1 point per day. Fiber digestibility continued to decrease. All fields are past quality targets for dairy and growing beef cattle, while still meeting quality targets for mature beef cows.
Status relative to target quality for classes of cattle – 6/7
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Beef |
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| Dairy | Growing Calf | Growing Yearling | Lactating Cow | Mature Dry Cow | |
| Grass | PAST | PAST | PAST | NOW | NOW |
| Mixed | PAST | PAST | PAST | NOW | NOW |
| Legume | PAST | PAST | PAST | NOW | NOW |
Later maturing grasses rapidly grew taller this week, with some fields gaining over 10 inches, earlier heading fields gained less height. Legumes, getting to flowering stage, grew only 3 inches. Hay yields are not likely to increase, but fiber digestibility will continue to decease as plants change to seed production stages. Fiber content limits the amount of forage a cow can consume, digestibility measures how much energy they can get from each pound consumed. Good for mature beef cows to get full and not get fat, not so good for dairy or growing animals that need more energy for growth and production.
The Table on the below has each sample location, listed by Town and elevation, and lists the species sampled, average height, Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), Neutral Detergent Fiber Digestibility (NDFD), and Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN). We have sampled grass, legume and mixed legume/grass fields across the county and at elevations from 1070 to 2100 feet. Look for locations with similar forage type and elevation to your farm.
| Delaware County Scissor Cuts Results | May 31, 2022 | June 7, 2022 | |||||||||
| Farm | Town | Elev | Species | Ht | aNDFom | NDFD | TDN | Ht | aNDFom | NDFD | TDN |
| Eisele | Andes | 1412 | Orchardgrass | 38 | 60.2 | 53 | 71 | 46 | 65.7 | 49 | 67 |
| Gladstone | Andes | 1960 | Mixed grasses | 40 | 65 | 57 | 66 | 47 | 61.2 | 59 | 72 |
| Hutson | Hamden | 1275 | Alfalfa | 26 | 38.9 | 41 | 67 | 29 | 45.7 | 46 | 68 |
| Moody | Hamden | 2100 | Orchardgrass | 30 | 63.9 | 55 | 67 | 40 | 64 | 52 | 65 |
| Reed | Hamden | 1740 | Ken. Bluegrass | 21 | 61.3 | 58 | 66 | 30 | 61.9 | 54 | 68 |
| Scobie | Hamden | 1740 | K. Bluegrass | 36 | 64.2 | 56 | 67 | 42 | 65.2 | 49 | 65 |
| Hillriegel | Hardenburgh | 1670 | Orchardgrass | 46 | 66.7 | 55 | 67 | 50 | 66.8 | 49 | 65 |
| Haynes | Kortright | 1900 | Orchardgrass | 40 | 64.9 | 55 | 69 | 46 | 64.9 | 51 | 67 |
| Elliot | Middletown | 2060 | Reed Canarygrass | 42 | 66 | 51 | 65 | 55 | 67.4 | 54 | 65 |
| Coombe | Neversink | 1420 | Tall Fescue | 29 | 64.8 | 53 | 63 | 36 | 66.3 | 56 | 64 |
| Kuhn | Roxbury | 1980 | Mixed grasses | 36 | 64 | 49 | 64 | 61.4 | 48 | 69 | |
| Marsiglio | Walton | 1750 | Orchardgrass | 34 | 65.9 | 54 | 67 | 40 | 59.4 | 53 | 71 |
| Av Grass Ht | 36.6 | 43.2 | |||||||||
| Av Legume Ht | 23.8 | 29 | |||||||||
| Summary by Week | 3-May | 10-May | 17-May | 24-May | 31-May | 7-June | |
| Grass Ht | 8.4 | 11.3 | 16.5 | 26.4 | 36.6 | 43.2 | |
| Legume Ht | 5.9 | 8.0 | 13.0 | 20.6 | 23.8 | 29 | |
| Grass | num of fields | 28 | 30 | 30 | 24 | 17 | 10 |
| aNDFom | 40.6 | 40.8 | 40.8 | 56.1 | 63.7 | 64 | |
| NDFD | 74.3 | 73.4 | 73.4 | 63.2 | 53.7 | 52.2 | |
| TDN | 72.6 | 71.8 | 71.8 | 70.5 | 66.6 | 67.3 | |
| Mixed | num of fields | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| aNDFom | 34.7 | 35.4 | 35.4 | 49.3 | 56.3 | – | |
| NDFD | 72.9 | 72.6 | 72.6 | 57.2 | 50.8 | – | |
| TDN | 73.0 | 72.3 | 72.3 | 68.3 | 66.2 | – | |
| Legume | num of fields | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| aNDFom | 27.2 | 25.9 | 25.9 | 36.8 | 37.3 | 45.7 | |
| NDFD | 61.7 | 58.3 | 58.3 | 50.7 | 36.5 | 46 | |
| TDN | 72.0 | 73.0 | 73.0 | 70.7 | 67.0 | 68 | |
