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Alfalfa in Upper Midwest surprisingly good

An agronomist says the quality of the alfalfa crop in the Upper Midwest is surprisingly good.

John Kennicker with Monsanto says the first cutting of alfalfa hay in Wisconsin and Minnesota is on the downhill slide, and the farmers who were able to harvest earlier are seeing the best results.

“With all the heavy rains there were a few guys that got caught with the rain, and that would have an effect on the quality.  As the alfalfa plant grows, you get more tonnage but the quality does drop.  So I would expect the quality to drop as we move further into the first cutting.”

He tells Brownfield the alfalfa has been challenged not only by excess moisture, but unseasonably cold weather in May.

“We had about two weeks of temperatures that were below 46 degrees; that’s when the alfalfa plant slows or stops growing.”

Kennicker says alfalfa established this spring suffered from reduced counts, while the impact to older stands was less significant.