Off to the Races – But Beef Can Wait
With a string of beautiful weather hay harvest started this week. Hay grew well this week, with both grasses and legumes gaining about 5 inches. With cool temperatures fiber increased more slowly than average, with NDF increasing about 2.5 points. Fiber Digestibility (NDFD) and Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) held steady, decreasing only slightly.
Dairy Quality Recommendations: Grasses and legume/grass Mixed stands will hit dairy quality target fiber content this week, and we would recommend harvesting these fields. High percent legume stands are still more than a week away from target fiber content.
Livestock Quality Recommendations: If you need some highly digestibility forage for growing calves, grass and mixed legume/grass fields will hit target quality this week. For all other classes of livestock forage is at least a week from target quality.
Estimated days from 5/16 to reach target quality for classes of cattle
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Beef |
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| Dairy | Growing Calf | Growing Yearling | Lactating Cow | Mature Dry Cow | |
| Grass | NOW | NOW | 7 days | 10+ days | 14+ days |
| Mixed | NOW | NOW | 7 days | 10+ days | 14+ days |
| Legume | 10+ days | 10+ days | 10-14 days | 10+ days | 14+ days |
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 9, 2023 | May 16, 2023 | |||||||||
| Farm | Town | Elev | Species | Ht | aNDFom | NDFD | TDN | Ht | aNDFom | NDFD | TDN |
| Darling | Andes | 1505 | Red Clover | 13 | 28.3 | 88 | 74 | 17 | 29.1 | 54 | 74 |
| Darling | Andes | 1500 | Mixed Grasses | 14 | 37.6 | 75 | 69 | 18 | 40.5 | 73 | 69 |
| Eisele | Andes | 1412 | Orchardgrass | 12 | 41.4 | 70 | 69 | 17 | 45 | 70 | 67 |
| Evans | Andes | 2240 | Mixed Grasses | 9 | 36.6 | 66 | 68 | 13 | 45.3 | 66 | 70 |
| Gladstone | Andes | 1960 | RClov(35%)Grass | 7/13 | 40.3 | 75 | 70 | 10/15 | 42.5 | 69 | 68 |
| Mattson | Colchester | 1080 | Alf(60%)Tfesc | 18/20 | 35.4 | 63 | 66 | 24/25 | 41.5 | 61 | 64 |
| Cerosaoletti | Davenport | 1285 | Alfalfa | 14 | 24.4 | 54 | 69 | 19 | 28.9 | 58 | 68 |
| Frisbee | Delhi | 1380 | Mixed Grasses | 15 | 42.1 | 70 | 67 | 26 | 44.7 | 68 | 68 |
| Mushkoday | Delhi | 1340 | Alfalfa | 15 | 26.4 | 70 | 70 | 19 | 26.9 | 56 | 71 |
| Rama | Delhi | 1400 | Clov(25%)Grass | 11/19 | 44.9 | 72 | 69 | 13/23 | 45.7 | 71 | 65 |
| Sherwood | Delhi | 1610 | Mixed Grasses | 18 | 40.9 | 76 | 66 | 19 | 47.3 | 69 | 72 |
| Sullivan | Delhi | 1425 | Orchardgrass | 14 | 43.1 | 68 | 71 | 19 | 45.2 | 67 | 68 |
| Buel | Franklin | 1260 | Alf(50%)Orch | 14/21 | 33.6 | 71 | 67 | hrvstd | – | – | – |
| Grant | Franklin | 1650 | Mixed Grasses | 19 | 44 | 80 | 68 | 26 | 46.9 | 73 | 71 |
