North Dakota State University Extension Forage and Crop Specialist James Rogers says cutting a quality forage is a balancing act. “The highest quality alfalfa is when that plant is in the vegetative stage, but that’s also the lowest quantity. We want our forages to grow to a point where we have enough quantity to have enough yield, but as that quantity increase, the quality goes down.” This means a mature crop will likely be more fibrous and have lower quality. Rogers makes a comparison to small grains. “For small grains, we typically try to harvest somewhere between boot stage to soft-dough stage. For alfalfa, it’s based on the bloom of the crop.
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