It appears alfalfa yields are ahead of last year in southeastern Manitoba. That is according to John McGregor, who is the extension support person with Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association.

McGregor says a lot of producers finished their first cut early. But, he says the yields were not that great as the result of a cool spring. Timely rains along with warm weather and McGregor says yields in the second cut are doing very well.

"Reports are that yields are a lot better than last year," says McGregor. "And considerably better than first cut was for the southeast area of the province."

McGregor suggests producers are on schedule for a possible three cuts. He notes most producers are a little late with the second cut. He does not expect much alfalfa to be taken off in August, which means the third cut will likely come after the critical period in mid to late September.

"With that critical period producers don't want to be cutting hay too late in the summer," he says. "They want it to grow and get the reserves back into the roots so it can survive the winter a lot better."

McGregor notes producers in southeastern Manitoba do not have many disease issues to deal with. He notes in alfalfa there is some browning of the leaves that can happen if the crop gets too advanced and there is a lot of moisture. As for insects, McGregor notes there was some damage in the early part of the season due to alfalfa weevil. Right now, producers are reporting grasshopper damage as well.

"The alfalfa and and the grass fields are all quite green and therefore they are good fodder for the grasshoppers," he says.

According to McGregor, producers right now would welcome warm, dry weather. Once the cutting is done, he notes they could use more moisture for continued growth and the potential third cut for alfalfa and possible second cut for grass alfalfa.

Meanwhile, McGregor says southeastern Manitoba went into spring with very, very low feed supplies. He notes the first cut was about 60 per cent of normal for alfalfa, while some of the grass hay was closer to 50 per cent of normal. McGregor says the first cut was basically a half crop and producers are now looking to the second cut to try and build supplies.

"What we're going to see is that come fall, we're still going to be in a feed shortage situation and by that I mean there won't be an extra surplus available," he says. "There will be producers that will be looking towards corn silage, they will be looking to harvest some straw and take advantage of things like roadside and ditch hay and stuff like that to make up that shortfall."

The Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association has started its hay relief page, where producers can access hay or put hay on the market for sale.