Ohio growers experienced another wet spring and compressed 2018 spring planting season.  On some farms, this caused postponement of plans for spring seeding of alfalfa and other perennial forages.  In some areas, the prolonged wet weather affected forage harvest schedules, resulting in harvest equipment running on wet forage fields leaving ruts, compacted soils and damage to alfalfa crowns.  Some of these forage acres need to be re-seeded. 

Much of the region’s alfalfa crop has been harvested over the past two weeks.  As cooler temperatures move into the area regrowth will likely slow down. Once regrowth reaches 16 inches tall again, the NDF (neutral detergent fiber crude protein) can rapidly be estimated in the field using the predictive equations for alfalfa quality (PEAQ).