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When do you cut new seeding alfalfa-oat hay

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cowboyup

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where i am
I have always cut new seeding alfalfa- oats when the oats start to turn and there are a few blooms in the alfalfa plants. I have not had any problems with nitrates doing this so far. A neighbor whom I offered to buy his new seeding hay from took a test sample of forty plants to the local county extension office. The guy told him he should cut it now even though a lot of the oats are just starting to come out of the boot. He also stated that the longer he left it the more stressed the oats would be and the higher the nitrates. This goes against everything I was taught so I wondered what you guys would have to say.
Thanks in advance
cowboyup
 
I was always told that the absolutely best way to decide when to cut is by th NDF level. I can't remember what that is off the top of my head, it's a little highger for legumes then grass, grains are grass obviously. That usually occurs for grass just before the head comes out of the boot and for legumes when the blossom is just starting to show. That's what I try to do when I can.

When I worked for a crop consulting service in NY, in the spring we would take a day and take alfalfa samples from all over the state then bring them back to Ithaca to the Dairy One lab to get the NDF level tested then give recomended cutting dates for different areas to the growers.
 
cowboyup-- I've always tried to cut it the same time you did--when the oats is turning, but still has a tinge of green...(give the mice some grain to eat for the winter too :lol: )
Never had any nitrate problems-- in fact the last batch I tested was really low.....
 
I think the issue is how is the alfalfa in the stand?

Alfalfa blooms and puts down roots, before the bloom, the roots are feeding the plant...

Alfalfa needs light and water. If you are on irrigation, no problem with the water.

Nitrates only can happen if the crop is drought stressed and there was a surplus of nitrogen fertilizer.

I have cut green oats just in full head, no dough in the kernals yet and made 14% protien..too much for range cows, but some pretty nice feed.

The tonnage is lower before heading...so I'd wait a bit.
 
cowboyup,

We have always followed the same idea as you. Wait til the oats were fully developed and just starting to ripen a bit, they make pretty nice feed then. Sometimes these people giving out advice on what to do arent always as smart as their title says. I dont know about down there but some of the farm advisors up here are guys who couldnt make it farming or went broke trying. :?
 
The times we used oats we did it at soft dough, same as when we did the hay barley. Seemed to work real well for the Alfalfa in those fields, been 5 years since we put any in but did it the same way with the grass/clover fields we put in for new pasture.
 
Manitoba_Rancher said:
cowboyup,

...some of the farm advisors up here are guys who couldnt make it farming or went broke trying. :?
Click to expand...

Good way of putting it. I don't know many farmers that are doing well who would sell the farm to go be and "advisor".

I give credit to a teacher of mine in school. He is the head of the dairy program at Cornell. He left the family farm a long time ago. Meanwhile while teaching he started buying cows and had them in another farms herd while they were multiplying. Recently he purchased land and build a Dairy to practice what he preached. He really did it for his son and daughter. Unfortunately there were some family issues. The Son was in Alpha Gamma Rho with me, married a girl from my class who went on to Vet School, very brite girl. They worked for a while at this new family farm then left to Syracuse, she did what most did and became a small animal Vet. His Daughter came back to this farm as well. Then they ended up disowning her when she decided guys weren't for her. Last I heard someone from my class is now working there.
 
Is this crop under irrigation at all?

Guys over here use oats sometimes for spring seeding alfalfa and cut it in the first part of the dough stage when it is real green still. The only thing is that for several years after the oats, you will see where the windrows laid because of something the oat plant puts out.

Also the more bloom you have in the alfalfa, the less nutirent quality in the hay.
 
I know that lodging is a big issue with oats if you were to use nitrogen, is the amount of nitrogen produced from the alfalfa that soon in its life significant enough to cause lodging in the oats?
 
How is your weather - - - if the oats are drought stressed the nitrate level can build and cause problems.

We roll corn stalks and the cattle love them. Several years ago we were having drought conditions and I never gave the nitrate level a thought but when we started feeding the rolled stalks the cattle all got bloody stools and we got in bad condition real quick. The vet had the stalks tested and we had to burn them they were so high in nitrates they were not safe for bedding.

I would rely on the nitrate test - - -if it is only a little high you can blend and still make it work but any grass will hold nitrates if drought stressed.
 
These oats are all under irrigation and planted as a cover crop for alfalfa so there is a lot of alfalfa compared to the oats. Just a thought, would that be like blending straight oat hay with alfalfa as you feed it. this variety that I plant is called Ajays and are a dwarf variety that usually just grow a hair taller than the alfalfa. they were blown on with fertilizer but not very much nitrogen. The weather here has been a bit tough with temperatures in the high nineties and 30 to 40 mile an hour winds. Some of my flood irrigation fields are really getting dry and I'm starting to cut them. I usually test mine by throwing a couple of bales to the neighbors cows and see if any tip over :wink: :D :D
 
If you have not been short of water I see no problem - - - make sure they have a mineral with magniesium (sp) to help with any nitrogen that they get but I have fed oat hay for decades and the only time I worry is in a drought.
 

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