Beef Go, Dairy Finish

Hay quality past the target zone for dairy quality and growing yearling beef for all fields except pure alfalfa at sampling this week, alfalfa quality is at dairy quality stage.  It is also go time for harvesting hay for growing yearling and lactating beef.  Field targeted for forage for mature beef cows can wait another week.

Estimated days from 5/31 to reach target quality for classes of cattle

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

Later maturing grasses rapidly grew taller this week as all most fields are now headed, with some fields gaining over 20 inches, earlier heading fields gained less height. Legumes grew 5-8 inches. Fiber (aNDFom) advanced about 1 point per day, and fiber digestibility (NDFD) decreased by about 10 points. Energy (TDN) decreases as cell walls thicken and become more “woody”, TDN decreased about 1 point per day this last week.
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.

Delaware County Scissor Cuts Results				May 24, 2022				May 31, 2022
Farm	Town	Elev	Species	Ht	aNDFom	NDFD	TDN	Ht	aNDFom	NDFD	TDN
Eisele	Andes	1412	Orchardgrass	25	56.3	68	72	38	60.2	53	71
Gladstone	Andes	1960	Mixed grasses	27	56.3	68	72	40	65	57	66
Mattson	Colchester	1090	Alf(50%)/Tfesc	24/23	46.6	49	66	27/29	60.9	46	64
Mushkoday	Delhi	1340	Alf(90%)/Tim	21/30	40.1	50	69	29/33	39.7	49	67
Rama	Delhi	1400	Clov(30%)/Grass	16/30	50.2	60	70	17/42	61.2	55	66
Sullivan	Delhi	1425	Clov(35%)/Orch	27	60.3	64	69	40	65.9	53	67
Hutson	Hamden	1275	Alfalfa	21	37.4	52	71	26	38.9	41	67
Moody	Hamden	2100	Orchardgrass	27	57.8	64	70	30	63.9	55	67
Reed	Hamden	1740	Ken. Bluegrass	17	54.6	67	71	21	61.3	58	66
Scobie	Hamden	1740	K. Bluegrass	25	53.3	58	71	36	64.2	56	67
Hillriegel	Hardenburgh	1670	Orchardgrass	30	58.2	64	69	46	66.7	55	67
Haynes	Kortright	1900	Orchardgrass	28	56.5	68	68	40	64.9	55	69
Keator	Meredith	1600	Tall Fescue	23	50.3	60	76	45	58.7	55	69
Elliot	Middletown	2060	Reed Canarygrass	35	59.5	61	70	42	66	51	65
Coombe	Neversink	1420	Tall Fescue	22	52.3	62	67	29	64.8	53	63
Gockel	Roxbury	1890	Mixed grasses	30	62.1	58	71	42	61.6	58	66
Kuhn	Roxbury	1980	Mixed grasses	36	53.4	62	72	36	64	49	64
Perry	Roxbury	1830	Orchardgrass	26	57	67	74	35	64.5	54	68
Johnson	Sidney	1070	Orchardgrass	31	55.6	60	68	37	60.3	42	66
Johnson	Sidney	1070	Alfalfa	22	38.4	51	71	27	35.7	32	67
Hanselman	Stamford	1488	Alfalfa	22	34.6	49	70	26	50.1	47	64
Ryan	Stamford	1800	Mixed grasses	15	54.8	58	70	26	64.7	55	65
LaTourette	Tompkins	1210	Clov(20%)/grass	14/30	54.3	58	67	12/46	65.1	54	67
Marsiglio	Walton	1750	Orchardgrass	22	56.5	64	72	34	65.9	54	67
Wickham,B	Walton	1170	Alf(30%)/Orch	24/28	49.6	59	68	26/39	54.4	50	67
			Av Grass Ht	26.4				36.6
			Av Legume Ht	20.6				23.8

Target Quality for Classes of Cattle

NDF Goals for Dairy Cattle Forage		TDN Goals for Beef Cattle Forage
Grass hay and silage	48 – 55%	Growing Calf (2lb ADG)	70 – 72
MMG hay & silage	40 – 50%	Growing Yearling (2lb ADG)	64 – 66
MML hay & silage	38 – 45%	Lactating Beef Cow	60 – 64
Legume hay & silage	36 – 42%	Mature Dry Cow	52 – 55