| Taggart | Franklin | 1720 | Mixed Grasses | 15 | 44.1 | 72 | 66 | hrvstd | – | – | – |
| DiBenedetto | Halcott | 1730 | Orchardgrass | 18 | 42 | 77 | 68 | 23 | 46.8 | 71 | 71 |
| Moody | Hamden | 2100 | Clov(50%)Grass | 6/8 | 39.4 | 70 | 68 | 20 | 41.5 | 70 | 67 |
| Scobie | Hamden | 1490 | Mixed Grasses | 9 | 38.7 | 71 | 69 | 12 | 38.3 | 70 | 69 |
| Hillriegel | Hardenburgh | 1670 | Orchardgrass | 12 | 45.8 | 70 | 67 | 14 | 47.1 | 66 | 68 |
| Hager | Kortright | 2000 | Tall Fescue | 17 | 40.5 | 78 | 73 | mowed | 37.6 | 80 | 71 |
| Haynes | Kortright | 1860 | Orchardgrass | 14/21 | 42.2 | 74 | 68 | 27 | 48.5 | 70 | 67 |
| Cieri | Meredith | 2230 | Orchardgrass | 13 | 36.8 | 84 | 68 | 16 | 43.4 | 77 | 67 |
| DeDominicis | Meredith | 2100 | Orchardgrass | 9 | 35.9 | 71 | 68 | 14 | 43 | 73 | 66 |
| Keator | Meredith | 1600 | Tall Fescue | 15 | 42.3 | 68 | 67 | 20 | 43.5 | 66 | 67 |
| Elliot | Middletown | 2060 | Orch/Rcanary | 17 | 41.7 | 78 | 68 | 24 | 45.6 | 70 | 69 |
| Gray | Middletown | 2020 | Reed Canarygrass | 18 | 43.3 | 73 | 65 | hrvstd | – | – | – |
| Coombe | Neversink | 1420 | Tall Fescue | 13 | 41.7 | 78 | 68 | 20 | 47.2 | 71 | 64 |
| Krum | Neversink | 1700 | Mixed Grasses | 8 | 41.3 | 67 | 67 | 10 | 48.8 | 58 | 70 |
| Albano | Roxbury | 1950 | Mixed Grasses | 17 | 41.8 | 75 | 67 | hrvstd | – | – | – |
| Gockel | Roxbury | 1890 | Orchardgrass | 16 | 44.7 | 71 | 70 | mowed | 42.1 | 57 | 68 |
| Kuhn | Roxbury | 1980 | Mixed Grasses | 20 | 46.6 | 67 | 68 | 28 | 46.5 | 60 | 67 |
| Perry | Roxbury | 1830 | Orchardgrass | 17 | 42.9 | 73 | 66 | mowed | 45.4 | 69 | 69 |
| Johnson | Sidney | 1070 | Orchardgrass | 24 | 44.5 | 75 | 74 | 28 | 48.3 | 69 | 70 |
| Johnson | Sidney | 1070 | Alfalfa | 19 | 28.3 | 62 | 69 | 25 | 27 | 60 | 69 |
| Deysenroth | Stamford | 1510 | Orchardgrass | 15 | 45.5 | 71 | 65 | 23 | 45.8 | 74 | 66 |
| Hanselman | Stamford | 1488 | Alfalfa | 13 | 24.6 | 51 | 71 | 18 | 26.3 | 57 | 68 |
| Martin | Stamford | 1560 | Alf(40%)Orch | 19 | 39.7 | 73 | 66 | 19/25 | 40.7 | 67 | 65 |
| Ryan | Stamford | 1800 | Mixed Grasses | 6/12 | 40.7 | 72 | 67 | 8/15 | 41.4 | 67 | 71 |
| Trovato | Stamford | 2080 | Mixed Grasses | 8/14 | 44.7 | 75 | 66 | 12/23 | 43.1 | 70 | 67 |
| LaTourette | Tompkins | 1210 | Clov(25%)Grass | 7/18 | 44.3 | 71 | 67 | 18/22 | 44.7 | 65 | 66 |
| Walley | Tompkins | 1235 | Clov(35%)Grass | 12/18 | 40.4 | 68 | 69 | hrvstd- | – | – | – |
| Wickham,B | Walton | 1170 | Alf(40%)Orch | 13/17 | 38.2 | 68 | 69 | 17/23 | 39.3 | 69 | 67 |
| Wickham,D | Walton | 1240 | Clov(30%)Grass | 15/19 | 34.7 | 71 | 68 | hrvstd | – | – | – |
| Av Grass | 15.6 | 41.9 | 73 | 68 | 20.2 | 44.7 | 69 | 68.5 | |||
| Av Mixed | – | 39.1 | 70.2 | 67.9 | – | 42.3 | 67.4 | 66.0 | |||
| Av Legume | 12.1 | 26.4 | 65.0 | 10.6 | 16.8 | 27.6 | 57.0 | 70.0 | |||
