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| Photo: University of Minnesota |
By 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 Scissor-Cut and Harvest Alert project is moseying along. This year, there is a wide disparity in growth among cooperating fields from south to north. Fields in the south central region are making progress with about two samples so far, while fields to the north aren’t quite ready for sampling as they’re hovering around 11 inches or so in height. Hopefully warm temperatures today and tomorrow will encourage productive alfalfa growth across the region.
While we don’t have too much Scissor Cut data to look through, take a moment to fill out the alfalfa pest needs assessment survey at z.umn.edu/alfalfapestsurvey. This online survey lets you voice what issues you are seeing in the field first-hand for alfalfa pests. Participating in the survey will help determine what areas of Minnesota and surrounding states have had increased issues with insect outbreaks and direct future alfalfa educational programming and research.
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 15th 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.Contact information
If you have any questions, please contact Jackie Estrem, UMN Extension Educator- Sustainable Agriculture, Stearns, Benton, Morrison, & Sherburne Counties at estre060@umn.edu, (763)-515-1023, or Taylor Herbert, UMN Extension Educator- Crops, Wright, McLeod, & Meeker Counties at therbert@umn.edu, (612)-394-5229.
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