Harvest Alert for May 9th

Jackie Estrem, UMN Extension Educator- Sustainable Agriculture, Stearns, Benton, Morrison, & Sherburne Counties, and Taylor Herbert, UMN Extension Educator- Crops, Wright, McLeod, & Meeker Counties

The Alfalfa Harvest Alert Project, also called Scissor Cut, is now underway and going fast. The first samples were taken on May 5th and 8th, which is slightly earlier than in past years. A few warm days and adequate soil moisture made for some rapid growth over a short period of time. Some fields had some drowned-out spots from last year, but we saw no crown damage from the winter and stands are generally very good. There was no alfalfa weevil feeding reported. If warm conditions continue, we could see more rapid growth over the next week and first cutting could be coming quick depending on the farm’s goals.

The goal of the Alfalfa Harvest Alert program is to alert growers to start the first cut of alfalfa when the crop is at a level of quality and yield potential that meets their specific needs. As a reminder, the goal is not to try and name the exact day of harvest. Rather the goal is to encourage growers who are busy with management of other crops to be more strategic with hay crop harvest as it relates to their needs.

How to get harvest alert data

The May 9th Alfalfa Harvest Alert data is available as a pdf. However, there is also a tool that contains this year’s data and all the data from every county and farm that has participated in the Alfalfa Harvest Alert Program since 1997. As an added bonus, this year we are also including data from University of Wisconsin Madison Extension! Go to z.umn.edu/AlfalfaHarvestAlert to view the data. You can also get the most recent information through email by signing up at z.umn.edu/QuadCountySignup and clicking the "Alfalfa Scissor-Cut and Harvest Alert" box.