Still Prime, Wait Still

Grass and mixed hay were still in the target zone for dairy quality at sampling this week, although we would expect it to advance past prime next week. Legume quality is reaching dairy quality stage and will be ready to harvest this week. It is also go time for harvesting hay for growing beef. Producers looking for forage for mature beef cows, lactating or dry, should wait at least another week.

Estimated days from 5/24 to reach target quality for classes of cattle

		Beef
	Dairy	Growing Calf	Growing Yearling	Lactating Cow	Mature Dry Cow
Grass	NOW	NOW	NOW	7 days	10 – 14 days
Mixed	NOW	NOW	NOW	7 days	10 -14 days
Legume	NOW	NOW	7 – 10 days	10-14 days	14 days

Grasses rapidly grew taller this week as stem elongation kicked, with some fields gaining 20 inches or more, while legumes grew by as much as a foot.   Orchardgrass and other earlier maturing grasses are headed this week, legumes are approaching bud stage.  After grasses are fully headed, they will reach their full height, and fiber (aNDFom) will only go up slowly, but NDF digestibility will trend down more rapidly.  Energy (TDN) decreases as cell walls thicken and become more “woody”.

The Table 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.

We report several measures of forage quality. Different types and groups of cattle have different demands and each measure tells a slightly different story. If harvesting for dairy forage, we suggest harvesting based on NDF, for beef choose an appropriate TDN target or the animals you will be feeding

NDF – Neutral Detergent Fiber is a measure of the structural fiber in a feed sample. NDF correlates well with how much forage a cow can eat (gut fill). Earlier cut hay = lower NDF = higher dry matter intake = higher performance.

NDF goals for Dairy Cattle Forage: Grass hay and silage – 48 – 55%, MMG hay & silage – 40 – 50%, MML hay & silage – 38 – 45%, Legume hay & silage – 36 – 42%

NDFD – NDF Digestibility As forage plants mature, the fiber percentage increases, and at the same time the digestibility of the fiber decreases. NDFD measures the digestibility of fiber by rumen fluid. We report 24hr NDFD as an indicator of forage digestibility. Higher digestibility = more energy available from a forage.  Grasses inherently have a higher NDF digestibility than legumes.

TDN – Total Digestible Nutrients The sum of the digestible fiber, protein, lipid, and carbohydrate components. TDN is a measure of energy available from forage and is related to digestible energy. TDN is useful for beef cow rations that are primarily forage. Higher TDN values indicate higher energy available, cattle groups with higher energy demands require higher TDN intakes.

Delaware County Scissor Cuts Results				May 17, 2022				May 24, 2022
Farm	Town	Elev	Species	Ht	aNDFom	NDFD	TDN	Ht	aNDFom	NDFD	TDN
Darling	Andes	1520	Tall Fescue	11	43.3	71	70	18	56.3	68	72
Eisele	Andes	1412	Orchardgrass	16	50	74	70	25	56.3	68	72
Evans	Andes	1820	Orchardgrass	19	49.4	70	73	Cut	52.9	68	71
Gladstone	Andes	1960	Mixed grasses	22	50.8	72	71	27	56.3	68	72
Mattson	Colchester	1090	Alf(50%)/Tfesc	12/12	36.7	49	70	24/23	46.6	49	66
Frisbee	Delhi	1380	Tall Fescue	19	55.3	61	71	30	56.5	63	69
Mushkoday	Delhi	1340	Alf(90%)/Tim	16/20	34.5	57	70	21/30	40.1	50	69
Rama	Delhi	1400	Clov(30%)/Grass	16/21	52.4	61	68	16/30	50.2	60	70
Sherwood	Delhi	1610	Mixed grasses	23	56.4	62	69	30	61.6	60	70
Sullivan	Delhi	1425	Clov(35%)/Orch	17	53.7	67	69	27	60.3	64	69
Grant	Franklin	1650	Mixed grasses	21	46.8	72	71	cut	46.9	64	73
Taggart	Franklin	1720	Mixed grasses	16	53.3	60	69	27	54.7	63	72
DiBenedetto	Halcott	1730	Orchardgrass	20	50.2	71	72	cut	57.2	65	68
Hutson	Hamden	1275	Alfalfa	13	35.4	62	71	21	37.4	52	71
Moody	Hamden	2100	Orchardgrass	12	49.2	68	70	27	57.8	64	70
Reed	Hamden	1740	Ken. Bluegrass	10	53.2	64	68	17	54.6	67	71
Scobie	Hamden	1740	K. Bluegrass	12	53.2	65	70	25	53.3	58	71
Hillriegel	Hardenburgh	1670	Orchardgrass	20	60.2	56	67	30	58.2	64	69
Haynes	Kortright	1900	Orchardgrass	17	52.1	67	70	28	56.5	68	68
Keator	Meredith	1600	Tall Fescue	14	48.8	68	72	23	50.3	60	76
Elliot	Middletown	2060	Reed Canarygrass	24	52.7	68	70	35	59.5	61	70
Coombe	Neversink	1420	Tall Fescue	14	55.1	65	66	22	52.3	62	67
Krum	Neversink	1730	Ken. Bluegrass	10	52.2	66	71	24	59.7	58	67
Gockel	Roxbury	1890	Mixed grasses	14	54.9	64	70	30	62.1	58	71
Kuhn	Roxbury	1980	Mixed grasses	14	48.8	68	70	36	53.4	62	72
Perry	Roxbury	1830	Orchardgrass	18	53.7	65	69	26	57	67	74
Johnson	Sidney	1070	Orchardgrass	22	48.9	68	71	31	55.6	60	68
Johnson	Sidney	1070	Alfalfa	17	30	58	71	22	38.4	51	71
Deysenroth	Stamford	1510	Mixed grasses	9	50.6	66	71	24	57.4	64	66
Hanselman	Stamford	1488	Alfalfa	12	33.2	57	70	22	34.6	49	70
Martin	Stamford	1560	Alf(65%)/Orch	12/13	46.4	69	68	21/35	55.2	67	70
Ryan	Stamford	1800	Mixed grasses	11	51.7	65	71	15	54.8	58	70
Trovato	Stamford	2080	Mixed grasses	15	47.6	67	73	17	57.1	61	73
LaTourette	Tompkins	1210	Clov(20%)/grass	6/20	53.9	67	70	14/30	54.3	58	67
Marsiglio	Walton	1750	Orchardgrass	12	50.3	57	70	22	56.5	64	72
Wickham,B	Walton	1170	Alf(30%)/Orch	15/18	43.9	66	69	24/28	49.6	59	68
			Av Grass Ht	16.5				26.5
			Av Legume Ht	13.0				20.5