Alfalfa cutting question?

[freewheat]

Kind of new to the hay thing. Been so wet, that I still have some acres to cut of alfalfa. Is there a date to no longer be cutting? I have heard the 15th of August is a general rule of thumb with when to stop cutting for hay? First cut of course. Need to keep it vigorous for winter suvival.

Thanks.

[grassfarmer]

Supposed to be the 5 weeks before a killing frost you shouldn't cut. So when is the killing frost coming lol?
I'm fairly new to alfalfa but there seem to be many other factors involved in this too. Older stands are more liable to winter kill, as are those in wet soils, high potassium levels reduces risk. If you've got a big mature stand that's been growing all season I'd think the risk would be less as it will already have built strong reserves. Might come out of the winter weaker and slower but chances are you aren't going to be cutting early next year either so plenty chance for recovery.

[freewheat]

Thanks for the input, grass. It is a first year stand, an excellent stand. Raining again, none forecast, I was going to cut it this afternoon. Guess not now. ha

[Klause]

First year as in seeded this year, or seeded last year?


We wrapped up our greenfeed, alfalfa, tame hay finally!


Alfalfa would be gone to seed by now, no?


The rule in MB was don't cut after August 15th, till first kill frost.