Spring Forage Harvest Planning Checklist
By Joe Lawrence, PRO-DAIRY
Safety
• Prepare crew and equipment for a safe field season
Prepare storage area
• Flexible storage options to sort forages by quality and intended animal group
• Size storage to planned feed-out rate
• Clean and safe storage infrastructure
Field inventory and harvest mapping
• How many tons of lactating quality feed do you need? Get that first!
o Every field can be lactating quality feed if harvested at the correct time o Window for optimum hay crop quality is narrower than for corn planting
• Monitor fields for harvest timing starting in early May
o CCE and support industry weekly height monitoring programs
• Target harvest order
o Winter Cereals > Perennial Grass > Mixed Grass/Legume > Legumes
• Spring delays - skip fields already past their optimum, return later for non-lactating quality feed.
Harvest management
• Minimize time between cutting and ensiling of crops
o Wide swath - >80% of cutter bar width
o Avoid excessive windrow size - balance yield with quality potential
• Maintain a three to four inch cutting height (four inches for grasses)
o Reduce contamination (Ash)
o Keep windrows up off the ground to facilitate drying
o Encourages healthier and vigorous regrowth of perennials
• Avoid chopping at wrong dry matter - matching mowing to chopping speeds Rake/merge, chop before leaf material is too dry to avoid excess losses
Ensiling for efficient fermentation and minimal shrink
• Harvest at target dry matter for storage type
o Haylage: ~35-38% DM
o Baleage: ~40-55% DM
• Achieve target densities in horizontal silos
o Packing weight to match delivery rate
?-? minimum of 800 lbs. packing weight per ton delivered per hour
o Pack uniformly in thin layers (ideal: four-inch layers)
o Build piles to pack from any angle, 360 degrees around pile
o Minimize silage piled higher than bunk walls - compromises density and safety
• Cover piles immediately
o Use research proven inoculants and oxygen barrier plastic
Field Crops
Dairy
Business
Livestock
Grains
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May 23, 2026 : FAMACHA Training Jamestown, NY
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Kennedy, NY
Our team is partnering with Chautauqua Co Soil and Water, WNY Crop Mangement, and the Vanstrom Homestead to bring you a pasture walk and hands-on workshop series. Topics include multi-species grazing, forage sampling/results interpretation, soil sampling/results interpretation, and a high tensile fence installment.
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